Shorted pins workaround

June 4, 2014

In my previous Topsy Turvy clock post I mentioned that two of the output pins of my Arduino Micro were shorted together. I desoldered the pins and inspected the board using a magnifying glass. I even tried cutting at the board with a knife but the two pins were still shorted. I resoldered the pins and ended up with pin 9 not attached but the two pins were still shorted somewhere on the board as toggling pin 9 still flashed the LED attached to pin 8.

Looking at the other side of the microcontroller there were a couple of spare pins. So I desoldered the wire from pin 9 to the motor board and reattached it at pin 20. With a minor code change now all of my outputs are correctly working.

So by saving a few pounds I in turn lost myself a few hours. This got me wondering about my options, perhaps I can find a more reputable company to supply my needs rather than some random warehouse supplier on Ebay who happens to have a few electronics along with their selection of shoes and clothes. Or perhaps I can buy a selection of such boards and do some kind of automated testing on them?

By Andy from Workshopshed Add Comment

  Posted in: Electronics, Topsy Turvy Clock Tags: Arduino