Aiyprojects-raspbian: Using AIY Image Unit LED does not light up

[vinniet]

Hello .. I have strange issue. I bought the AIY kit from Microcenter and when I put it together using the packaged image, HAT does not light and button does not either. I have bought three kits and its all the same. I thought it was power was the issue since I have three kits but that does not seem to be the issue.

I did run the audio test where it plays audio and records it and that works.

Its so odd .. any help I would appreciate.

[ensonic]

The light in the button can go in two ways, please try turning it 180°. Also please double check the colors of the wires on the button:
https://aiyprojects.withgoogle.com/voice/#assembly-guide-4-put-it-all-together

[vinniet]

Hello ... Yes I tried that .. besides the led button is totally different. You can not remove the bulb. But I did switch wires. Hard to believe all three kits had that issue. Lastly the LED on the Voice HAT did not light, that should not care about the button LED.

Thanks!

[drigz]

Are you running one of the demos, such as assistant_library_demo.py? In the new version of the image, the LED doesn't light until you run one of the scripts.

If you are running one of the scripts, then this is a hardware issue (GitHub is for software issues) - you can try posting in the RPi forums to ask for help with the assembly, or contacting the retailer if you think the kits are faulty.

[vinniet]

Hello ... No I did not run any demos other then the audio test which worked. But since then I did reboot. I find it really hard to believe this is hardware since this is my third kit and none of them work.

[drigz]

If you run one of the demos, the LED should light up.

[vinniet]

Hello .. The instructions say the light will go on after booting. See below from the book:

Verify it works
Once booted, the small red LED in the center of the Voice HAT and the LED inside the arcade button should both indicate the device is running by emitting a slow pulse. If you don’t see the LED pulse, check the troubleshooting guide in the appendix.

Are you saying that the instruction are not correct?

I am trying to set one kit up to see how complicated for my nephew.

I did try the demo but got the following message:
./assistant_library_with_button_demo.py
You need client secrets to use the Assistant API.
Follow these instructions:
https://developers.google.com/api-client-library/python/auth/installed-app#creatingcred
and put the file at /home/pi/assistant.json

Thanks for all your help ..

[drigz]

Ah, thanks for the extra information! Unfortunately the instructions are wrong.

If you continue with the instructions about setting up your device, the LED should light up when you get the demo running.

The instructions are wrong on the website, too - I'm looking in to how to fix this.

[vinniet]

Thanks .. makes sence why I could not get three of them working. I am just
surprised I have not found anyone else reporting this. Main concern is if
I can not do it school child will not be able either.

On Wed, Nov 15, 2017, 4:35 AM Rodrigo Queiro [e-mail]
wrote:

Ah, thanks for the extra information! Unfortunately the instructions are
wrong.

If you continue with the instructions about setting up your device
https://aiyprojects.withgoogle.com/voice#users-guide, the LED should
light up when you get the demo running.

The instructions are wrong on the website, too - I'm looking in to how to
fix this.

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[RichardBronosky]

I too experienced this "Once booted, the small red LED in the center of the Voice HAT and the LED inside the arcade button should both indicate the device is running by emitting a slow pulse." It caused my daughter and I hours of confusion. Where is the source for the instructions? I'd like to contribute a correction.

[vinniet]

Its amazing with all of the kits that were sold that only two have noticed
this.

On Sun, Nov 26, 2017, 11:14 PM Bruno Bronosky [e-mail]
wrote:

I too experienced this "Once booted, the small red LED in the center of
the Voice HAT and the LED inside the arcade button should both indicate the
device is running by emitting a slow pulse." It caused my daughter and I
hours of confusion. Where is the source for the instructions? I'd like to
contribute a correction.

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[Anil-Motwani]

Three now. Spent several hours to figure this out. Thanks for your query, comments and observations.
Its indeed is an error on the documentation!! Misleading too!! Error on all - Mag Pi, booklet included with the kit and even the Google AIY Voice kit website.

[drigz]

Thanks for sharing your feedback - we're sorry about all the confusion and wasted time here. An update to the website is on the way.

Where were you all following the instructions from? eg website, MagPi #57, the printed Essentials book or the digital Essentials PDF?

[vinniet]

The website, printed essential book and the PDF version. I never got copy of the MagPi.

[drigz]

OK, thanks - do you think if the website and PDF were correct, it would be enough to minimize the confusion? There's a note in the book saying that the latest instructions on the website, so I'm hoping most users would check the website when they were unable to follow the LED instructions in the printed book.

[drigz]

FYI, the instructions on the website are now amended.

[DroneBotWorkshop]

Actually the instructions on the website have only partially been amended. The reference to the lights has been removed from the "Verify it works" section but the "Troubleshooting" section still says "If the lamp in the button doesn't light up, check that the wire colors are the same as the picture in step 7.".

I also ran into this, tested the switch with a multimeter and tested its LED with a 5-volt power supply and 330 ohm dropping resistor to verify that they are working. And I still haven't spotted the LED on the Voice HAT board although maybe it's just my old eyes - those surface mount LED's are pretty tiny.

Thought I was going crazy until I saw that others are experiencing the same problem!

[drigz]

Thanks for sharing, @DroneBotWorkshop. I thought it would be safe to avoid splitting the troubleshooting section in two but I guess it's still confusing.

I'll look into moving that troubleshooting item further down.

[DroneBotWorkshop]

Thanks @drigz ! I think a lot of the confusion may be with the MagPi manual that is being shipped with these kits. It's a beautiful manual but it does contain a number of inaccuracies, probably not the author's fault but just because the hardware and software has been changed since it was written.

You might just want to add a note to the website indicating that the information in the MagPi manual regarding the light is not accurate.

And for the record I finally did spot the LED on the Voice HAT board (although I would have described it as being next to the switch connector and not "at the center of the board" as the printed manual does).

[RichardBronosky]

This is much better. I'm sure it will save many other people a lot of frustration. I'm giving several of these out for Christmas. I know I appreciate it.

[drigz]

We've cleaned up the instructions:
https://aiyprojects.withgoogle.com/voice/#assembly-guide-7-appendix
https://aiyprojects.withgoogle.com/voice/#users-guide-3-appendix

There's one more fix on the way for the target of the link to the troubleshooting in the User's Guide, and then I'll close this issue.

Thanks so much for your feedback everyone! We also have changed our review process, so fixes like this are quicker in future.

[5airkas]

I'm completely new to this (this forum and Raspberry Pi/Google AIY) and can echo previous user comments. I pulled a switcheroo (multiple times) until the LED shined brightly, much brighter than previously wired. I also encountered what seems to be a generally faulty button, it lights up, but does not pulse. When I run the button demo, I press multiple times before a gremlin activates the press function.

[drigz]

Closing since the website is updated now.

@5airkas, you might need to press for longer, since the debouncing logic can sometimes ignore very short presses.