Help with Ergodox Setup

[zguy]

I recently began constructing an Ergodox using a kit from massdrop, and I've ran into a problem. When a cable is placed into the TRRS connector on the right-hand side, things stop working. All of the leds blink and vary their brightness as the cable is inserted, and when it is fully plugged in, the leds turn off, and the board is non functional. Also, this happens even if the left-hand side is unplugged - simply plugging the cable to the right hand side kills it. Any recommendations on how I could fix this?

[nacitar]

I looked at this ergodox in person and want to clarify, the right half works flawlessly by itself, just not if you plug the cable into the TRRS jack (with or without the left half on the other end).  Told him  to post here in hopes of some clues for what to look for...  One time it gave an error in windows saying there was a "power surge", too, after plugging in the TRRS cable.

[tlem]

Plugging and unplugging the TRRS cable is not supported while the device is powered.  Does it work if you connect the TRRS before the USB?

[zguy]

Unfortunately not.

[AKmalamute]

usually communication with the MCP expander is blamed. Hi-res pictures are appreciated of your solder work -- could be the TRRS connectors, the I/O expander, or of course either the cable or the internal of the connector.

The cable/connector interface ends up taking a lot of the blame for such oddities, but often when I see these threads go by, it turns out to be a missed solder blob near the expander, or something along those lines.

[nacitar]

Well, the IO expander couldn't really be blamed for the case of the cable plugged into the right half but not the left and still having this problem, though... maybe it's the TRRS connector itself

[tp4tissue]

Well, the IO expander couldn't really be blamed for the case of the cable plugged into the right half but not the left and still having this problem, though... maybe it's the TRRS connector itself

The Trrs connector is ****..

Directly solder the wires for now.. and see if that helps..

if you bought the kit form MassDrop,   the cable is ****, the connector sockets are also ****...   I can't emphasize that enough...

Both my Egdx kits are directly soldered...   the first trrs connector broke (intermittent) only a week in, and I've only inserted maybe <20 times..

Eventually, they all flaked out...  So now It's all directly soldered to board.. no problems ever since..



I can't promise that this is "your issue as well".. but the TRRS had been such a headache for me..



Again, we need pictures to really help you... 


Double check that you got all the diodes in right as well.. for whatever reason.. when I tried the board before putting in the diodes, it would bug-out..

[zguy]

I'd like to say thanks to everyone to viewed and provided advice. Turned out that my problem was that I had accidentally grabbed a spare speaker cable off of my desk, and was using that instead of the TRRS cable that was provided.  Also, it's good to know that the TRRS connector and cable provided by massdrop are garbage, because that's where I got my kit from. Hopefully I wont have to do any debugging after 20 or so inserts to the jack. Well, now to enjoy a true, ergonomic experience with typing!