Bad connection on Display pack 2.0? - user error, solved

Support
1

When I first got the Display pack, it worked fine, plugged it into headers of my pico, got a simple program running on the display, etc.

Now, after taking the pack off and putting it back on, it doesn’t seem to want to connect fully. The LED will sometimes show only red or only red/blue, but not all three. And the screen will be off completely, or only the backlight will turn on. With careful pressure at different orientations, I can sometimes get it to connect fully and show the screen my script is sending to it. But any jostle will lose the connection again.

I don’t have a spare pico with headers to test it with at the moment, but the headers and solder joints on this pico look solid, and the behavior when pressing on the pack suggests the connection issue is on that board.

Did I somehow screw up a connection somewhere by accidentally pressing on something? Is it just a faulty pack? Thanks in advance for any ideas!

2

Ideally, your supposed to only press / hold the circuit board part when attaching or removing it. Not so easy in practice. That being said, I have a couple Display Pack V2’s and a Display Pack. I’ve swapped them around several times with no issues.
I’m thinking its more likely a soldering issue with one of the pins on the Pico. If you can, upload a picture of your soldering so we can rule that out as an issue.

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3

I’m using a pre-soldered pico that I ordered from pishop, same place I ordered the display pack.

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4

OK, that rules that out. Have a good close look at the headers on the display pack. Power removed when removing or attaching the display?

5

welp, I’m feeling pretty dumb, I just hadn’t been getting it properly seated on the pins. Nothing to see here, please move along. >.>

1 Like
6

It happens. On the plus side nothing got damaged.