BLINKT! Not Working

Support
1

I bought a BLINKT! a couple of weeks ago and have tried to connect it to a Raspberry Pi Zero, but I can’t get it to work. As far as I can tell it is properly connected (and the right way around).

When I ran “curl https://get.pimoroni.com/blinkt | bash” the script downloaded, but when I typed “y” to run it I got an error saying “We can’t connect to the Internet, check your network!”. The Pi definitely has internet access.

I read a post on a forum saying you could install the Python library by running “sudo pip install blinkt”. That seemed to work. From a Python command prompt I can import the blinkt library and any commands I run don’t show any errors, but nothing happens on the BLINKT. Nothing lights up. I have followed the tutorial at:
https://learn.pimoroni.com/tutorial/sandyj/getting-started-with-blinkt

Any suggestions as to what I am doing wrong? Or is the BLINKT faulty?

2

Could you post a photo of your setup? How is the Blinkt! seated on your Pi?

3

20170513_235449 (3).jpg1024×576 192 KB

Thanks for the quick reply. I have included an image. I can only upload one per post. Let me know if another angle would help. Basically the BLINKT is attached to the GPIO pin extender thing (sorry, not sure of the official name). This then connects to the GPIO holes on the Pi Zero. The fit in the GPIO holes seems kind of loose, but it’s definitely connected.

I have the Pi Zero connected to my laptop via USB and access it via a Putty session. I have also tried connecting a USB power supply to it as well, rather than relying on the laptop to power it.

4

You should solder the header to your pi zero(or at least use one of the solderless hammer headers).

5

I guarantee you that it is not connected. :-)

You must solder the header to the Pi Zero (or use our Hammer Header kit which can be found here: https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/gpio-hammer-header).

6

^ I concur.

The pins on most GPIO headers are square. The holes for those pins are round. This means you are literally putting square pegs into round holes. The contact surface, at best, is just the very corners of those pins which is not nearly good enough.

You’ll need solder, or a hammer header. The hammer header works because the pins have a flat, rectangular profile and have a good contact surface at either end, which is under tension.

You could possibly get your Blintk! working without solder by gently angling it to provide better contact, but that’s only a very temporary solution.

Also if you use your fingernail on the corner of the top layer of your PiBow you should find a layer of white plastic film will peel away and give you a clear top.

Good luck!

7

Thanks for all of the responses. So user error then :-)

I didn’t realise this particular GPIO header required soldering. I thought it just slotted in place! I shall be ordering myself a hammer head shortly.

Thanks again.

8

Right, so I got the hammerhead GPIO header, attached it and the BLINKT works absolutely fine.

Thanks everyone for your help!

1 Like
9

Brilliant! Enjoy! :-)