I bought a breakout garden with the BME680 air quality sensor, the MLX90640 heat sensing camera, and the .96" colour LCD. I’ve installed all th github stuff, but when I run ./install.sh the BME680 is detected and installed, the camera is detected but reports an error, and the LCD screen isn’t found at all. Spent hours on this going through the forums, and now about to chuck the whole thing out. Help!
The Breakout Garden installer routine will only find and install i2c devices. You will have to install the LCD screen software manually.
For the display I would first go and make sure SPI is enabled in Raspberry Pi Configuration.
And then run the following.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python-rpi.gpio python-spidev python-pip python-imaging python-numpy
sudo apt-get install python3-rpi.gpio python3-spidev python3-pip python3-imaging python3-numpy
sudo pip install st7735
sudo pip3 install st7735
That should cover all the bases for the LCD display.
What’s the error you get for the camera?
I found this note on the camera product page
Note that our Breakout Garden installer will not automatically detect and install the thermal camera software, you’ll have to install it manually. Full instructions can be found here.
Checking all of that out - will let you know! Many thanks, though. Any ideas about the error on the thermal camera?
What was the specific error?
It said it was installing and then just said ‘error’. There should be an error log but I can’t find it.
I’d just click that Blue link in my post above and do the manual install. I have the breakout mini i2c and SPI. I’m not going to even bother with its installer, I’ll just install each breakout manually.
I have the 1.3 inch SPI LCD, I had a bit of work getting it running. I have a couple of breakouts on the way that I should have next week some time.
I’ve done all the installation for the LCD screen and am now trying to find a sample program to let me know how to use it (assuming it works). I’ve tried the thermal camera install, but can’t get the ‘make’ commands to do anything.
I ran the scrolling-text.py file from here as a test to see if mine was working.
For the thermal camera try this, if you haven’t already
It’s in the step by step section from the link I posted above.
wget http://www.airspayce.com/mikem/bcm2835/bcm2835-1.55.tar.gz
tar xvfz bcm2835-1.55.tar.gz
cd bcm2835-1.55
./configure
make
sudo make install
Thanks for your time here.
Scrolling text example gives error ‘no module named ST7789’ so I’ve missed something somewhere.
The thermal camera instructions all seemed to work - just need to fnd a program to test it!
EDIT: Is that the Mini or the Hat. If it’s the Hat and your using the back SPI slot you have to make edits to the examples to use that slot. Or move it to the front slot. If it’s the mini, its the same as the front slot of the Hat, and the examples shouldn’t need to be edited.
Here is a thread I created with what i went through to get mine working.
Before you go through it, I’d double check that SPI is enabled.
It’s the full HAT and the LCD is in the front slot. After installing st7789 properly, the scrolling ext runs but no text appears. SPI is enabled.
Reseat it in that front slot and try again. Maybe reattach the hat to the Pi just be sure its not a GPIO pin contact issue or something?
If it still doesn’t work, try it in the back slot, and edit the example for use with the back slot.
That’s all I have at the moment. I managed to get text on mine, eventually.
If all that fails there is a “contact us” link at the bottom of the Shop page. If you haven’t had it long you may be able to get a replacement. I think its a 30 day refund policy.
If you do the contact us put a link to this thread in the e-mail.
Thanks again. I do think Pimoroni’s sales pitch that you stick the hat on, plug in the breakouts, and you’re away is bollocks!
I think you have a valid complaint there. ;)
It can be very frustrating at times that’s for sure.
This might be of interest, thermal camera wise.
https://learn.adafruit.com/search?q=thermal%20camera
i think they might have been talking to those in the room at the time ,lol
I’m about to get back to my Arduino brads after a couple of years of having them in a drawer. Might have more luck there than with the PI! Thought I was getting somewhere, but the program I fund keeps failing, despite having installed all the modules.
I’ve had my fair share of struggles. For the most part I just plug along until I sort it out. I sometimes put something aside, work on something else and then go back and have a fresh start. It’s a very nice feeling of satisfaction when you get it working.
I don’t own a thermal camera so I can’t help you there. I have a couple of BME680’s in use and working fine. Wired up manually though, not in a breakout garden. And I’m not using the air quality part. I have some more breakouts on the way that I hope to be testing out next week some time.
I wish I had more to offer but I don’t have anything else to add at the moment.
Yes, it’s nice when it finally works! I’ve got the air quality thing working on the breakout board, but it was the thermal camera I was really interested in - to track down where I’m losing heat in the house! I still think Pimoroni are poor just firing people over to Github to find what they need.