Ubercorn not lighting up at all

On a Pi Zero running the latest version of Raspbian with the Ubercorn setup completed (curl -sS https://get.pimoroni.com/unicornhat | bash)

If I try any of the examples in the official repo I just get no lights at all. Yes i’m running it elevated, and I don’t get any errors in the CLI. I’ve enabled I2C and SPI just in case but no difference. There is good contact between the Ubercorn pins and the Pi and nothing on the Pi is touching the Ubercorn board.

Is this a software issue or have I got a duff board?
Thanks in advance! :D

Did that Pi Zero come with the header already soldered on, or did you do the soldering?

I soldered this one but I don’t see any dry joints or similar.

Have you got another Raspberry Pi to use for testing the Ubercorn on?

Sadly not! Just did a completely new fresh install of Raspbian again but with the same result still. There’s no other config to do other than run that bash script, right?

You could try the manual install?
Can you post a picture of your soldering on the Pi?
Pimoroni tech support will want to see it at some point.


it’s not gonna win me “solder of the year” but there aren’t any shorts!

I’m thinking that is likely your issue. Probably one of more cold solder joints.
Tech Support is likely going to ask you to have a go at fixing it up.

The Ultimate Guide to Soldering (pimoroni.com)
soldering101

Let me reflow these all this afternoon and have another go. Good to rule out potential software issues at least! Thanks for your help, and fingers crossed!

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What I do is touch the soldering iron tip to the pin and the pad.
Both get nice and hot, only takes about a second to happen.
Then I apply the solder to the very tip of the iron.
Right where its touching the pin
You only need enough so that it flows around the back side of the pin.
Wait another second and pull the iron away.

If I’m reflowing, I do it this way.
Touch the pre existing solder, let it melt, touch the pin with the solder tip.
Only add solder if you think you didn’t apply enough the first time.
Wait a second and remove the tip.

If you think there is too much solder.
Touch the pre existing solder, let it melt, remove the tip and clean it with a sponge.
Usually some of the solder will stay on the tip.
If you wait and let it cool down you can do this again.
The proper way is to use a solder wick or solder sucker.

I didn’t see any I think need anything other than a reflow.

You were spot on! Thank you so much! Now I need to collect some 16*16 GIFs!

All right, nice work. Time to have some fun. Good soldering is an acquired skill.
I’m getting up there age wise and need to take my time. Eyesight isn’t what it used to be, lol.
And they seem to keep making the pins and pads smaller and smaller.

On the Pico side of things I have a Steller and Galactic Unicorn.
And a 64x64 setup with an Interstate 75.
Weather info via text messages. No fancy graphics just yet.

On the Pi side I have a couple of Unicorn HD’s and a mini or two.
They aren’t doing anything at the moment, they were replaced with the above setups.
I have plans to resurrect them, just have to find my round 2it. ;)