Bluefruit Board
(Mouse over links below to highlight the items on the image above)
  1. Sensors/Inputs
    1. Reset Button
    2. Switch
    3. Temperature
    4. Microphone
    5. Accelerometer
    6. Light
    7. Button A
    8. Button B
    9. Capacitive touch sensors
  2. Outputs
    1. Speaker
    2. Red LED
    3. NeoPixels 0 to 10
  3. Other
    1. Power Indicator (left of the USB)
    2. USB Port
    3. CPU

Inventory

Use the table below to conduct an inventory of all your lab kit components.

Quantity Description Image
1 Circuit Playground Bluefruit
Bluefruit Board
1 CY105 development kit Printed Circuit Board (PCB)
Front: PCB Front Back: PCB Back
1

Circuit Playground TFT Gizmo Display with 12 screws

Note: Inside your white box, find the bag that includes screws - use these screws.

If your TFT Gizmo Display comes inside red bubble wrap, you may have a small bag of screws in that red bubble wrap. Do not use these 12 screws - see picture below.

Bad screws
TFT Gizmo
1

Acrylic stand and mounting hardware (2 screws and 2 nuts)

Note: You will need to remove the clear film on the acrylic stand.

SCREWS: Inside your white box, find the bag that includes screws - use these screws.

STOP! Find the 2 screws and 2 nuts inside the same bag you found the 12 screws for the TFT Gizmo Display. These 2 screws have a slightly smaller head compared to the other 12 screws. Locate these 2 screws and screw on the nuts now to ensure you separated the correct 2 screws.

You should not have to force the nuts onto the screws - they should be easily hand-tightened.

both screws
Stand
1 12 pin female header
Header
1

Breadboard

Note: You may throw away the small metal plate that's in the plastic bag with the Breadboard.
Breadboard
4

Rubber feet (for bottom of acrylic stand)

Note: You will need to peel off each rubber 'foot' and stick on the bottom of the acrylic stand.
Stand
1

USB A to USB Micro Cable
USB Cable
1

Power Supply

Note: You can use this to plug in your Bluefruit to an outlet, rather than your computer. It will then execute whatever code was last saved on the Bluefruit.
Power Supply
3

Jumper Wires

Note: You will have 4 wires in your kit, but you only need 3 to complete the lab.
Jumper Wires
1 Solder
Jumper Wires
1

Servo Package (this package should contain the next two items)
Servo
1

Servo (inside the Servo Package above)
Servo
1

Servo Horns (inside the Servo Package above)

Note: You only need one servo horn for this lab.
Servo Horns
1

3 Pin Double-Sided Header

Note: This header is very small and is in the same plastic bag as the screws.
Doublesided headers

Assembly

  1. Headers

    Insert the header pins (image below) through the small holes on the front of the PCB. Make sure the header is flush with the surface of the PCB.

    Headers PCB Front PCB Back
  2. Solder the headers

    While holding the headers in place, flip the board over and solder all the connector pins. Note: It may be helpful to put the breadboard under the PCB to help hold it in place while soldering. What is the point of soldering?

    Make sure to solder on the BEAT NAVY side of the board. DO NOT solder on the front of the board! Soldering Demo

    Solder Tip Headers PCB Front PCB Back
  3. Attach the breadboard

    Flip the board back over to the side that says “FRONT.” Peel off the cover on the back of the breadboard and attach it below the headers as shown in the image below. Attach it as close as possible to the headers to leave room for the stand's screws! What is a breadboard?

    Attach Breadboard
  4. Bolt the Bluefruit and the display

    Attach the display (TFT Gizmo) to the front (image bottom/left) and the Bluefruit to the back (image bottom/right) of the circuit board using the 12 provided screws. (Ask your instructor for a screwdriver.)

    STOP! Ensure you are using the correct 12 screws (you should have already separated the 2 screws for the acrylic stand). You should not have to force the screws into the TFT Gizmo Display - they should be easily screwed in with the screwdriver.

    Start each of the screws in the order highlighted below (image middle/left). Once they are all started, then tighten them down so that standoffs are flush with the front of the board (image middle/right). Note: The TFT Gizmo label on the display and the USB connector on the Bluefruit should be aligned towards the top of the board. You may have to remove the orange screw covers on the display's standoffs. Be gentle when using the screws to attach the display. It is fragile!

    Bolt order Standoffs

    Once complete, it should look like this:

    Front Bolt Display Back Bolt Display
  5. Stand

    Remove the clear film from both sides of the acrylic stand and then attach it to the circuit board using the provided screws/nuts (these are the 2 screws and 2 nuts you attached earlier during the inventory). Attach the rubber feet to the bottom of the stand.

    Front Stand Back Stand Stand Feet

Setup your Bluefruit board

  1. Using the USB cable, plug your board into your computer.
  2. Rapidly push the “reset” button in the middle of your board two times:

    Reset Button

  3. All the LEDs around the outside should turn green and you should have a red and green LED on either side of your USB cable. You should also see CPLAYBOOT show up as a drive in your computer's file explorer.

    Reset Lights CPLAYBOOT

  4. Click here to download the files you will need.
  5. Open your downloaded folder and the “Circuit Playground Lab Files” folder inside it. If you see the WinRAR icon, you will likely need to uninstall the program to access the files. See the steps in Troubleshooting.
    CPLAYBOOT
  6. Drag the file named adafruit-circuitpython-circuitplayground_bluefruit-en_US-#.#.# from the Circuit Playground Lab Files folder you just opened onto your CPLAYBTBOOT drive highlighted in step 3.
    Folders
  7. After a few seconds, the outer ring of LEDs should start flashing green and the drive name should change to CIRCUITPY. When you click on that drive, you should see the files and folders below.
    Folders
  8. If you closed it, open the "Circuit Playground Lab Files" folder you downloaded. Then open the "lib files" folder.

    Drag/copy all the documents (shown in the video below) from that folder /into the "lib" folder in your CIRCUITPY drive. Do not copy the “lib files” folder, just the items inside it!

    Headers

Using Mu

  1. to view the Bluefruit's components. Mouse over the board or the list of components to highlight each part. You can view this any time by clicking the "Bluefruit Board" button in the instructions below.
  2. If you haven't done so already, download and install Mu Editor. Select "CircuitPython" for the "mode".
    Mu Mode
  3. Open the Mu Editor.
    Opening Mu
  4. In the Mu editor, turn on the Serial display and the Plotter.
    Bluefruit Board
  5. If you don't see a tab in the Mu editor named "code.py", click "Load" and navigate to your CIRCUITPY drive and open the “code” file.
    Bluefruit Board
  6. Click "Save" to run the Hello World program (note that there is just a small code snippet and no function). Look for "Hello World!" in the console window (CircuitPython REPL window). See image below.
    Bluefruit Board