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Why is my LED not responding or not responding as expected in BirdBlox?

The fastest way to determine if there is an issue with your LED is to perform a hardware test. To perform a hardware test on your Hummingbird LED, please follow this link to our Interactive Support App.

If your LEDs are functioning properly, there are a few other possibilities for why they may not be working, including coding errors.

  1. Check your LED connection. Is the LED plugged in correctly and securely? Watch the first video below to double check your LED connection.
  2. Make sure your micro:bit is plugged in securely.
  3. Check the orientation of the micro:bit. If your micro:bit is plugged into the Hummingbird Bit upside down (the micro:bit screen facing downwards), your components will not work. Right-Wrong_microbit_plugin.jpg
  4. Make sure the Hummingbird Bit is still connected with a Bit Display test. A Bit Display test will help you quickly determine if there is a bluetooth connection between the Hummingbird Bit and your tablet or smartphone.
  5. Double check your LED code. In most cases, the issue can be solved through the code. To test your LED with accurate code, plug your LED into LED port 1 and copy this BirdBlox program. Watch the second video below to check your LED code.
  6. Check the device pull down menu. You may be looking at the wrong set of blocks. There are 3 pull-down menus, each menu dedicated to one of the 3 devices that BirdBlox can control: Hummingbird Bit, Hummingbird Duo, and the micro:bit. If your blocks are greyed out, it is possible that you are working with blocks that do not match your device. Make sure that you are pulling blocks from the menu that matches your device.
  7. If you have done steps 1-6 and the LED is still not responding, you may be dealing with a broken LED or a broken LED port on your Hummingbird Bit. Try the LED on another port (be sure to update your code to reflect the new port number).
    • If the LED reacts, the issue is with the Hummingbird LED port.
    • If the LED does not react, switch it out with a new LED. If the new LED reacts, your first LED was broken. Watch the third video below to see reasons why the LED may be broken.
    • If needed, new components can be ordered from our store.

 

Watch this video to check your LED connection:

Watch this video to double check your LED code:

Watch this video to see why your LED may not be working properly:

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