Сontroller app cannot connect the lightbar

[AntonAverkiev88]

Hello, @Harvey71 !
First of all, I want to thank you so much for your wonderful work! I was very interested in this project as an EMDR therapist and decided to do it myself.
I should note that, unfortunately, I don't know anything about Python coding or anything like that.

So I flashed the microcontroller (Wemos D1 Mini) using the Thonny IDE and ran the controller app on a Windows 10 PC.
The controller works, the sound works, but the lightbar doesn't connect (the gray eye icon appears).
Nevertheless, the Lightbar blinks red and green when connected.

Troubleshooting steps taken:

• Since the LED strip I'm using has 60 LEDs instead of 57 like your firmware, I modified the controller and lightbar firmware files (main.py and lightbar.ino in \emdr-master\firmware\lightbar; devices.py in \emdr-master\controller). However, nothing changed.
• I checked all the wire connections – everything is as shown in the diagram in the project.
• I tried using different USB data cables.

It might be a firmware issue on the D1 Mini, as your guide says to use Micropython v. 1.22.1, but I used version 1.26.1 because 1.22.1 wasn't listed.

Since I'm out of ideas and couldn't find any other tips in the comments on YouTube or Github, I decided to contact you here.
I would be very grateful for any help. If you need any additional information about my setup, I'm happy to provide it.

Thank you

[Harvey71]

Hey Anton,
the LED bar showing the red and green lights is a good sign. The D1 Mini runs probably all right. I suspect an issue on the Windows PC or Vendor ID incompatibility.
Have you installed the CH340 driver (https://www.wemos.cc/en/latest/ch340_driver.html)? If yes, could you have a look at the Windows device manager? I currently don't have access to a Windows system, but reg. ChatGPT it should work like this:

• Press Win + X
• Select Device Manager
• Expand the sections:
  -- Universal Serial Bus controllers (for hubs, controllers, root hubs, etc.)
  -- Portable Devices or Disk drives (for USB storage devices)
  -- Human Interface Devices (for mice/keyboards)
  -- Other devices if drivers are missing

Do you see your D1 Mini? Something should appear/disapper when pluggin the Lightbar in/out to your Windows PC. Could you copy all values from the item and post here? Especially Vendor ID and Product ID. If they differ from the values in device_config.py, the file would have to be updated. I could do that for you.

[AntonAverkiev88]

Hey Thomas,
Thank you so much for your quick answer!
Yes, I've already installed the CH340 driver. To be sure, I tried the same steps on another Windows 11 laptop with same result.

So, in Device Manager, when connected, the D1 Mini appears in two places:

Ports (COM & LPT)
Device Description:         USB Serial Port (COM3)
Instance ID:                FTDIBUS\VID_0403+PID_6001+A5069RR4A\0000
Class Name:                 Ports
Class GUID:                 {4d36e978-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
Manufacturer Name:          FTDI
Status:                     Started
Driver Name:                oem86.inf

Universal serial bus controllers
Device Description:         USB Serial Converter
Instance ID:                USB\VID_0403&PID_6001\A5069RR4
Class Name:                 USB
Class GUID:                 {36fc9e60-c465-11cf-8056-444553540000}
Manufacturer Name:          FTDI
Status:                     Started
Driver Name:                oem36.inf
Extension Driver Names:     narrfltr.inf

I'm also attaching a screenshot of the Thonny IDE app, which shows some errors displayed on lines 40 and 68 in the main.py file.

[Harvey71]

As I thought, your D1 Mini uses a different Vendor ID and Product ID than mine. I updated the device_config.py. Please pull the latest version of that file and try again. You do not need to flash your D1 Mini - the change is in the controller app only.

[AntonAverkiev88]

Thank you for your work!
There we have some changes: now when Controller app just started the eye icon is active for a 1 sec, but then it become gray again and the lightbar doesn't work...
Also while the application is running, the red and green LEDs on the light bar are constantly lit, and the blue LED on the D1 mini blinks.

Maybe it makes sense me to try Raspberry Pico already?:)

[AntonAverkiev88]

So, I've solved the problem by replacing the D1 mini with Raspberry Pico. And now it's working great!
Thanks for your help!

---

By the way, I have one more question: is it possible to change sound of "beep" (not only pitch or "short/long")? Because all of my clients found these sounds are little bit annoying :) But most of them wants some other pleasant sound.