Now that I had stumbled across a circuit that would drive my light bulbs from a DC voltage, I finally decided to troubleshoot the USB Interface board.
Now, I’m telling you this because I want you to know exactly how stupid I can be sometimes. I had shelved the USB Interface board for an entire week because it didn’t work, and I was certain that it would be weeks of probing before I would be able to find the single cold solder joint responsible.
This time when I pulled the board out, I noticed something. Look closely:
I want to note that I assembled this board (well, not this board, exactly. This is a product shot – but you know what I mean) with my own two hands. I am going to admit to you right now, publicly. I did not realize that those headers acted as jumpers. Thankfully, it dawned on me this time. I quickly snatched up a handful of jumper wires, ran the demo program included with the board, and like magic I had a working USB Interface board. It would have only taken a moment of probing before I realized what the jumpers were for, but I had allowed my procrastination and fear of failure to stand in my way yet again.
It was not my finest hour.
