Here’s a link to the post introducing this series about e-textiles.

And here’s a link to the post where I last left off:

 

And now, without further ado, we come to the latest installment.

There’s really no reason why series circuits should be any more difficult, but, for me, they were.  And having difficulty is actually an opportunity for problem solving and therefore learning. I’m documenting my process so that others can see that the path to understanding is not always direct.  There was no one guiding me but an online tutorial.  I had to figure out why the connections were not correct and redo them.  Each attempt required testing.  This is an iterative process.

 

As I’m explaining what I’ve done, I’m actively explaining my thought processes and inquiring into how I went astray. I interrupt myself, going on a tangent.  I explain various things I checked for and how I decided to put on my glasses and look at the directions. Live and learn.

This iteration doesn’t work either. Perseverence.  I make some conjectures about my errors.

I had decided to literally do it over. I set aside my first attempt and used completely new parts on a new felt. “Back to the sewing board,” as it were.

Here I decide to do a little experiement midway through the task.  Instead waiting till the end to test it, I use a needle to test of the connections are good.  I think ahead to my next move.

Here I decide that I should try different batteries.  This was about the time I got the idea to use the simple circuit as my battery tester.

 

This is where I dig in and do some serious debugging.  I’m attempting to isolate the problem area by finding all the connections that successfully light up LEDs.  Notice that I state that it isn’t working “YET.” That’s growth mindset at work.

 

Here I’m becoming more practiced at troubleshooting.  You can hear my dog shaking in the background.

She gets bored when I’m busy.

 

Here I’m able to conclude that my error was in having too many LED for the number of batteries.  I had misread the directions.  Eventually, I will not need directions.  This is a step along the way toward that end.

I decide to put it on the back burner and move on to the next project.

This clip cuts off mid-sentence.  I’m trying to explain here that sometimes you have a problem and that problems are not completely unavoidable.

Think of times when you have encountered technical difficulties.  How did you get through it.  What was your mindset?