Has anyone experienced a new developer Electric Imp (with sparkfun breakout) having a dead pin 1? I’ve checked the solder connection on the pin to the board and all is fine but I can’t read or write anything with pin 1 - is this a known problem. Can anyone suggest a way to workout if it’s the SF board or EImp that is to blame?
Thanks
Simon
It is a know problem with a particular connector on the SF board not making proper contact with the Imp.
Personally I do not blame Sparkfun for this one. I made my own board and it suffered from this problem. lets say that the imp is sensitive to the SD socket and so far I don’t know the slam dunk solution.
You might try asking electric imp to replace your imp card, possible checking against the manufacturing date to see if a new card would be any different.
If you are having problems with pin1, email info@ and we will replace the card for you. The issue is mechanical and socket tolerance related, so it doesn’t show with some sockets but does with others.
Thanks, sounds like this is bit of a known issue - I’ll drop an email to info@ and see how we get on
i am having the same issue i have 3 imps and 3 sparkfun April breakout boards if i wiggle the imp (doesn’t matter with imp or breakout board) in the slot it works so i would blame sparkfun for this ps i bought 1 breakout off sparkfun and the other 2 off of amazon about a month in between the 2 orders
Nice to find this link are realize it is not me… I have SF Breakout. Trying to impress my friends by turning an led on/off from Ipod App but had to push the card a little to see the result… 
It’s quite frustrating to say the least. Even my Hannah Development Board has a loose connection. I noticed on a photo of the green April board that it uses a different SD card slot. I think I’ll try this. I’m thinking about scrapping the entire imp project now
I certainly agree that mechanical intermittents can be the most frustrating type of problem, but I’d encourage you to first follow up on @Hugo’s offer (if you haven’t yet) to replace the cards before abandoning your project. I encountered similar difficulties (even a bit more subtle than what you were report) that were resolved with new EI imps. I think it’s worth a shot.
Within the next two months, I intend to have one or more Imp module breakouts available for sale on a forthcoming online store. I am putting a lot of work into making them modular, so that they work with many designs. Hopefully that will help make getting started with the module much more user friendly.
I have 3 imps, 3 SF Aprils and 1 Hanna. All 3 imps are loose on all 4 impees. I tried a 4gb card from my old camera and have the same result. I’m blaming the SD card reader
bradydennis, I am curious about your test with the 4gb memory card. How were you able to test an imp socket with a memory card?
I’m wondering what connector Sparkfun is using… did they ever change it?
I can tell by the way the card is seated, it is loose. i tried the imp on another sd reader im my shop and it feels snug.
does this problem occur on the Amphenol sockets sold @ digikey ?
I’m very interested in knowing this as well. I have never had a problem with any of the “green” April boards.
The green Aprils I’ve seen have PROCONN stamped on them. These seem to have no problems. The red April’s from sparkfun have no stamp. I’d imagine they are generic and have a greater tolerance the Hannah I bought from smartmaker also has this generic card slot and is defective. So far smartmaker has not granted my RMA for defective equipment. I returned my other Aprils I bought from amazon with no trouble. I’m switching to the imp002
I bought a card holder on Digikey - virtually certain it was Amphenol and it had this problem.
What I wish for is a workaround and to understand what the exact failure mode is. For example, can one put some tape on the card to thicken it? Can one put a bit of solder on the pad to improve the contact without harming the other pins?
I made a shim that seemed to work. You need to press down on pin 1. If you would thicken the contact too much it may separate other pins. Maybe, if you carefully thicken the whole pad and file it flat it would work. You only need a few mils. Please let us know what works for you