I just put a short video looking at the Morserino-32 on YouTube:
In particular, I look at the echo trainer mode and how it can be used to improve your ability to copy Morse in your head. If you are trying to learn Morse code and haven’t seen the Morserino-32 in action yet, you should find it very interesting. The first firmware update will hopefully be released in the next few weeks. This will improve performance above 25 wpm (the result of a dit timing issue). Although the Kickstarter campaign is over, more kits will become availabe as time goes on.
Thanks Matt for the video. Good introduction for the ones that consider buying one.
The battery in my morserino32 unfortunatly died already. Not sure if it was not a problem from the beginning. Charging took for ever. Will need to get a replacement. Maybe will just add an 18650 cell to side.
But appart from that I tend to practice more than before
I found that if I left the device switched on via the main switch and just put it in sleep mode the battery would still run down. Now, I always use the main switch. So far my battery has held its charge well; I would consider changing it for the same Tatu battery first:
Glad to hear you are getting more practice in via the Morserino, let me know how it goes, we will be doing another presentation at Friedrichshafen 2020, so all feedback is greatly appreciated. Have you tried getting it working with Mumble so you can join the iCW net?
Hi Joe,
I left my Morserino-32 switched on overnight and was able to replicate the effect: my battery is now down to 1.8v. I have a couple of prototypes at home, so I was able to splice in a replacement and the Morserino-32 now works fine. I had a word with Willi about this effect and this is what he wrote back:
Hi Matt, the problem with LiPos is that they do not like deep discharging… I think this is the first time that I hear this happen with a Morserino, but in general, deep discharging a few times will damage the batteries, so that eventually they need to be replaced. Unfortunately the electronics on the Heltec module prevent overcharging, but not deep discharge . May be it would be in order to include a warning in the manual…
I did a deep discharge 3 or 4 times on one of the Tattu batteries, and it is still working ok (maybe with slightly diminished capacity).
So, it seems like there is a possibility that the LiPo can be deep discharged if the unit is not turned off at the main switch. Willi is going to update the manual, but in the meantime, Morserino owners should take it as read that the unit should always be turned off with the slide switch when you are finished. If you do accidently over-discharge your LiPo, the Morserino-32 will still work fine powered from a portable USB power source.
In all instances, Willi is always happy to receive ‘constructive’ feedback (in both English and German). Please contact him by email if necessary.
Good news: the first firmware update for the Morserino-32 will be available on Wednesday or Thursday, depending on exactly what time zone you live in. I was lucky enough to get my hands on an advanced copy so that I could make a video showing how to update via WiFi:
I hope you find it useful, I have included links to GitHub in the description. I think the new firmware definitely sorts out the dit timing issue. The Morserino-32 is now fully VHSC ready.
73 de OE6FEG
Matt
Thanks for the video. Will check the github page for updates in the next days.
FYI for screen recordings i.e. the OpenBroadcaster software is really useful and open source (Windows, Linux, MacOS).
You can record video from full screen, individual windows or parts of the screen.
In addition you can connect a webcam and have both on screen the same time picture-in-picture.
Willi has received quite a few orders as a result of the video going on the Zed. Whether that is a good thing (he can order sooner and get a bigger discount on the parts), or a bad thing (he is snowed under with orders and needs to be manually dug out of a huge pile of Morserinos), I don’t know.
No, Willi is distributing the kits on a complete non-profit (or at the very most, negligible-profit) basis. The only people to make money out of this are PayPal and Kickstarter. At €80 each, I’m sure there are plenty of folks here who can do a quick back of the envelope calculation.
Tried to update to the version 1.1 that is now available.
Tested the txt file upload first. That worked fine.
Firmware progress goes to 93% in a second and then 100%. morserino32 stays at version 1.0
I think there is something wrong with the github file or something else.
Wifi here is WPA2 and it looks like the connection is fine (text file upload).
I tried Win10 and Ubuntu Linux. Both without success for the firmware update.
Okay, found my mistake.
In the github you need to left click the file. And then use the download button.
If you right-click and select: Save file as… it does not work
Now at version 1.1
