Hi, just wondering for what is this led used?

Following the schematic I see that is connected to the D8 of the Atmega on the ZIP, so only could be used if some kind of sketch is running on it.


Off topic, the error led should light on in what cases?

I tryed to see it taking out the atmel in a middle of the bootloader program, putting wrong atmel or choose wrong one on IDE and nothing, I only got errors on the console parte of the IDE and this led never lights on.

I know the led is ok because it flashes briefly when we power the arduino where the shield is connected.

Thanks.

Following the schematic I see that is connected to the D8 of the Atmega on the ZIP, so only could be used if some kind of sketch is running on it.

Yes, that is correct. It's there if you wish to have a free LED to run on your program, and you do not need to install it if it conflicts with something else that you need to do.

Off topic, the error led should light on in what cases?

I tryed to see it taking out the atmel in a middle of the bootloader program, putting wrong atmel or choose wrong one on IDE and nothing, I only got errors on the console parte of the IDE and this led never lights on.

Take a look through the ArduinoISP sketch to see the circumstances under which it can be lit.

Ok, thanks for the answer.

Regarding Hello led I think this could be more interesting if was turned on a power led since there is another function for this shield not mensioned, I mean if trought the 6 or 10 pin header we connect a ISP programer (any, like USBTinyISP, USBasp, etc.) with a cable the shield behaves like a Atmel easy sockect and can be used to flash bootloaders or code using the IDE choosing the right programmer insted Arduino ISP without the need of a real Arduino board.

This power led could light on and indicate when the jumper option for having power to target is on. This is required to get power from one of this programmers so the shield alone works.

Another good thing could be at least same extra header pins on the PCB so we can connect the normal six pin FDTI and like that this board turns out to be a normal Arduino for runnig code or used for quick tests.

Regarding the error led, I'm allready analysing the code to see how and in witch cases lighst on.

Thanks again for this easy and funtastic product that save me a lot of time and bended atmel pins because of the constant removing with a normal Arduino since I program a log o bootloads on atmel chips.

If you just want to program AVRs, I'd suggest using one of our "ZIF" mini-dev kits, where it's easy to wire up a power LED, or even an FTDI header. These are the ones that we use for flashing the Arduino bootloader at our shop.

Ok, thanks I'll check it, but for now we are very happy with this ISP shield and my sugestions stay for who knows a future improvemnt of IT.

There is space on the PCB and I think could be a good solution since is not to heavy in terms of price to implement.

Thanks again.