compuw22d

I resolved the automatic connecting issue.  Installing Arduino and the official serial drivers seems to have helped quite a bit (though the built-in are usually decent...).

Yup, I'm poking around a bit.  Part of it was using task scheduler and I think had something to do with it not being "started" in the folder it was in?  The other part has something to do with the com text box.  A sure fire way to fix it with com ports is to hit refresh, click the com port in the list, then click the dropdown in top left corner, then BACKSPACE a bit in the text box of the COM port, then select it from the dropdown.  Debugging a bit more now...

I see what you mean, almost too fast    I am noticing some issues in getting a reliable connection to the Mega especially trying to run on startup.  Says connected but isn't, some random disconnecting, reconnecting, and re-opening the application seems to help.

I also did a bit of testing with your hopper code (the time I thought I saw an extra coin drop was on a quick run home during my lunch break, so I didn't analyze it much).  Trying with PUTTY on the COM port and just hitting the c Key does appear to drop only 1 coin, so it seems the use of interrupts is likely unnecessary (I'm still using your code, not mine).  Still might be worth doing, but thought I'd post my findings in case it helps someone else.

I'm also wondering if it might be worth experiment with higher and/or adjustable baud rates (in the application, obviously sketch adjusted to match) to see if we can't reduce some of the latency.  Some interesting reading:

https://arduino.stac...ax-serial-speed

https://www.insidega...g-datasheet.pdf

"CH340 supports common baud rates: 50, 75, 100, 110, 134.5, 150, 300, 600, 900, 1200, 1800, 2400, 3600, 4800, 9600, 14400, 19200, 28800, 33600, 38400, 56000, 57600, 76800, 115200, 128000, 153600, 230400, 460800, 921600, 1500000, 2000000 baud. Transmitter baud rate error is less than 0.3%, receiver baud rate error tolerance is at most 2%."