I tried your second sketch. It kind of worked. The data that printed to the serial monitor looked like this:
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 519 518, 1, 1, 1, 1, 519 1, 1, 1, 1, 19, 9 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 519 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 519 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 518 1, 1, 519, 518, 1, 518 1, 1, 519, 518, 1, 518 1, 1, 518, 518, 1, 518 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 8 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 519 1, 1, 518, 1, 1, 1 8, 1, 518, 1, 1, 1 1, 1, 519, 1, 1, 1 1, 1, 1, 519, 1, 1 1, 1, 1, 519, 1, 1 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 519 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 518 1, 1, 1, 1, 519, 8 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 518 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 519 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 518 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 518 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 520
it should have all been 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 518(ish).