Aether troubles

[Mickpat]

More good news.  #3 is now working.  I touched up the pins on the pic and its working.

Now onto number #4 which has a short somewhere.

[RJ]

 

RJ

[Mickpat]

I finally had more time to look at my 4th Aether.

On the LED shown in the pic, Pin R- was going to ground.

On U2, Pins 1, 2, 3 where showing .06 ohm and pin 5,6 were going to ground.

I decided to remove the U2 chip. (I am pretty sure this is what was smoking when power is on.) 

With U2 removed, LED pin R- no longer shows ground. 

Also, pads for pins 1,2,3 all show no ground now.  Pads 4 and 5 still go to ground which is consistent with the other two constant power circuits.

This leads me to believe the U2 chip is the cause of the problem and not the LED.

What else should I look for?  I didn't see any shorts under U2 after removing the chip.  Maybe the chip was damaged which is why pins 1,2,3 had a readout.  I am going to order replacement U2, but maybe I should replace D1, the capacitors and resistors while I am at it.   Thoughts?

[RJ]

Well since they cost nothing I would say it is good insurance to replace them. Hope that fixes you up.

RJ

[Mickpat]

Okay, parts are on order.  What is the best way to solder the new SMC?  Can I apply paste and heat with my soldering iron?  Or just try and hand solder SMC?

[RJ]

a very little flux from you pen and hand solder.

RJ

[Mickpat]

I received the replacement parts today and replaced the caps, diode and LED driver.

Now when I power the unit on, I get all white without the smoke.  

When I connect the pic programmer, the lights are pink.   When I flash using the diag firmware, its white and flash green.  Normally its just flashes green.  After flashing, the lights stay all white.

Everything appears correct, but obviously something is wrong.

Of note the diode shipped is different than the other two.  The LED driver is also different.  Both were ordered straight from Mouser BOM listed on the wiki.  All I did was tweak the qty.  On the diode, I wasn't sure which direction but saw a vertical line and placed that to the left.  The other two diode have a notch plus the line.

Looking at the photo, it appears the one cap needs to be retouched which I will try tomorrow.

Any suggestions?  Thanks.

[wbuehler]

I received the replacement parts today and replaced the caps, diode and LED driver.

Now when I power the unit on, I get all white without the smoke. 

When I connect the pic programmer, the lights are pink.   When I flash using the diag firmware, its white and flash green.  Normally its just flashes green.  After flashing, the lights stay all white.

Everything appears correct, but obviously something is wrong.

Of note the diode shipped is different than the other two.  The LED driver is also different.  Both were ordered straight from Mouser BOM listed on the wiki.  All I did was tweak the qty.  On the diode, I wasn't sure which direction but saw a vertical line and placed that to the right.  The other two diode have a notch plus the line.

Looking at the photo, it appears the one cap needs to be retouched which I will try tomorrow.

Any suggestions?  Thanks.

Please note that some co-op parts were subed due to Qty's that were available, so if compared to new parts, they may look different.
Just make sure that the parts you received match the BOM in the Wiki.

Bill

[RJ]

I received the replacement parts today and replaced the caps, diode and LED driver.

Now when I power the unit on, I get all white without the smoke.  

When I connect the pic programmer, the lights are pink.   When I flash using the diag firmware, its white and flash green.  Normally its just flashes green.  After flashing, the lights stay all white.

Everything appears correct, but obviously something is wrong.

Of note the diode shipped is different than the other two.  The LED driver is also different.  Both were ordered straight from Mouser BOM listed on the wiki.  All I did was tweak the qty.  On the diode, I wasn't sure which direction but saw a vertical line and placed that to the left.  The other two diode have a notch plus the line.

Looking at the photo, it appears the one cap needs to be retouched which I will try tomorrow.

Any suggestions?  Thanks.

Best thing is to get with me on teamspeak so we can look at it. I am fighting the flu so it might be a few days yet before I am back on my feet.

RJ

[Mickpat]

I went back and re-flashed the pic and the diag hex now works!  Red, green, blue.

I have loaded the standard firmware and am now trying to set the channel.  The LEDs do not flash when I press the transmit button, but the green data light is on.  Two of my other Aether had a similar issue which I fixed so I need to do some more investigation.  Making progress. 

At this rate, I might be ready in time for November.   

[Mickpat]

4 for 4! 

My last Aether had a few issues which I was able to resolve.  I now have 4 working Aethers.

[RJ]

Congrats I knew you could do it!

RJ