Author Topic: Some comments on the build manual  (Read 4342 times)

Offline Night Owl

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Some comments on the build manual
« on: February 11, 2012, »
I just finished building my controller.  I haven't tried to program it yet and I am excited to try it out!  Going through the build, I noticed a few issues that might trip up some people. 

The photo of the PCB is not the same as the board that was shipped in this CoOp.  There are a few minor differences that may make locating part placement a little tricky.  All the components are labeled on the board so this should be too much of a problem.

The ceramic caps are not axial and can be confused with the fuses.  The markings on the caps are small and hard to read.  But there are 8 fuses and 9 ceramic caps so you should be able to figure which one is which.

There is one header that needs to be installed to the between the RJ45 sockets and the electrolytic cap, C4.  At least I assume it is supposed to be installed there.  It isn't in the photo, but I had an extra 2 pin header and it looked it it would fit there.  Can someone let me know if I'm right?  I installed it, but I'm not sure that this was correct.  Under Additional Notes and Tips, there is a note about installing a jumper at JP3 if you want to use a single power supply.  However I couldn't find a header marked "JP3" on the board.  The PCB is labeled "SINGLE SUPPLY" where I installed the 2 pin header, so I assume this is JP3.  BTW, thank you so much for making the holes in the PCB for the 2 and 3 pin headers a little tight!  I always end up burning myself trying to hold the small headers in while soldering.  Yeah, I could use a tool, but where is the fun in that? 

wwwgator previously mentioned that the hold down pins on the RJ45 socket doesn't fit into the board.  I shaved off a little bit off of the inner side of both pins and it fit great.

Don't install the power connecter the wrong way.  The openings need to face out.  But I would NEVER do something like that.. nooo.....   <fp.

The supervisory chip looks like a transistor and the flat side faces the PIC.  Slightly hard to make out in the photo.

There are no Ex/Rx headers in this bundle.  I believe the headers are part of the BOM for the Express Receiver Ex/RX .  Depending on how you built your receiver, the headers shown in the Servo Controller build photo might be wrong.  When I built my Receiver, I put the male connectors on it and the female ones on the Express.  So if I wanted to use the same receiver on the servo controller, I would have to install female connectors on the servo controller.

Thank you for an amazing product!  One of my stalled projects was to build animated Halloween props.  I can't wait to get this all finished and start working on those.

Aloha
Nathan
« Last Edit: February 11, 2012, by Night Owl »

Offline dlhoppe

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Re: Some comments on the build manual
« Reply #1 on: February 11, 2012, »
Yes, in the main thread I made a request for build photos with the latest PCB revision. So anyone doing this build, please feel free to help out with documentation for the wiki.


Thanks,
Dave

Offline Night Owl

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Re: Some comments on the build manual
« Reply #2 on: February 11, 2012, »
I'm just about to start my second one.  Shall I just take photos and upload them here?  Or is there another way?


Offline Night Owl

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Re: Some comments on the build manual
« Reply #3 on: February 11, 2012, »
Done.  10 photos, 22 meg total.  Ok to upload here or do you want it sent another way?  I didn't do any editing or highlighting of parts.  I can do that if you like.  I can also crop it and resize to be similar to what is already on the wiki if that helps.

Offline dlhoppe

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Re: Some comments on the build manual
« Reply #4 on: February 12, 2012, »
Send them my way if you like and I will size, annotate and upload to the manual.


Thanks,
Dave
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Offline Night Owl

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Re: Some comments on the build manual
« Reply #5 on: February 12, 2012, »
Okdokie, just sent the e-mail.

By the way, I'm probably going to build the tester soon.  Would you like photos of that also?

« Last Edit: February 12, 2012, by Night Owl »

Offline dlhoppe

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Re: Some comments on the build manual
« Reply #6 on: February 12, 2012, »
I believe we're good on the tester manual. Thanks.

Offline mkozik1

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Re: Some comments on the build manual
« Reply #7 on: August 24, 2012, »
Can one of you please post the new pics for this project?  I just built mine and went by the manual in the WIKI but all the pics are still the old ones.

Thanks in advance,
- Mark