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Author Topic: SOLVED: Help CF8 making popcorn  (Read 2751 times)

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Offline atomsk

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SOLVED: Help CF8 making popcorn
« on: June 22, 2018, 06:19:20 PM »
Looking for some help identifying the cause of this neat CF8 feature where it starts making popcorn sounds! takes about 1-2minutes to heat up first. and then it quickly makes so much popping you cant hear anything its so loud.

the saber works perfectly otherwise, nice and loud and bright! Have built a handfull of these over the years, but not this exact combination. so i never seen this prob before.. im sure i did something. Anyone seeing what i dont?

-CF8(tcss)
-7.4v 18650 stick (tcss) fully charged
-RGB Tri-Cree xpe2LED
-no CEX, no single cell hack
-Red on regulated pads, Green and Blue resistored on ch2 and ch3
-Color mixed (1111)
-Driven at 1000, 750, 350, 0 for a pink
-FOC at 1000, 1000, 1000, 0 for wht
-Bass Speaker
-8 accent leds

Short Vid of the problem in action
CF8 Popcorn - YouTube

Pic of Board Top
Imgur: The magic of the Internet
Pic of Board Bottom
Imgur: The magic of the Internet

thnx for looking!
« Last Edit: July 18, 2018, 09:11:41 AM by atomsk »

Offline erv

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Re: SOLVED: Help CF8 making popcorn
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2018, 12:00:44 AM »
I think the battery is just going low

Offline atomsk

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Re: SOLVED: Help CF8 making popcorn
« Reply #2 on: June 25, 2018, 01:36:25 AM »
oh hey erv! thanks for the help. yeah it does kind of remind me of typical low battery behavior too.. but this is after a full charge. reads 8.4v.

was thinking maybe some thermal protection is kicking in somewhere? cuz if you kill it and give it a min to cool down it will recover.. for another few min. then of course popping comes back once its warmed up. but that would mean some failed component, and i just dont see anything obviously popped on here.. and it still functions pretty much as expected other than this, which would be weird on a damaged cf. atleast i think? every time ive damaged one it was pretty obviously toast.

i wouldn’t think amp draw is too high for the battery with only rgb led.. im not getting any pcb trips or cf rebooting.

stumped.

Offline erv

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Re: SOLVED: Help CF8 making popcorn
« Reply #3 on: June 25, 2018, 01:51:31 AM »
the amplifier has indeed a thermal protection and so has the main voltage regulator. You might blow fresh air on the audio amp to cool it down when you get pops to see if it's coming from this.
what is the impedance of your speaker ?

Offline atomsk

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Re: SOLVED: Help CF8 making popcorn
« Reply #4 on: June 25, 2018, 02:39:39 AM »
its the 8ohm bass spkr tim sells.. havent measured it tho. I’ll try cooling the amp when i get back to the bench.

Offline atomsk

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Re: SOLVED: Help CF8 making popcorn
« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2018, 09:55:35 AM »
i get 8.3ohm measured on the spkr.. and blowing on the general amp side of the board does make the popping subside.

Offline erv

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Re: SOLVED: Help CF8 making popcorn
« Reply #6 on: June 25, 2018, 11:50:09 PM »
does it happen if the led isn't connected ?

Offline atomsk

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Re: SOLVED: Help CF8 making popcorn
« Reply #7 on: June 26, 2018, 10:28:38 AM »
yea still happens with no led connected

Offline erv

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Re: SOLVED: Help CF8 making popcorn
« Reply #8 on: June 26, 2018, 10:39:03 AM »
Try with a bench psu and with no recharge port

Offline atomsk

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Re: SOLVED: Help CF8 making popcorn
« Reply #9 on: June 26, 2018, 12:26:56 PM »
crap. i dont have a bench psu anymore... i did just try it with a second known good battery with same result though. can only get voltage to drop as low as 7.2v or so with leds on, after about 2mins at time popping starts.

that voltage should be fine yes? or what were you thinking of?

i have another unused cf8 i can swap in, which would prob help narrow it down. My main concern was something in my build maybe causing damage on the board. wanted to make sure it wouldnt just do the same to another board!

running out of things to try 🤷‍♂️

« Last Edit: June 26, 2018, 12:36:19 PM by atomsk »

Offline erv

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Re: SOLVED: Help CF8 making popcorn
« Reply #10 on: June 26, 2018, 01:30:29 PM »
check if the audio amp is heating up, try with other fonts

Offline atomsk

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Re: SOLVED: Help CF8 making popcorn
« Reply #11 on: June 26, 2018, 02:13:39 PM »
I only have the stock fonts that came on the sd card right now. but it happens on all fonts.. once its warmed up, you can cycle through the banks and get popping on them all until it cools down.

i get 120F on the amp with a surface probe thermometer, however accurate that is.

Offline erv

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Re: SOLVED: Help CF8 making popcorn
« Reply #12 on: June 26, 2018, 10:30:16 PM »
please email me pictures of the board, top and bottom (macro, no blur). I'll see if something is obvious visually. You might need an amp change.

Offline atomsk

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Re: SOLVED: Help CF8 making popcorn
« Reply #13 on: June 27, 2018, 10:34:46 AM »
ok. sent some macro pics. Thanks for taking a look.

Offline erv

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Re: SOLVED: Help CF8 making popcorn
« Reply #14 on: June 27, 2018, 11:11:02 AM »
emailed back, here's the picture I've annotated, I believe there's a cold joint there, it's the link to the amp, it's touching but with the heat, it might loose contact and generate the pop sounds
« Last Edit: June 27, 2018, 11:12:43 AM by erv »

 

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