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Author Topic: CFX no swings, no LED (Solved)  (Read 3353 times)

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Offline erv

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Re: CFX no swings, no LED (Solved)
« Reply #15 on: February 03, 2020, 09:37:39 PM »
I had 2 to repair and the gyro was dead from ESD from what I could see. I first removed the sensor to re-tin the pads and re assembled, I got it to work in the sense the sensor was found by the MCU (identified with the 2 tokens during init/boot), mag sensor worked for magic ignition, accelerometer was working, gyro silent. I replaced the sensor with a new one in those 2 cases.

Offline AngelOmega

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Re: CFX no swings, no LED (Solved)
« Reply #16 on: February 03, 2020, 11:40:37 PM »
I wonder if the initial cause of the issue was a bad capacitor, and perhaps that led to a damaged swing sensor? In other words, the ones that were fixed by a replaced capacitor had intact swing sensors, yet our swing sensors were damaged due to bad current through the broken capacitor. I know I tried turning off/on my saber, rebooting it, reformatting the sd, etc, many times before I replaced the capacitor. It may be that continued usage with the bad capacitor messed up the swing sensor after some time.

Offline erv

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Re: CFX no swings, no LED (Solved)
« Reply #17 on: February 03, 2020, 11:57:03 PM »
We suspect ESD, in particular from the USB port, which also explains the situation for which the user updates his saber (usually with no/little prior use of the USB or RICE, using SD card editing instead or just not touching anything) and get the problem on the gyro. We have ESD (some) protection on the USB but might need to make it even more bulletproof in the future. My computer uses a docking station with a USB hub, proper house Mains and earthing and those things didn't happen to me (even on prior board gen with fried act or aux pads).
ESD via the computer / USB is common, but seems worse in certain situations / installations

Offline Space_Tardigrade

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Re: CFX no swings, no LED (Solved)
« Reply #18 on: February 04, 2020, 06:52:54 AM »
That would definitely make sense for me actually. I wasn’t really aware of concerns in using RICE, but connected my saber to my computer many times to check and edit the board. Something must have happened one (or several) of the times that I hooked it up.

I’m terms of replacing the motion sensor, do you think that’s something I’d reasonably be able to handle myself with just a regular soldering iron? Or does it require more specialized equipment and expertise? I still have the one from my other board, which should still work in theory.

Offline RavenXp

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Re: CFX no swings, no LED (Solved)
« Reply #19 on: February 04, 2020, 09:04:06 AM »
I'm actually glad I have been patrolling the forums while I wait for my CFX saber parts.  I plan on making a remote connection in hilt for the CFX USB, so now I know I'll need to take ESD into account when making the connector.

Offline erv

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Re: CFX no swings, no LED (Solved)
« Reply #20 on: February 05, 2020, 12:12:23 AM »
I’m terms of replacing the motion sensor, do you think that’s something I’d reasonably be able to handle myself with just a regular soldering iron? Or does it require more specialized equipment and expertise? I still have the one from my other board, which should still work in theory.

doable with a hot air station and liquid (rework) flux. *NOT* easy task, I sometimes need multiple rework until I can bring the PCB at the right temp. before it all self centers on the pads.
You can't replace the motion sensor with just a soldering iron.

Offline Space_Tardigrade

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Re: CFX no swings, no LED (Solved)
« Reply #21 on: February 05, 2020, 06:54:30 AM »
doable with a hot air station and liquid (rework) flux. *NOT* easy task, I sometimes need multiple rework until I can bring the PCB at the right temp. before it all self centers on the pads.
You can't replace the motion sensor with just a soldering iron.

Understood, thanks for the advice. It’s definitely not something I’ll be able to handle myself then, as I am still quite an amateur.

In that case, what are the steps I can take to get the board repaired? I saw some people mention “Chewbacca” but how can I contact them? And what are the associated costs?

Thank you so much for all the help!

Offline erv

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Re: CFX no swings, no LED (Solved)
« Reply #22 on: February 05, 2020, 07:17:52 AM »
this is michael's handle here on the forum, just PM his with that character name. Usually a repair is in the range of $20-30 shipping included

Offline scott

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Re: CFX no swings, no LED (Solved)
« Reply #23 on: February 05, 2020, 05:02:51 PM »
Erv -

Add me to the list of capacitor replacements that did not solve the no swing issue. I received the capacitor and installed it. Not pretty but think it has solid connections. Clash still works (assuming that means the cap was attached successfully) but no legacy or smoothswing.

Offline erv

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Re: CFX no swings, no LED (Solved)
« Reply #24 on: February 05, 2020, 09:59:45 PM »
ok scott thank you. It must then be a cold joint under the motion sensor  :sad: This should be covered by warranty, you can PM chewbacca here to get it fixed. Does the gyro logs changing values ? (latest fw + latest RICE + remote tab) or it is rather static ?
Last question : have you tried pressing a little on the sensor itself while the boards is powered and logging motion in RICE ?

Offline scott

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Re: CFX no swings, no LED (Solved)
« Reply #25 on: February 06, 2020, 05:19:33 AM »
Definitely didn’t try pushing on the motion sensor, but I will give that a shot this evening. I also did not use the latest FW, but the version with the “gyro” suffix that you provided. Still static. If it is if any value, I can flash the latest package and look at it with the RICE editor that you added the line graph monitor to.

Offline erv

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Re: CFX no swings, no LED (Solved)
« Reply #26 on: February 06, 2020, 07:39:51 AM »
yes, give a try to the latest fw with the motion log, and try pressing, that will help to diag, thank you for your time on this

Offline scott

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Re: CFX no swings, no LED (Solved)
« Reply #27 on: February 06, 2020, 09:40:11 AM »
No worries, will do this this evening and capture any data/feedback that I can, glad to be able to help the root cause analysis in any way I am able.

Offline erv

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Re: CFX no swings, no LED (Solved)
« Reply #28 on: February 08, 2020, 08:41:12 AM »
something interesting, I got one board to work again temporarily then crazy gyro again. I have corrected the manual for the voltage map, I confirm that the proper voltage for the gyro cap is rather 9-10v (not 14-15v).
I discovered that the motion sensor works again with NO capacitor which could indicate some sensors internal charge pump have an issue with the capacitor value. As a result, the gyro high voltage isn't buffered which isn't ideal but the board works. That's sort of a relief as it doesn't indicate any manufacturing issue (soldering / cold joint of the sensor). I don't know why yet it behaves like this, my dev board and 2 other sabers have a stock board and components (including that capacitor) with no trouble for months, so it seems to be sporadic.
Would you guys with that issue mind trying with no gyro cap ? thank you

Offline scott

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Re: CFX no swings, no LED (Solved)
« Reply #29 on: February 08, 2020, 09:37:35 AM »
I just sent over the new logs, but will pull the replacement cap back off and report back!

 

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