Bad Digital Sidecars?...again?!?!

[Kahn!]

We have had a recurring problem with digital sidecars. After a few weeks or so of working, the 6V power light and blinking LED will dim, the Battery light will switch off, and all motors and inputs attached will stop responding. I have realized that the 5V LED is determined by the CRio connection which leaves the connection from the PDB as the source of the problem. This has happened with probably 3-4 sidecars. A new sidecar works just by connecting the PDB connector and CRio connector without changing anything else.

First of all, have we been hooking everything up wrong from the start? :ahh:

Second, is there any chance we can save some of these old sidecars? ::ouch::

Thanks.:D

[EricVanWyk]

The battery light pretty well proves that it is your connection to the PD - there is nothing between the battery light and the power inputs other than the reverse voltage protection.

Could you please describe how you are powering the DSC?

Could you please measure the voltage you are providing to it?

[chemipanda]

Are you guys covering the electronics when driiling around them?

[Superllama12]

We got a bad one too this year, it never worked for most imput/output slots, we did not drill near it or anything. We ended up taking it apart and found that there was a piece missing in one of the integrated circuits (I think that's what they're called, the little black box with multiple wires going into it). Anyways, the best part was, on the circuit board, we saw an emoticon smiley face with little rays coming out, so it looked like the happy sun on teletubbies, dead serious, I'll try to upload it but I'll have to find the phone cable and figure out how to do it...