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Re: damaged sidecar
Could you check what revision the board is? It should be in silkscreen near the DB37 connector.
The most likely cause is a two stage fault:
First, the gate becomes damaged or disconnected, typically by ESD. Later revisions have better protection for this.
Then a large current is applied. Since the FET is damaged it drops a lot more voltage than normal, which drops a lot more waste power. Typically the FET will just burn itself out, leaving a small hole and a large smell. Rarely, a sudden surge current (typically a short) can cause it to pass away with more interesting fanfare.
I wouldn't bother trying to repair the board, the remaining components have likely been stressed past the point of reliability.
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