A look inside a victor

[Rickertsen2]

Ever wanted to know what a victor looks like inside but were to afraid to void your warranty? Thats ok, I voided mine for you.

Here you can see the victor that will be the subject of our disassembly



With the fan removed



The back showing voided warranty



Oh no! the circuit board is glued in!



vBulletin is complianing i have too many images in this post so it will be continued in the next

[Rickertsen2]

A careful hand and an X-acto around the glue freed the board. Note how the silkscreening says this is a victor 883 while it is actually an 884. Also note the plant-like matter in the conformal coating around the LED in the bottom right.



Here is the underside of the board. It is also conformal coated



Here is a pile of parts

[JBotAlan]

Not much surprise there. Now, it's time to make a schematic and build one yourself out of RadioShack parts!!!

JBot

[Rohan_DHS]

nicely done

[Andrew Blair]

Ahaha! I see your's still contains all it's magic smoke, eh? I'm not all that surprised at the 883 silkscreening though: the 883's run exactly the same way as the 884's. As far as I can tell. Maybe they just kept the boards and upgraded the components?

[Rickertsen2]

Originally Posted by JBotAlan

Not much surprise there. Now, it's time to make a schematic and build one yourself out of RadioShack parts!!!

JBot

Even if you build one from identical parts, you will still need the code that resides on the PIC. PICS are very secure even to the most sophisticated attempts to steal their code.

[JBotAlan]

I thought that this was probably not possible

[Rickertsen2]

Originally Posted by JBotAlan

I thought that this was probably not possible

Unfortunately not
If you google something like "12v speed controller" you can find plenty of DIY designs.

[JBotAlan]

How about ripping the PIC off of a white-smoked Victor? The thing's pointless anyway, and I doubt the chip would die before the current-bearing stuff. Just something to do in that time between regionals...

[BrianBSL]

Originally Posted by Rickertsen2

Even if you build one from identical parts, you will still need the code that resides on the PIC. PICS are very secure even to the most sophisticated attempts to steal their code.

Huh? Only if code protect is enabled. Otherwise you could just read the code striaght off it with an ICSP cable, and dis-assemble it.

Not that its that complicated anyways. I don't see the reason to put any effort into copying IFI's product when there is stuff like OSMC already done (open source motor controller, google it).

[Rickertsen2]

Originally Posted by BrianBSL

Huh? Only if code protect is enabled. Otherwise you could just read the code striaght off it with an ICSP cable, and dis-assemble it.

Not that its that complicated anyways. I don't see the reason to put any effort into copying IFI's product when there is stuff like OSMC already done (open source motor controller, google it).

I know from trying that code protect is enabled on all the PICs in IFI products with the exception of the user processor in the RC. There is no (publicly) known way to get around the code protection. I agree with you. There are simpler open designs if you want to build your own.