Broken programming port on RC

[dtengineering]

Been there, done that... we ripped our tether port out at GTR in '05.

While the recommended way of doing the repair is to contact IFI, request an RMA and send it in, then wait for it to come back, time is of the essence.

Since the damage is likely not covered by warranty... although IFI is usually pretty understanding about stuff like this, the mentor's foot is hardly a "manufacturing defect"... you may as well void the warranty anyways and take a look inside the case to survey the extent of the damage.

If you have had a "clean break" and the pins have just pulled out of the board, then soldering them back in... or replacing the socket... with a new one shouldn't be too difficult. If the pins are still soldered in, then that is a bit more difficult as the holes are through-plated, making extracting the remnants of the damaged port more of challenge... although far from impossible. If the board is damaged... well, then you have a bigger problem.

One thing you may want to do once you get this fixed is to permanently mount a programming cable and tether cable on your robot, then tie them down to the robot frame. That way if you trip over them, the only thing that will be damaged is an easily replacable serial cable.

Again, the "right" way to solve this problem is to contact IFI and have them do a warranty approved (if not warranty covered) repair, and if you were a veteran team with a spare controller to pull off an old robot to refine your code in the final week... well, then that would make sense. But you simply can't afford to lose the RC for the next week. Even three or four days is going to be a huge loss.

If you have a neighbouring veteran team, and contacted them, there is a good chance they would lend you an old controller and you could courier yours to IFI... but if that isn't an option then going ahead and doing some repairs on your own could have you back up and running in a couple of hours.

Jason

P.S. By the time you compare the cost of express-shipping your RC to IFI and back to the value of a four-month warranty on a $450 piece of equipment, it probably makes financial sense to attempt the repair yourself, too.