Power Failure

[grahamgrg]

My trusty PAW has stopped working and problem seems to be the a connection problem inside the box.

Moving the power connector around gently I can briefly see red lights - then nothing.

Is this an easy fix or a gentle nudge that I should upgrade to Rosetta?


ps:   Yes I do have a good stable power supply and yes I have checked that I renewed a few months ago   

Thanks

Graham

[Keithvinning]

Hi Graham

Sounds like a power connector problem
How old is the Trusty PilotAware?

Keith

[exfirepro]

Hi Graham,

As Keith says, this certainly sounds like a fault with the microUSB power connector. With a ‘positive’ connection, you should see a solid red light through the grille at the lower left side of the P3i Antenna end when power is applied - and this red LED should remain ‘on’ continuously until power is deliberately removed again. The fact that you say this light appears and disappears on gently moving the power cable supports the likelihood that this connection is the problem.

If it is this connection, the problem might of course be the cable end (easily sorted by replaceing the cable) though it is more likely to be that the socket on the main board itself has become distorted - which is generally best dealt with by swapping the Raspberry Pi board, - though I have had success by carefully reforming (gently tightening) the socket with a pair of fine pliers and then carefully applying ‘hot glue’ to support the joint once a tight connection has been re-established.

Keith is however presumably trying to determine depending on the age of your PAW whether this is a ‘warranty’ issue or whether the ‘upgrade’ route is the best answer in your case.

Regards

Peter

[Seanhump]

I've spotted this as a potential problem and have added a guard to the top of my test unit to prevent the Powercable being knocked when moving the unit around from machine to machine

I've changed the straight PAW power cable to a JuiceBitz angled one (at the micro USB end) - it's still rated the same as the stock cable supplied with a PAW (20 AWG) and doesn't cause any power problems.

The guard is held on with Velcro so can be removed if necessary to access the cable and port.

It's not pretty, but it does work.  The power cable is shown removed in the pic as I've been using it with desk power whilst working on it

[grahamgrg]

Wow - that's fast support!   Don't you guys ever sleep.

@Kieth - it's about 2.5 years old

@Peter/Sean- thanks for tech info - power cable looks OK but this unit is well out of warranty

I've been seduced by the Rosetta features and this just makes decision easier.   Can sell it to other half as an *essential* purchase

[JCurtis]

Trivia warning on...

Under the USB specification;

• The large USB type A interface has a design rating of 1,500 cycles
• The micro-B interface is rated to 10,000 cycles

Guess which one physically breaks internally, or is pulled from the PCB, way before anything like it's design rating.

That said, most failures are with the cable in micro-B, it is designed to wear out before the socket in the device.  But often the premature failure is caused by the bio-mechanical element trying to force it the connector in upside down.

Trivia warning off.

[grahamgrg]

HaHa - first time I've been called a "bio-mechanical element" - but have to plead guilty 

[exfirepro]

Hi Jeremy,

I was aware of the ‘cable designed to go first’ concept from way before I got involved with PAW. This obviously makes a lot of sense as it is much easier (and cheaper) to replace a cable rather than a main board, but I would have to say that my experience with Raspberry Pi’s has been that failures of the socket (usually due to physical mishandling I agree - but not usually my units) outweigh cable failures by quite a margin, which is very frustrating. 

Best regards

Peter