Re: I need a V3 or V4 uBitx board.
Hi all,
?I want to thank you all who held my hand through this, I am now back up and running. The low power was because I had my power supply in current limiting mode, I now have full power out and worked a field day station a 1000 miles away. I will install a fuse in the primary radio path now that I've learned a important lesson. Some people just need to learn the hard way:-)
Joel
N6ALT
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sorry, no.
Vince.
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On 06/23/2018 07:57 PM, f1mqj wrote: Thanks Vince, that's often on nano clones, do you have any current
consumption data on your side ? (with details (genuine firmware, v3 or v4)
73 - Remi
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Michigan VHF Corp.
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Thanks Vince, that's often on nano clones, do you have any current consumption data on your side ? (with details (genuine firmware, v3 or v4)
73 - Remi
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Re: I need a V3 or V4 uBitx board.
Yay! K1 was indeed bad, I now have a working receiver and transmitter, however the output power is only 500mw compared to the 12 watts before. Do we think the IRF510's are shot? What would be the best way to check them or should I just replace them, I have plenty in stock.
Joel
N6ALT
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Thanks Vince, mine is totally unlabeled on the top. Unusual.
Thanks Remi. Please keep us posted.
73,
Don
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It's the CH340.
Vince - K8ZW.
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On 06/23/2018 06:51 PM, f1mqj wrote: Thanks Don your description is fine, i understand what have been made
do you know what serial board is under the nano ? (FT232, PL2303, CH340
?) (with the new mount it's probably more easy to see than on solders'one)
(for what i've seen it might be FT232, but nano boards exists with thes
3 chips, if i plan to exchange nano board, i 'll try the same)
73 - Remi
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Michigan VHF Corp.
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Thanks Don your description is fine, i understand what have been made
do you know what serial board is under the nano ? (FT232, PL2303, CH340 ?) (with the new mount it's probably more easy to see than on solders'one)
(for what i've seen it might be FT232, but nano boards exists with thes 3 chips, if i plan to exchange nano board, i 'll try the same)
73 - Remi
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It seems to be a problem with my raduino board (or nano but as it's soldered, its hard to test further), i'm going to ask for warranty to get raduino replacment, does someone know how i can ask that ? (teamhfsigs@..., paypal, ...)
73 - Remi - F1MQJ
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Re: I need a V3 or V4 uBitx board.
Well after testing some voltages on the board, the RX rail is present everywhere it's supposed to be but the TX rail is missing everywhere. I'm thinking I may have toasted K1 but still checking.
Joel
N6ALT
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Re: I need a V3 or V4 uBitx board.
A good reminder to install a 0.5 Amp fuse or polyswitch plus a series diode (1n4007 perhaps)
from power supply into the main 12v power rail of the uBitx or Bitx40 board.
Would likely have avoided all the trouble here.?
The main board does not care about the forward voltage across the diode.
Fusing most of the rig at only 0.5 Amps means far less damage will occur before that fuse blows.
I keep have a separate fuse of 3 Amps from power supply into the PA-PWR rail.
Don't bother with a diode there, since if reverse polarity does occur the IRF510 intrinsic diodes
will conduct and blow the 3 Amp fuse.? ?When running from a battery, would prefer not to have
a diode drop into the IRF510 drains, as it reduces available power out.
Jerry
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On Sat, Jun 23, 2018 at 02:23 pm, Don, ND6T wrote:
No, looks like TX to one of the many ground connections on the kit board. Quite solid, thus the smoked trace. There is something else going on, too. Probably minor. -Don
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I put my own Nano socket on mine. Will measure but I've heard the Display is the culprit. Lots of current. Looking forward to V4 videos on YouTube showing various things, like pop or not, cw opp, and sound. So far there is one video on my playlist V4 and the guy has a speaker which looks like one that is meant to have an amplifier, and he says it has not good sound, just added to my playlist . Its my V2 playlist, V1 has 200 videos which is the maximum YouTube allows. Link to Playlist 2?
On Sat, Jun 23, 2018 at 2:27 PM, f1mqj <f1mqj.fr@...> wrote: Don,
Ohmmeter is not signifiant (which seems normal): 165K on 2M, 20K on 200Kohms, 2.59K on 20K, 640ohms on 2K,
The 7805 output is 4.79V
Don could you send me a pic to see how the nano socket is mounted to allow the display board to be put onto it ? perhaps longer display connector
-remi
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Remi,
Will do when I get some time. Meanwhile, the Nano is inverted, the USB connector on the display side. The headers pins on the Nano are on the USB connector side of the board. That maintains the previous orientation while moving it to the other side of the board. -Don
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Don,
Ohmmeter is not signifiant (which seems normal): 165K on 2M, 20K on 200Kohms, 2.59K on 20K, 640ohms on 2K,
The 7805 output is 4.79V
Don could you send me a pic to see how the nano socket is mounted to allow the display board to be put onto it ? perhaps longer display connector
-remi
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Re: I need a V3 or V4 uBitx board.
No, looks like TX to one of the many ground connections on the kit board. Quite solid, thus the smoked trace. There is something else going on, too. Probably minor. -Don
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Re: I need a V3 or V4 uBitx board.
Possible, I don't really know what would happen if both sides of a bidi amp were turned on.
But his burnt trace probably saw amps, and not obvious to me how the bidi amps could pull that kind of current.
DC paths from TX to ground are hundreds of ohms, AC out has a series 50 ohm resistor.
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On Sat, Jun 23, 2018 at 11:52 am, Don, ND6T wrote:
Joel,
Since it did not go poof until you activated the PTT, then it might have been an incomplete cut of the TX trace. With both TX and RX voltages active then both sets of IF amps will be active (truly bidirectional) and will likely form a full-on oscillation! Check Q12, Q21, Q32, and Q40 as a start. Like Mike says, look for discoloration. Sniff the areas. -Don
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Remi, this is the new V4 board and I am pleased to report that the Nano is now socketed . Without removing anything soldered, with the display still not connected, I measure 1,590 ohms from the +5 output of the 7805 to ground reference (the 7805 tab). Both polarities, indicating that my ohmmeter has low enough applied voltage not to cause any junctions to conduct. Did you measure to see if the +5 volts was actually what was expected? -Don
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Re: I need a V3 or V4 uBitx board.
Oh, one more thing Jerry, The mods I had done was the cutting of the traces per the instructions on Don ND6T's site. I bridged them back to factory and checked with a MM to make sure the path was back. There is no visible damage to the top side of the PCB as looked at with my USB Microscope, (a good one).
Joel
N6ALT
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Don, Jerry, thank you for trials and excanges,
unpluging the display (after power off Of course) i got still 210mA?
don i assume you have ashan genuine firmware, do you have v3 or v4 board (i¡¯ve not seen difference on Raduino board)
3 more power consomption than your¡¯s i might have a problem or a very bad nano board
I¡¯l Check voltage after diner, and Also put the firmware inside another ?nano board i have (not easy to Check the nano board on ?the raduino because There us a lot Of solders to remove)
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Re: I need a V3 or V4 uBitx board.
Thanks for all the great replies, I'm really embarrassed to admit I did this. Jerry, you are right about what caused this. It didn't work at all when I tried it the first time, after looking at everything I thought I had the wire going to C50 on the click board on the wrong pad, so I swapped them, (big mistake), now at least I had bad receive, then I pushed the PTT, that's when the magic smoke got let out. I checked the raduino outputs with my frequency counter and the outputs were all what they should be for the frequency I was on. C50 and C63 are replaced with new caps and are fine. I will check the other things you mentioned as well. Thanks for the offers to buy my board, but that doesn't really help me with my problem. I will try to repair before I think about selling it. Thanks again for all your help. I will post on this thread and let you all know how things turn out. Picture of top side of PCB below. Joel N6ALT 
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I repeated the test using my highly accurate Harbor Freight meter.? ;-)
Not the needle on my old linear power supply.
My figures now agree with Don's measurements to within a couple ma.
?
Voltage should not affect the current draw by much at all.
Should be the same current with 8v as it is at 15v into the Raduino, within a couple ma.
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On Sat, Jun 23, 2018 at 11:09 am, Don, ND6T wrote:
OK, I just did the same test. Brand new, just out of the box, 12.5 volt source. I get 61.5 milliamps. De-power. Unplug the display. I get 40.8 milliamps when repowered. -Don
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Joel Caulkins/N6ALT
Don, ND6T
Michael Shreeve