I am usually a big advocate of the cheap electronics out of Shenzhen China, even with the long lead times I can't complain about kit that comes so cheap but I read around a lot and I have seen a lot of stories that say buyer beware. Well this time I have had a story of my own. I ordered a replacement RAMPs board in the hope of getting my Nfire1 up and running. Straight out of the bag I had my misgivings as the board was only packed in a jiffy bag and looked like someone had sat on it. Pins were bent, but nothing was broken, so after a little encouragement I was able to get the board on top of the Adunio Mega and wired up.
Looking at the board while it sat there, I could see the soldering was not what I would usually expect, closer to the work I produced myself than the clean and professional looking work I get when I order these sort of parts normally. I assumed that there must be some sort of quality test, some sort of testing rig it would have had to run through before it was packed on the slow boat from China and it was certainly better than the mess I would make trying to re-solder everything, so what the hey, after a month of waiting for the pat I had to at least try it out didn't I?
I am always a bit tense when I power up a circuit for the first time, having a healthy fear of electric shocks and a history with a concealed electric fence, so I made sure everything was well clear before I flipped the switch and I was glad, because as soon as I did there was a crackle, fizz and pop that had nothing to do with breakfast cereal and a puff of blue smoke.
Once safely disconnected I found that from somewhere a loose bit of solder was bridging a gap on the board and causing a short circuit. That was easy enough to remove, as was the completely fried motor controller once I worked out what was going on, but something more fundamental has been toasted, so the whole project is back on the shelf until I can replace the RAMPs board and possible the Adunio Mega as well now.
Next time I will either be spending a few pounds more for some better parts, or taking a lot more time to vet the parts I order cheaply. Lesson learned.
Looking at the board while it sat there, I could see the soldering was not what I would usually expect, closer to the work I produced myself than the clean and professional looking work I get when I order these sort of parts normally. I assumed that there must be some sort of quality test, some sort of testing rig it would have had to run through before it was packed on the slow boat from China and it was certainly better than the mess I would make trying to re-solder everything, so what the hey, after a month of waiting for the pat I had to at least try it out didn't I?
I am always a bit tense when I power up a circuit for the first time, having a healthy fear of electric shocks and a history with a concealed electric fence, so I made sure everything was well clear before I flipped the switch and I was glad, because as soon as I did there was a crackle, fizz and pop that had nothing to do with breakfast cereal and a puff of blue smoke.
Once safely disconnected I found that from somewhere a loose bit of solder was bridging a gap on the board and causing a short circuit. That was easy enough to remove, as was the completely fried motor controller once I worked out what was going on, but something more fundamental has been toasted, so the whole project is back on the shelf until I can replace the RAMPs board and possible the Adunio Mega as well now.
Next time I will either be spending a few pounds more for some better parts, or taking a lot more time to vet the parts I order cheaply. Lesson learned.
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