I think i destroyed my Gluonpilot

[D4RK1]

hm... yesterday i finally got around to do something with my Gluonpilot. I made a little cardboard mockup of a flying wing, taped servos on, connected everything and went about updating firmware, configuring the board and so on.

The mockup plane did as it should, at least as far as i know ^^, so I started putting it into a plane. Today I tried to power it (wanted to to see if sharing GPS with Remzibi OSD worked). Remzibi kept on searching for GPS and didn´t find one... so I hooked up my laptop to see if the GPS was working properly with the gluonpilot. Then I realized the Gluonpilot wasn´t working at all. No status LED...

So i took it out of the plane again and realized it was extremely hot. I think i powered it via ESC and FTDI at once, maybe something got fried?

I took a closer look at the board and didn´t find any obvious damage. I disconnected everything and tried to hook it up via FTDI again... nothing... and one of the components is getting really hot... 80°C i measured. Its the FLASH thingy i think... at least thats what it says above it on the curcuit board.

Any suggestions anyone?

Regards, Jens

[Tom]

Hello Jens,

Yes connecting both the FTDI and the ESC is not a good idea (this is if you closed the solder jumper towards the servo's). The voltage level (5V) will never be 100% the same, so a large current will flow on the gluonpilot module.

When you connect it using FTDI, you don't see anything on the screen? No led's are blinking?

Are all PCB traces intact? Maybe one is burned (brownish color). You could trake with a multimeter to see if all different 5V points are still connected to eachother.

Tom

[D4RK1]

hi Tom,

Hmm.. Sj2 and Sj3 are closed.. no luck there...
When i plug in my FTDI cable nothing happens, except that the FLASH thingy gets really hot.
I made some pictures, maybe you are able to spot some damage, i can´t...





thx so far.. unfortunately i am no electronics expert, so i have no idea where to start measuring.. i will take a closer look.. but any suggestions are highly appreciated....

[D4RK1]

i measured between 5V of FTDI and Middle Pin of PWM row... got a connection there....

The voltage regulator directly to the left of the PWM pins is getting even hotter... 110°C i measured there...

[Tom]

Can you measure between GND and 3V3? (don't do it while powered )

So the GND and Vcc pins of the GPS connector.
Also try it between 5V and GND (eg. on the servo connector).

I expect a short somewhere...

[D4RK1]

there is short on the GPS connector... between GND and VCC...

as for the Servo connectors.. i am not sure... it does a short "blip" and then stops.. while the true short on the GPS connector makes a beep as long as i connect them.

I didn´t know where to find 3,3V ^^ so i haven´t measured that yet...

[Tom]

The short bleep is not a problem: the capacitors are loading up

Now the problem seems to be between 3V3 and GND (this doesn't mean it really needs to be on the GPS connector, it could as well be inside the flash IC).

Can you visually inspect if one of the 3V3 pins has maybe too much solder on it?

[D4RK1]

I still have no clue about where to find a 3,3V pin

[Tom]

Ok

Actually only the GPS connector has a 3V3 pin. But all IC's also use 3V3. You don't see anything that might be damaged by heat or overcurrent? Which parts did you solder yourself?

The reason the IC next to the header pins is heating up, is because there is a short between 3V3 and GND. This means the IC (which is the voltage regulator that generates the 3V3) has to deliver more current than he is able to and heats up...

[D4RK1]

I only soldered the pins and the 2 jumpers...

I took another close look at the board and i might have found a fried resistor...

Here are some pictures, the restistor in question is smack in the middle :