I was setting up a new plane tonight when all of a sudden smoke started coming out of the EQ10! I shut everything off immediately and unplugged all batteries and connections wondering what the hell just happened. Now one side of the board doesn't work when I turn the switch on. Any suggestions or input?

Send it to smartfly it fryed

Send it in. Once the magic smoke has been released, it can't be put back in.

Any servos fighting?

Originally Posted by robbinsp

Any servos fighting?

No, normal digital chatter every once in a while, but nothing out of the normal! That's why I'm confused on why this would happen!

Electronic components fail once in a while, you were the once and today was the while

After checking over things a little more, it's actually just one of the battery ports where you connect your female deans which is not working. The entire board is still functioning with only one switch. And the switch that was connected to the port that started smoking seems to be working fine also. Hopefully this did not affect any of the other electronic components.

WOW the same thing happened to me in June. He was great, shipped a new one out ASAP but it has me thinking WHY DID THIS HAPPEN and more so can I trust an EQ10. I did not have smoke though.

I had it on and off a few times during set up and then on the last one BAMM. He never did tell me what happened even though I asked cuz I want to know.

It is like the board went into failsafe on the one batt port. Why this happened on the bench, agian, I have no idea. I was very careful of washers and what not falling in the plane. The new one worked all summer but its in the back of my mind.

All my gear was fine, Wolverine, Batts, Servos, just the Smartfly.

Originally Posted by jonklittle

After checking over things a little more, it's actually just one of the battery ports where you connect your female deans which is not working. The entire board is still functioning with only one switch. And the switch that was connected to the port that started smoking seems to be working fine also. Hopefully this did not affect any of the other electronic components.

Hi,
Send it in and I will look at it. Something like this is a result of excessive high current, enough to smoke a 65 amp transistor. Some connection must have caused this. There is no path in the circuit that can fail and short to ground. The MOSFETs on the input simply open or close the positive path. They are not connected to ground.

Originally Posted by jonklittle

I was setting up a new plane tonight when all of a sudden smoke started coming out of the EQ10! I shut everything off immediately and unplugged all batteries and connections wondering what the hell just happened. Now one side of the board doesn't work when I turn the switch on. Any suggestions or input?

Hi,
I don't remember this and I don't remember you asking. I am sure I would at least have told you what failed. Finding the cause of the failure is a lot harder because I do not know the exact conditions this happened under. Based on your description I have to assume a MOSFET failed and that usually happens because it was hit with large static discharge and the gate failed, although I do have static protectors in the circuit, or reverse biasing the circuit or shorting a servo plug out. Most of the time I can tell you what failed but I cannot tell you why. On these products so much of the circuit is exposed to the user any number of things can happen. I have taken every precaution I can reasonably take to protect the circuit, much, much more than any other power distribution unit on the market because I have taken most of them apart.

Originally Posted by Slats!

WOW the same thing happened to me in June. He was great, shipped a new one out ASAP but it has me thinking WHY DID THIS HAPPEN and more so can I trust an EQ10. I did not have smoke though.

I had it on and off a few times during set up and then on the last one BAMM. He never did tell me what happened even though I asked cuz I want to know.

It is like the board went into failsafe on the one batt port. Why this happened on the bench, agian, I have no idea. I was very careful of washers and what not falling in the plane. The new one worked all summer but its in the back of my mind.

All my gear was fine, Wolverine, Batts, Servos, just the Smartfly.

Originally Posted by rrritchey

Hi,
Send it in and I will look at it. Something like this is a result of excessive high current, enough to smoke a 65 amp transistor. Some connection must have caused this. There is no path in the circuit that can fail and short to ground. The MOSFETs on the input simply open or close the positive path. They are not connected to ground.

Sounds good,
I'll be sending it out first thing in the morning. As far as the excessive high current, that could only be coming from the battery correct? I am running a HV setup through out the entire plane, but I'm sure that shouldn't matter.

Hi,
Something like this usually happens from an accidental short or a battery accidentally being reverse biased. On the Deans this can happen if you have the connector 180 degrees and try to plug it in. It is possible to get a momentary contact this way. The Eq10 components can handle up to 8.5V very safely.

Originally Posted by jonklittle

Sounds good,
I'll be sending it out first thing in the morning. As far as the excessive high current, that could only be coming from the battery correct? I am running a HV setup through out the entire plane, but I'm sure that shouldn't matter.

Thanks for responding Bob.

Just like any other product, Smartfly products can fail. I've had really good luck with Smartfly products, and as this thread shows, the support is fantastic.

Hi, Well I did ask in the letter with the return and I did actually call you back and you said you had not looked at it. No problem you were heading out to a show and you were great sending me a new one ASAP even before you had the fried board. Top knotch that's all you can ask

The failure was not due to anything I did. I can tell you that much. Hey its electronics, who knows.

Originally Posted by rrritchey

Hi,
I don't remember this and I don't remember you asking. I am sure I would at least have told you what failed. Finding the cause of the failure is a lot harder because I do not know the exact conditions this happened under. Based on your description I have to assume a MOSFET failed and that usually happens because it was hit with large static discharge and the gate failed, although I do have static protectors in the circuit, or reverse biasing the circuit or shorting a servo plug out. Most of the time I can tell you what failed but I cannot tell you why. On these products so much of the circuit is exposed to the user any number of things can happen. I have taken every precaution I can reasonably take to protect the circuit, much, much more than any other power distribution unit on the market because I have taken most of them apart.