Electronics > Beginners
Pulling my hair out. Circuit boards stop working once shipped to client and more
mcinque:
I'm puzzled.
We don't know what the device in question does exactly. We know only it uses Wi-Fi and USB.
We have no data on what is wrong on the board or what do not work (hardware? software?). We know only that some boards doesn't work anymore.
We don't know in which mode the boards fail (what should they do? They work partially? They don't turn on? The microcontroller won't start up? The Wi-Fi does not connect? There is no output? What?)
There is no diagnostic data except "Power is fine, sensor input is fine".
I don't think we can guess the problem because there are so many possibilities, from fake chips to esd to user fault... the list goes on and on.
I think this is not the right way to proceed. We need data.
Can you post here (or privately via PM) a full schematic and at least a working diagram of your sketch and principle of operation toghether with detailed symptoms?
Here there are many people that wants to help you, but try to provide something more to work on.
mcinque:
--- Quote from: Jackster on June 07, 2019, 11:16:08 am ---It will go through the code 3-6 times and then hang.
--- End quote ---
THIS. You must understand why it hangs. If it runs at least 3-6 times it's not the hardware "broken" (intended as burnt or physically broken) probably. There is something changing or at limit on the hardware that is affecting the software readings, maybe.
Could be a power issue or an input issue.
Assuming the power is perfectly fine and there isn't some glitch, noise or bounce affecting the MCU (which you can be sure only with a DSO) when something happens in the code running, you should use a debugger to understand what's happening into the MCU.
If you cannot use a debugger, try to comment your code in excess and output this comments in serial, to use them as "poor man debugger", so you can see at which point it hangs.
Depending on what the code is doing when it happens, you could guess better what's the cause.
But be sure about the power rail.
Mr. Scram:
What a messy debugging process this is, if you can call it that. You really need to describe what you're dealing with in as much detail as possible. Then you systematically start eliminating potential issues, the most likely first. Right now it's just a haphazard scramble with major parts left in the dark.
Jackster:
--- Quote from: mcinque on June 07, 2019, 02:35:58 pm ---I'm puzzled.
We don't know what the device in question does exactly. We know only it uses Wi-Fi and USB.
We have no data on what is wrong on the board or what do not work (hardware? software?). We know only that some boards doesn't work anymore.
We don't know in which mode the boards fail (what should they do? They work partially? They don't turn on? The microcontroller won't start up? The Wi-Fi does not connect? There is no output? What?)
There is no diagnostic data except "Power is fine, sensor input is fine".
I don't think we can guess the problem because there are so many possibilities, from fake chips to esd to user fault... the list goes on and on.
I think this is not the right way to proceed. We need data.
Can you post here (or privately via PM) a full schematic and at least a working diagram of your sketch and principle of operation toghether with detailed symptoms?
Here there are many people that wants to help you, but try to provide something more to work on.
--- End quote ---
I can't go into any more detail into the debugging as I am not an electronic engineer and can only go as deep as "it is not burning the boot loader" and "it stops after X many cycles".
I know which each part of the circuit does but not how it works on the sort of level required for debugging.
The device takes a PWM input from a sensor and displays the result on 7 segment displays.
It can transmit this info over the WiFi interface to another that will take the data from the WiFi and display it on its seven segment display.
Happy to PM the files.
ebastler:
--- Quote from: Jackster on June 07, 2019, 05:30:03 pm ---The device takes a PWM input from a sensor and displays the result on 7 segment displays.
It can transmit this info over the WiFi interface to another that will take the data from the WiFi and display it on its seven segment display.
--- End quote ---
Is that the unit conversion device for sonar measurements which you had posted about earlier, by any chance? These are used on boats, I would assume. Are you sure they handle the vibrations and humidity well?
(Is this maybe also the "three boards connected via FFC connectors" design you have also asked questions about in earlier threads? If so, are you sure the connectors are robust enough, and are you sure the signals make it across the connections in good shape?)
May I add a personal comment: It would not hurt if you had the courtesy to let us know what your product is and does, and give us a link to the website you presumably have. You are selling these for profit, it seems, and are asking for free advice here. At least satisfy our curiosity in return; and the information may help with the troubleshooting as well.
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