Well the P.F. is a disaster that's for sure
Good morning Prasimix, I wonder if you can help with a problem I have with my BB3?
I was using it this morning, all 100% normal. I had to go out for a while so did a proper shutdown, ie select Shutdown and wait for the instruction to turn off mains switch, but on my return I turned on the mains switch, as normal, and it now just has the standby light on and does not respond to screen tap, HELP please
Regards Mike
P.S. one other clue, maybe, is that a couple of days ago it hung on the start up screen with just the first OK lit, power cycling restored normal operation so I did not think any more of it.
Firstly, thank you for lightening quick reply, other manufacturers could learn a lot!
Naturally I had tried those things before bothering you.
A brief recap of problems I had on delivery, this has a green cpu module, aux psu and backplane with blue DCP405s and DCM224. On receipt the USB socket had fallen off the cpu board and was loose in the bag, this was refitted with no problem. It would then not boot with PSU modules fitted, cured with firmware upgrade.
I have now opened the BB3 and gently tapped/pressed the cpu, no reaction. Power cycled and now all working again, looks as though there may be more poorly soldered joints on the cpu, what do you think.
I have checked that it now also goes into and out of standby as expected
Hm, green PCB comes from notorious "Bolek&Lolek" manufacturer in Poland. Fallen USB socket was reported by multiple backers, and fortunately all of them managed to solder it back successfully. If something else is badly soldered on your MCU module is now hard to say, I spent considerable time trying to test all modules before shipping, but as we can see many didn't survive shipping.
Please keep an eye on it and report here if there are more problems or for a faster response on our Discord server. Also pay attention whether there is any suspicious message in the Event log (if there was an error the icon will change color to red).
Will do.
I did note there were scratches and scuffs on the underside of the cpu board while refitting usb socket, not a good sign but it has been working fine for a couple of months now, thanks for the information.
Nothing red in event log.
Regards Mike
Hi Prasimix, further to posts 601 - 602 a week or so ago, in this topic, my BB3 with the notorious green board is still causing me serious problems.
It still will not always power on correctly, sometimes showing a black screen with standby light on, power cycling ususally corrects this, but far more seriously it resets completely and randomly with no input from me. By this I mean it can be just turned on doing nothing but with the outputs turned on, not connected, I will hear a beep and when I look across the workshop the BB3 has reset, I see the ethernet symbol flash as it reconnects and all outputs are now off.
This is really causing me doubts about the useability of this power supply, certainly for long term tests and analysis.
PLease could you offer any help or, hopefully, a solution.
Thank you and regards Mike
Hi All
I have got one of the crowd supply bare board kits that until today had been working okay, it is setup with 3 DCP405 modules (all originally from the junkyard pile) and is running firmware V1.7.
I was using it today to emulate/replicate a battery charger power supply for a power tool and as such had setup channel 1 to output 21V with a 360mA Current limit (Down Programmer disabled) and had it charging the battery for 3 or 4 hours when it shut off with an "AUX OTP Tripped" error.
I have opened the unit up and found that R4 on the AUX-PS module was burnt (also slightly charred the surface of the PCB just below it), my research lead me to issue #108 on github, having seen the information there I replaced the resistor and added a RC snubber to one of the Meanwell power supplies as suggested but still have issues.
It appears that it doesn't matter if I how many Meanwell supplies I have connected (as long as it is at least 1), R4 will start to nuke itself within 2 or 3 minutes, it will do this even with all ouptuts turned off and nothing external connected, The second time I replaced it I tried changing the resistor for a 3W through hole version of the same resistance.
What I am wondering is if this is likley to be an issue with the Triac Q2 or something deeper?
Also should I forget trying to repair this AUX-PS module and just replace it with a newer version?
I don't know if it makes any difference but my incoming supply voltage is always at the top end of the spec - we usually get approx 251VAC at 50Hz.
Thank you
Jem
What I have found so far is that the problem is related to Mean Wells. This should be checked by putting a simple load (say a light bulb) instead. Also maybe you should check/replace OK1.
I forgot to mention if someone is interested we have in stock bare PCBs (
SKU 00052) and assembled r3B5 modules (
SKU 00078) which don't use triacs.
I have replaced OK1 but it is still doing it (although it is a bit slower than it was), I think that the long term fix will be to replace the AUX-PS board with the newer version, the only problem with that is that I am not VAT registered so can't buy from prasimix and will have to get some blank boards made from the gerbers.
Jem
Sorry if I am out of order on this, but...
I am not VAT registered so can't buy from prasimix
Why does one need to be VAT registered to buy from prasimix?
That's apply only for UK after Brexit, since we are not able to collect UK VAT. Sorry for that.
Oh, that's annoying.
There's a small airfield not 20 miles away, and France is a short hop from there. Maybe I should get a pilot's license
That is seriously tempting!
Right, it's cheaper then DHL shipping
Indeed, and two PSUs would fit in hand baggage. Hmmm.
There seems to have been some progress here recently, it says BB3 is supported. Has anyone had a chance to try it so far? Two facts should change: the number of channels to be from 1 to 6, and place a link to a
new page.
https://sigrok.org/wiki/Envox_EEZ_Bench_Box_3
Mike G - Are you UK? (You post a UK Farnell link). If so, how did you import your BB3?
Thanks
Mike G - Are you UK? (You post a UK Farnell link). If so, how did you import your BB3?
Thanks
Hi m0rjc
No I am not currmtly in the UK, I am in Europe, but have access to the UK Farnell website.
I believe you can only purchase from Envox with a UK VAT number.
Regards Mike
Hi, I live in The Netherlands and just tried to order the BB3 via Mouser but they say they cannot ship it due to regulations. I thought that living in the EU meant we could freely buy and ship goods across the EU? With the BB3 manufactured in the EU there shouldn't be a problem. Or does NL or Mouser have special rules?