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Author Topic: I am in big trouble  (Read 17528 times)

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nortonbeak

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Re: I am in big trouble
« Reply #15 on: January 11, 2009, 08:09:54 PM »
The USB is fixed to the board as can be seen in the photo of the insides accompanying this article.

http://www.airnavsystems.com/download/anrb/RadarBox%20-%20Silicon%20Chip%20Australia%20-%20Review%20November%202008.pdf

Nevertheless, it must be worth a telephone call to Waters & Stanton in the morning.

Fenris

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Re: I am in big trouble
« Reply #16 on: January 11, 2009, 08:38:14 PM »
The USB is fixed to the board as can be seen in the photo of the insides accompanying this article.

So, if the USB lead is rotated downwards then if the connector shell is not strongly soldered to the PCB the connections at the back can be torn off the PCB even by an impact with carpet from a small height?

Allocator

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Re: I am in big trouble
« Reply #17 on: January 11, 2009, 08:48:48 PM »
The USB is fixed to the board as can be seen in the photo of the insides accompanying this article.

So, if the USB lead is rotated downwards then if the connector shell is not strongly soldered to the PCB the connections at the back can be torn off the PCB even by an impact with carpet from a small height?

What are you trying to say Brian?

I don't remember anything in the RB spec about it being guaranteed to be indestructible if dropped :-0

Excuse my post, but you do always seem to be trying to find fault ............

Fenris

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Re: I am in big trouble
« Reply #18 on: January 11, 2009, 09:10:35 PM »
So, if the USB lead is rotated downwards then if the connector shell is not strongly soldered to the PCB the connections at the back can be torn off the PCB even by an impact with carpet from a small height?

What are you trying to say Brian?

I don't remember anything in the RB spec about it being guaranteed to be indestructible if dropped :-0

Excuse my post, but you do always seem to be trying to find fault ............
[/quote]

You misunderstand me, I'm an engineer (which makes me naturally suspicious) that builds products for the consumer market and I know what they are expected to stand up to, but perhaps an incident like this with a mini-USB lead plugged in is more severe than I thought.

I'm not trying to find fault (and what else have I tried to find fault with except government actions?), but I think I'm justified in determining whether the risk of damage is high for a simple mistake. The force applied is unusual in that a vertical force would cause the connector to be driven against the case end, reducing the force applied to the connector/PCB whereas a rotational force has no such benefit so the force is applied directly to the connector mount points.

So this is probably how it happened to Bill5 and hence we should be aware that it can happen and take more care with our RBs.

There is of course the possibility that the soldering was inadequate in this case, but I can't diagnose that (especially from this distance) and it will be up to W&S (I presume) to determine whether an incident like this is classed as reasonable handling or not. The box is quite light and hence a lot easier to knock flying than if it were heavier.

jgomberg

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Re: I am in big trouble
« Reply #19 on: January 11, 2009, 11:34:45 PM »
The USB is fixed to the board as can be seen in the photo of the insides accompanying this article.

http://www.airnavsystems.com/download/anrb/RadarBox%20-%20Silicon%20Chip%20Australia%20-%20Review%20November%202008.pdf

Am I the only person here who recognizes RadarBox being run on an Apple MacBook Pro in the article link Nortonbeak kindly posted?

I'd like to know where I can get the OS-X version of RadarBox...

Apologies for taking the topic sideways.

Allocator

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Re: I am in big trouble
« Reply #20 on: January 12, 2009, 12:28:21 AM »
No, it's the graphics department of the magazine that have got this wrong - the screen shot looks like it's pasted onto the picture of the laptop :-0

Allocator

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Re: I am in big trouble
« Reply #21 on: January 12, 2009, 12:30:55 AM »
I'm not trying to find fault (and what else have I tried to find fault with except government actions?), but I think I'm justified in determining whether the risk of damage is high for a simple mistake. The force applied is unusual in that a vertical force would cause the connector to be driven against the case end, reducing the force applied to the connector/PCB whereas a rotational force has no such benefit so the force is applied directly to the connector mount points.

I have the same problem with toast - it always lands jam side down, but I don't see any warning about this on the wrapper.  It's just not good enough!

tarbat

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Re: I am in big trouble
« Reply #22 on: January 12, 2009, 09:34:06 AM »
It must be "clumsy Sunday".  I dropped my binoculars last night, and appear to have damaged the prisms, since the two eyes no longer line-up.  Going to be expensive to replace :(

Bill, before claiming on the insurance consider the impact on next year's premium.  My advise would be to contact Airnav direct and see if they can help first.

DaveReid

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Re: I am in big trouble
« Reply #23 on: January 12, 2009, 09:53:19 AM »
I have the same problem with toast - it always lands jam side down, but I don't see any warning about this on the wrapper.  It's just not good enough!

Or as we used to say in Glasgow, 'Gin ye drap a jeely piece, it aye fa's jeely side doon'
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Fenris

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Re: I am in big trouble
« Reply #24 on: January 12, 2009, 10:36:04 AM »

I have the same problem with toast - it always lands jam side down, but I don't see any warning about this on the wrapper.  It's just not good enough!


I wasn't asking for a warning, it's just that I'd never considered the relative sizes of a mini-USB plug's body and the inserted part before. By the time you add in the strain relief on the cable it's about 4 times the length so any force applied to the cable is multiplied 4 times on the inserted end.

I wonder if I can find a cable with a shorter mini-USB connector body?

Oh and the toast problem is easily fixed by attaching the slice with butter/jam on it to a cat. When it falls the whole assembly sits a foot or so off the ground trying to work out how to land with both the jam and the cat's feet on the ground at the same time.

EK01

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Re: I am in big trouble
« Reply #25 on: January 12, 2009, 11:57:10 AM »
Dave,

Liked your Glasgow quotation. I take it then that you are somewhere in Glasgow. I must be located near you as I am in East Kilbride. Clear blue skies today and I can hear the overflights which are also registering on the RB but coming over with no trails showing. Why is that ? Bit of a bummer as an Aeromexico came over earlier.

DaveReid

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Re: I am in big trouble
« Reply #26 on: January 12, 2009, 01:30:40 PM »
Liked your Glasgow quotation. I take it then that you are somewhere in Glasgow.

Nope, I'm an expat living in Berkshire now.

Not all aircraft show up as trails on RadarBox (or in the sky, come to that).  Depends on the avionics fit.

Dave
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Allocator

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Re: I am in big trouble
« Reply #27 on: January 12, 2009, 06:10:34 PM »
Oh and the toast problem is easily fixed by attaching the slice with butter/jam on it to a cat. When it falls the whole assembly sits a foot or so off the ground trying to work out how to land with both the jam and the cat's feet on the ground at the same time.

That's an excellent idea Brian, all I've got to do now is to convince the cat .......

That did make me smile :-)

Regarding the shorter USB connector, I'm sure somebody posted a picture here on the forum of a RB (or was it an SBS-1?) mounted inside another box with fly-leads to the outside of the bigger box.  Maybe a bit of overkill, but if you plan on going out "in the field" then it might be worth considering.

Fenris

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Re: I am in big trouble
« Reply #28 on: January 12, 2009, 06:23:46 PM »
The sort of cable I'm thinking of is one of the two at the bottom right on this page:

http://www.usbfirewire.com/ucablecam5b.html

That would reduce the bending moment, but might be a bit awkward if the cable went downwards.

I think more care is probably the best thing, I do plan on taking mine out in the car for use when parked up. At home it sits on the floor, so it can't easily fall.

CoastGuardJon

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Re: I am in big trouble
« Reply #29 on: January 12, 2009, 07:46:31 PM »
Hi Brian, thanks for the link - not the cheapest, esp. with current US$ to GBP rates, but well worth some very serious consideration.
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