Hello, I bought two units in February 2022, both work very well and are amazing, mainly because of the ease and speed of use. Now, one of them has this problem: the outer button does not work. The inner button works fine. On the other drive I have this problem: when I charge the drive it doesn’t turn on the green charge light or charge the drive. Sorry if my transcription is not correct, I write from Ecuador.
Hi Gigo89 - Please submit a request through our returns system: https://www.sparkfun.com/returns We should be able to get you replacement parts for the exterior button. The charger IC may require a return.
Hi,
I am having the same problem : I have an RTK Facet purchased in July 2023, which does not charge and does not turn on. At the moment of connecting it to the computer or to a wall adapter, it turns on, but it immediately turns off with the message “charge battery”.
I have left it connected for a few hours, it does not charge, and it still does not turn on.
What could be the issue ?
Thanks
Hi and welcome! After charging for an hour please connect the device to a USB port and hold the power button in an attempt to power on the device. If you see a port enumerate on the computer, then we know the device is running but the display has failed. We can either provide you with a new display (repair instructions here) or we can do the repair for you. Let us know.
When I connect the device to a USB port and hold the power button, it turns on and immediately turns off with the message “charge battery”, but the port doesn’t appear on the computer.
And when I plug in a USB-C cable from the wall adapter or from the computer, the charge LED doesn’t light up.
In that case I recommend a return for repair. Once we get the unit in hand we can diagnose it and get you a quote. If there’s a ton of corrosion or damage to the unit, then we’ll get you a quote for repair but the vast majority of work is covered under warranty.
Hi,
I’m in France so a return of the device seems difficult.
I followed the instructions to disassemble the device, to check the connections, etc. There is no corrosion or damage inside the unit.
I disconnected the battery from the main board to check its voltage, and it’s 0.0V.
When I plug in a USB-C cable on the device (with the battery disconnected), the voltage of the charger on the main board is about 4.25V. If I hold the power button, the device turns on and works fine.
If I reconnect the battery on the main board, and try to turn on the device, the same problem reappears.
So I suppose the battery is dead. Is that correct ? And is this problem covered under warranty ?
Hi, something similar happened to me, the com ports work but it doesn’t let me charge and in my case what I did was make a connection to the battery to charge it, since the Facet board doesn’t charge the battery, so I made an additional connection just to charge it, I still measured the voltages and even when the battery was disconnected it worked.
I’m in France so a return of the device seems difficult.
Understood. We’ll try to troubleshoot it!
We have a 12 month warranty on our RTK devices, but I have a lot of sway into what is and what is not covered by warranty. If possible, please take some pictures of the front/back of the mainboard. I am most interested in the SMD connection to the JST battery pins (are there any dry joints or issues?), and the charger IC (any bad solder joints, corrosion, etc that may affect the IC?). With some good photos, we may be able to verify these are good or bad.
From what you describe, the charging circuit is not working, or the battery is no longer functioning. If I had the device, I would swap batteries to isolate the issue. Do you happen to have a 3.7V lipo with the same connector and pinout available? It’s similar to any SparkFun battery we sell. Alternatively, do you have access to a lipo charger that you could try charging the RTK battery with?
I’ve got a second device, a Sparkfun facet, so I’ve tried with the battery of the other one.
With the other battery, the device turns on and works fine. But if I plug in a USB-C cable on the device, the charge LED doesn’t light up.
So I’ve plugged in the first battery in the second device. If I plug in a USB-C cable on the device, the charge LED lights up, and after a moment, the device turns on and works fine.
So indeed, the issue seems to be the charging circuit that is not working.
Agreed, the problem is on the mainboard, and the charging circuit. I will PM you.