XRP Control Board Non-responsive

Other Education Products
1

I ordered several XRP Kits-Beta (Experiential Robotics Platform (XRP) Kit - Beta - KIT-22230 - SparkFun Electronics, #22230). While assembling one of them, the red LEDs did not illuminate when the USB cable was plugged in. With batteries in the robot and the power switch on, only one of the red LEDs illuminate.

I was able to pull a Control Board from one of the remaining kits to complete the assembly. I would like to send this Control Board back for a replacement to finish building the XRP that I had to borrow the Control Board from.

I initially thought it was the USB cable. I plugged it into another XRP Control Board and the cable worked fine with that board.

I have checked and all the kapton tape was removed from the board. I did notice when I took the board out from the bag that the Motor 4 port housing was cracked. I thought it was just the plastic housing. I now think this was an indication that something else damaged the board.

I sent an email to Customer Service and they requested that I post to this forum.

Thank you.

2

I’ve had the board plugged into the computer for about 30 minutes and I just noticed that it has gotten very hot. I hope this helps diagnose the problem.

3

Hi there, sorry to hear one of your boards is defective!

Which LED is not illuminating, MOT or SYS? Can you see if there’s any damage to the LED or the resistors next to the LEDs?

Does the cracked Motor 4 connector prevent you from using that connector? Could you please send a photo of the damage?

When you plug in the board over USB, does your computer recognize that a device was connected? Are you able to program it?

Are you able to tell exactly which part of the board gets hot? Please be careful to not burn yourself!

Thank you!

4

Dryw,

Thanks for reaching out to help troubleshoot.

I wrote the post off memory. When I plug the board into the computer, nothing illuminates. After plugging in the batteries and turning the board on, the MOT LED turns on; the SYS does not. I don’t see any damage to the LEDs or the resistors.

I was able to use one of the motor cables to move the cracked part of the housing back in place. I can plug a motor in if I wanted. After doing this the damage is not visible.

The computer does not recognize that a device has been plugged in. I am not able to program it.

I’m not exactly sure what is getting hot. I think it is the processor (larger black component in the center of the Raspberry Pi with many leads coming out of each side). I am not able to program it.

Please let me know if you have additional questions.

5

XRP Control Board Front
XRP Control Board Front1512×2016 363 KB

There is no visible damage to the back of the board.

6

Got it, thank you!

Other users have reported a similar problem where they’re unable to program the board and something gets hot. I have not yet been able to determine the root problem, but I’m pretty sure it’s something with the Pico W.

Could you please submit an RMA and link to this thread? If you ship the board back, I can get my hands on it to hopefully diagnose what’s going wrong, and you should be able to get a replacement.

Thank you!

7

RMA submitted. Thanks for the help with this.

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