Thank you Gecko

I recently had a Gecko 203V drive (Gecko's famous unkillable vampire drive) fail me catastrophically. I don't know what caused the drive to fail but it burnt the tracks off the board and made it irreperable.

I first got an email back from Marcus Freimanis of Gecko support saying:

Bob,

Thank you for contacting Geckodrive technical support.

It looks like the issue may be from the wire plugs being used. We do not recommend the use of wire plugs with terminal blocks as they greatly increase the resistance after being fatigued, resulting in large I2R heating. Because the fault was outside of the drive, and on the connector, the fuse would not have blown.

Please follow this link and complete the form to receive an RMA number:

http://www.geckodrive.com/webforms/index/index/id/2/

Most product returns take around 5 business days, but may take longer depending on workload. All drives still covered under warranty are evaluated and repaired free of charge if there is no board-level damage, and include free return shipping within the USA. Some repair charges may apply to drives out of warranty and those with customer induced damage. We will contact you as soon as your drive has been evaluated and if there are any questions from our engineering team.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!

Marcus Freimanis
Geckodrive, Inc.

:2tsup:

Picture of devastation.

OUCH :o
What is a wire plug?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bob Willson

I recently had a Gecko 203V drive (Gecko's famous unkillable vampire drive) fail me catastrophically. I don't know what caused the drive to fail but it burnt the tracks off the board and made it irreperable.

I first got an email back from Marcus Freimanis of Gecko support saying:

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What happened after that?

Hmm, part of my message seems to have gone away some where.

The wire plugs to which he is referring are shoelace crimped terminals that I used to ensure a good contact. Apparently they aren't as good as I thought.

On 05/12/13 03:45, Noelle wrote:Hello Bob,

Geckodrive is offering to replace your damaged drive with a “one time stuff happens” courtesy replacement drive (G203V), as it seems your damaged drive is un-repairable, based off of the pictures and emails you have exchanged with Marcus. Please send me the address you would like it to be shipped to.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Kindly,

Noelle Basich
Returns Department
Geckodrive, Inc.
14662 Franklin Ave.
Suite E
Tustin, CA 92780
USA


I ended by saying that I thought that Gecko had gone far beyond the normal requirements of a warranty and that if you are thinking of purchasing a Gecko then stop thinking and just do it. Nobody, I mean NOBODY else will give you a warranty like that.

AHHA :U
That makes more sense :2tsup:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bob Willson

The wire plugs to which he is referring are shoelace crimped terminals that I used to ensure a good contact. Apparently they aren't as good as I thought.

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Did you use the proper (expensive) crimping tool to put them on? Those wire ferrules are the preferred method of wiring on the Mechmate forum.

Hi Ger21

Yes, I used one of these from Rhino tools.

Hmmmm... coincidentaly (and annoyingly) I have had the same failure on one of my 203's.

I have never been a big fan of this sort of plug, and wasn't too sure of them when I first got the drives, but I figured there must be hundreds of these out there so they should be tried and true.
I can see no reason for this failure (no loose wires/motor current within specs) only that the plug/socket decided enough was enough.
When I opened the cabinet, there was a lot of heat and the drive in question had all LED's on. The burn marks were slightly visible from the front so I knew right off what the problem was. My solution was a rummage through the junk box for a set of PCB mounted terminal strips. A quick de-solder of the old ones and install of the replacements, everything seems to be good.
(Edit - I just noticed, the pins that I had burn were the same ones as above)

Unfortunately, I couldn't wait for Gecko and a service from them because I need this job out by Friday, but from all accounts they seem to do right by their customers. :2tsup:

The only thing lost for me was an hour of machining and a bit of MDF. I'm just glad it wasn't a customers valuable piece of Maple or Ebony and I could get it back up and running in quick time! :)

Ah well... these things happen!

Hi,

One tip to keep in mind with these type of connectors is to not to put any strain on them through the wiring. Tight bends my reduce the conctact between the pins and connector.

Cheers,

Peter

Actually, those terminal blocks are designed to deform or mush the copper strands to get maximum contact area.
Using a ferule type crimp on end which is hard, defeats that purpose. Working in electronics for military applications for the last 20 years, we would never ever use a crimp on ferule with a terminal strip. It is also no recommended to solder the ends of the wire either as that will also firm up the end and minimize the contact area.