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Topic: Bfl jalapeno failures and USB problems, SOLUTION FOUND - page 3. (Read 5457 times)

sr. member
Activity: 252
Merit: 250
I wouldn't call the issue FUD, there have been a large number of reported unit failures, and in 9 out of 10 cases I suspect the blame can be pointed squarely at the power supplies. This is pretty simple really, the BFL units are purportedly tested before being sent out, so if they had any issues they would fail in testing rather than a few hours after customer unboxing. The power supplies however are not part of the testing. Look at the test rigs BFL showed in their video, they have a much bigger common PSU running everything instead.

My guess is the PSUs are not tested and are poor quality chinese products made as cheaply as possible.
legendary
Activity: 3220
Merit: 2334
I fix broken miners. And make holes in teeth :-)
Does anyone care by the way?

No, because you're making a mountain out of an ant hill.  Please stop spreading FUD.
Really? If this is not an issue, I'll pull it.

Actually, you can help: If you know how to do it, and can check voltages between each of your power legs to "ground", I would appreciate it. Do you see 120/120 on each leg, or is it 240/0?

This image is what is bothering me:



I have at least one EU person who is seeing 120 volts on the ring of his jally power supply to ground. Either his picture is lying, or 120 volts is on the ground plane. If that were to happen, and the ground plane on a desktop attached via USB were to be grounded, then 120 volts would merrily go from the jally through the USB to ground. I think this would be tough on the Jally's USB chips.

I think this is why EU laptop power supplies have 3 wires, hot and explicit ground. But I have heard that the power supplies shipped are US supplies with two wires.

C

hero member
Activity: 1246
Merit: 501
Does anyone care by the way?

No, because you're making a mountain out of an ant hill.  Please stop spreading FUD.
legendary
Activity: 3220
Merit: 2334
I fix broken miners. And make holes in teeth :-)
You don't need to do any of that crap.  Just swap the supplied Whooflugdung PSU with something better, be it LiteOn or whatever, or run it off an ATX PSU like I do.
That was option 1. However I don't think most people understand what is going on. And it's not a "better" supply, it's one certified to run properly in your country.

C
legendary
Activity: 3220
Merit: 2334
I fix broken miners. And make holes in teeth :-)
Update: I've been getting reports that the power supplies are the US supplies with US cords, and people are plugging them into local power plugs with adapters.

Note: I think that this is not a good idea. Your local power supplies probably have 3 pin grounds, they are there for a reason. If *I* were there, I would use an adapter that provided full and proper isolation.

More to follow. Does anyone care by the way?
hero member
Activity: 1246
Merit: 501
You don't need to do any of that crap.  Just swap the supplied Whooflugdung PSU with something better, be it LiteOn or whatever, or run it off an ATX PSU like I do.
legendary
Activity: 3220
Merit: 2334
I fix broken miners. And make holes in teeth :-)
This is a ground fault.

A GFCI or related unit will NOT protect your device.

A USB isolator might. It does prevent a ground fault from happening.

Someone confirmed that a GFCI trip happened, and now his device will not recognize.

If your jally comes up with the front LED flashing fast, the power supply can't provide enough current to pass the diagnostics. Unit isn't bad, the problem is the stupid supply is bad.

Likewise I'll bet the reason that singles are coming up without chips is due to power problems. Get a real 500 watt power supply.

These have been confirmed by experiments here at danger labs. Flat facts.

legendary
Activity: 3220
Merit: 2334
I fix broken miners. And make holes in teeth :-)
Morning all!

SOLUTION FOUND. REPLACE THE FT232 CHIP AND YOUR JALLY WILL LIVE AGAIN. GET SOMEONE WHO KNOWS HOW TO DO REWORK LIKE XBOXES TO DO THIS FOR YOU. THE PART IS $3.00.

I've been hacking away at my BFL Jalapeno and have been noticing that a number of people have been saying their Jalapenos (jallies) have been failing with either a power supply failure, or a failure to connect to their desktop computer with USB errors. Or both. Or they get a new supply and now their jally isn't talking.

This seems to be happening in the EU, England, and Hong Kong. After reading the reports and such I think I know what the problem might be, and will be updating this thread as it develops. I'll keep this post for summary advice, and put the details below.

NOTE: I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING YOU DO, DON'T DO, OR THINK! These are only the observations of a random Internet user, please don't take my advice as legal counsel, gospel, or whatever.

Anyway, what I would do if I was in another country with 240 volt mains is this:

1) Get another power supply on your Jally. Get one that is UL/CSA/Whatever your country considers a standard for grounding and tolerances. This would be a good idea IMO.

2) If you can get a true Isolation transformer, plug the jally into that depending on local codes and laws.

2) Put a USB Opto-isolator between your jally and your computer. Note I have not tried this yet, as I am in the US and this is not a problem, but I *think* this will prevent the USB from blowing up. Something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Multi-purpose-USB-Isolator-Built-in-DC-DC/dp/B00899UVGW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386683733&sr=8-1&keywords=usb+isolator

Back when I was working on high voltage DC electric car stuff, you would always use optoisolators on the RS232 segments to prevent a ground loop from causing problems.

3) If you have GFCIs (Ground Fault Circuit interruptors), plug your stuff into one of those. I don't know power in Europe, or if thes exist.

Regardless, if you have a Jally outside the US and want to comment, please feel free to do so. I'll update this thread with some thoughts.

Thanks!
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