[trogan]

Like the post title says, I can't seem to connect to one of my three Viper 200 drives but can connect to the other two without issue. Also, I was able to connect to this drive a few weeks ago and haven't made any changes that should cause me problems. Oddly, the drive will run my axis just fine when I'm instructing it to do so via mach 3. As far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with it, other than not being able to connect (which is preventing me from tuning it). Any ideas on what I could try? I'm pretty handy with a multimeter and a soldering iron if it comes to that. ...Or is it a pretty clear case of having to ship it in for repairs? Thanks.

[Larken]

You can check to see if one of the pins on the 5 pin (programming) connector is not soldered by peeking under the edge of the board. You can reach under with a small soldering iron if its not.
Also make sure the pins aren't bent.

The IC in the top corner near the 12volt plug is the max232 rs232 driver. check the solder on it too. Also compare that all the parts are on , by looking at a working board .

Larry

[trogan]

Thanks very much for the reply, Larry... All of the soldering looked fine, nothing is missing, and there were no foreign objects shorting anything together that I could see. I did do some checking with the ohm meter and found significant differences between a good board and the problematic one when I checked between the three RS232 pins. I'm guessing the MAX232 IC is dead based on what I saw, but let me know if you agree or disagree.

On a good board, I see:
Between "GND" and "RX in", 12.5kΩ
Between "GND" and "TX out", no continuity
Between "RX in" and "TX out", no continuity

On the bad board, I see:
Between "GND" and "RX in", 134Ω
Between "GND" and "TX out", 0.8Ω
Between "RX in" and "TX out", 134Ω

I can get a new MAX232 for under $2 but I'm also not great at dealing with soldering and desoldering surface mount ICs. I also imagine there could possibly be more troubleshooting to perform. Thoughts? Anyway, I'm curious if you're open to making the repair for me and if so, could you PM me a rough guesstimate on what repairs might cost? Thanks again. -Tom

[Larken]

no, don't try to fix it , it could be anything.
Sent it back (by mail, not courier) and all it will cost you is the $20 return shipping.

Larry

[trogan]

You, sir, are a gentleman. I'll ship it out via US Mail this week per the info on this page. Thanks very much.

[Larken]

The input to the Max232 was fried. Maybe it saw some accidental high voltage.

Just a note: Don't insure a package for $200, its not worth the extra cost. Also canadian customs tacked a $22 bill on it when it arrived since they 'assumed' i am buying it and the value is $200 (even though you did check 'returning' )
These days there is a very low chance of a package getting lost. Insurance isn't worth it. (Not that they would pay it anyway)

Larry

[trogan]

Rats... sorry about that, Larry. Damn customs. (nuts)