[skmetal7]

aww thats horrible!!!

[phomann]

So, is there any chance of addressing my questions in post # 894?

Cheers,


Peter.

[LeeWay]

So, is there any chance of addressing my questions in post # 894?

Cheers,


Peter.

Peter, your question is kinda mute at this point. It's on to Rev 6 now.

In the same vein, you are wanting finished schematics of stuff that hasn't yet hit the market, nor has anything been finalized as far as schematics.

Were these already on the market, I am certain you would get answers to specific questions, but at this point the answers would mostly be speculation and maybe's.

[phomann]

Lee,

I have to disagree. Previously, there was a pin that was a dc supply referenced to the drives logic ground. This is(was) very useful for the transistor side of the optos, as shown in the G540 schematic. This pin is marked "Do not use". I'd like to know if this pin still has this functionality.

So, my question is still relevant and not mute.

And besides, GeckoDrive are aware of the question. It would take 30 seconds to answer. I guess they have there reasons not to. Maybe it's info for OEMs at this stage.

If they don't want to answer it, fine, but it would be nice to hear it from them.

There is also a question outstanding regarding the G540 pullups.

Cheers,

Peter.

[Mariss Freimanis]

The "Do Not Use" pin still is +12VDC. 3mA is the available current.
The pullup +5VDC on the G540 are brought out to the main terminal block.

Mariss

[legomanww]

Those are beautiful little drives...

[MrWild]

Yes they are pretty. I keep thinking I'd like to put one in clear acrylic. It'd make a nice desk top conversation peice. I've seen bigger dust particles than the resisters and the brain has solder leads finer than hair. It is an awsum thing to gaze upon.

[phomann]

The "Do Not Use" pin still is +12VDC. 3mA is the available current.
The pullup +5VDC on the G540 are brought out to the main terminal block.

Mariss

Mariss,

Thanks for the reply.

Cheers,

Peter.

[skmetal7]

There is also a question outstanding regarding the G540 pullups.


Peter.

and also the outstanding question on the price of these things.... but maybe they dont know that yet.

[skmetal7]

so how many g250s did you run before you figured out this 'little' error?

[Mariss Freimanis]

1 panel, the smallest number that can be run on the machine. Every time we have a new drive or a new revision of an existing drive, a single panel is run and then a single drive is assembled to completion. It is then tested to see if it performs as expected. This time it didn't.

Mariss

[Teyber]

feel free to flame- very dumb question here.

The 540's will be 4 250's and a breakout board correct? what will the dimensions of it be?

Can anybody guess or know a price range?

can anybody guess or know a eta if everything goes to plan?

sorry if this has been addressed, but i haven't found it and the thread is 76 pages long.

ignore this post if it offends god(Mariss) as it poses some questions that probably can't be answered.

regards

[tauntdesigns]

I wrote this down on a scratch pad of paper a while back from a post earlier on in this thread.
G540
2.4" by 5.7" panel mount cut-out needed, 1" deep (61mm by 145mm by 26mm)
1.5" by 6" 4 mounting screw pattern, up to #6 screw size (38mm by 152mm)

[cwm9]

I think today marks the 2 week mark from when you said it would be two weeks to get new boards -- is there any word on a revised time line?

Thanks

[Mariss Freimanis]

Quick update:

1) We ordered 2,000 new G250 boards and 2,000 new G251 boards last week. They are on a 4-week turn, so we won't see any until late July. The pricing was not advantageous at all for a 2-week turnaround. That's the bad news.

2) More bad news. 3 additional board layout circuit trace errors were identified, bringing the total up to 5.

3) Now for some good news: We found a way to correct what initially seemed like fatal errors on the boards we have in house. We also found the corrections take 6 minutes and 40 seconds to reverse the errors. The actual correction takes 5 minutes, leaving 1 minute, 40 seconds for butt-scratching and nose-picking.:-) Seriously, this is the necessary reflex or relaxation time a technician needs to stay sharp a full 8 hours at a task like this. It is not humanly possible otherwise.

These corrections have been tested to every published specification limit of the drive and the corrected drives meet and exceed these specifications. It was expected because my layout screw-ups were entirely restricted to the logic portion of the drive. It did not involve the far more critical power section.

4) The result: These drives have 4 very small, blue-colored insulation wiring (#30 gage wire) corrections. They restore the boards to what they should have been had I not screwed up, with absolutely no compromise to their performance or reliability.

We have 2 technicians assigned to these corrections as of yesterday. It took that long to find a solution. Between them, they can correct about 150 drives a day. Once we have a stockpile of 500+ corrected and tested drives, we will offer them for sale.

5) We said the G250 will be $29 drive. The G250s will be $29 drives for two weeks as an introductory price. This will happen sometime next week or at the worst, the week after should we run into unexpected problems.

6) Tune out here if you like, what follows is analysis:

The G250 is a very dangerous product for us. To sell at $29 requires everything in the manufacturing process to work exactly right because there is no margin at all for production process errors. I have never designed a product before whose price couldn't absorb teething problems.

The $29 price guarantees huge production volumes; one mistake in miscalculating production process costs also guarantees huge losses to the company. That means we have to have a certainty everything involved with production is under control from parts procurement to shipping.

The G250 is identical to a G201 set to 3.5A and 50VDC at 1/3 the price. This is scary should something go wrong with the cost estimates. The G201 has a healthy price buffer built into it to account for support and development, the G250 has no fat at all.

It costs the same to process a single G201 order and ship it as it will to process and ship a single G250. For that reason the G250 will have a much steeper price vs. quantity schedule. What we have arrived at is this:

Qty 1 G250, $61
Qty 12 G250, $51
Qty 96 G250, $41
Qty 1008 G250, $31

Notice the funny quantity numbers. They are divisible by 12. We build the drives in panels of 12 and we want to sell them that way. You buy 12 drives and you get shipped a single panel of 12 drives. The panels are V-scored and you break them into individual drives like a saltine cracker. You buy 96 and you get 8 vacuum-sealed panels of 12 drives per panel. We tried to ship individual drives in a bag but they scraped parts off of each other 3 separate times; it didn't work. As vacuum-sealed plastic bagged panels of 12 it works perfectly.

Most of you here may see it as "I need only 3 drives. What's with the 12, 96 and 1008 quantities?" Others of you here are resellers and distributors. You see the price structure as guaranteeing a lot of leeway how you price the drives. You buy them at $31, you have a lot of latitude on how you resell them. We very simply will not be able to sell them directly in small quantities and hope to make a profit. That is why we will have the steep sliding price structure.

Before we ever committed to turning out these drives we had to have some assurances from major clients. The assurances given require we turn out 100,000 G250 drives in the next 12 months. That is what I mean when I said it's scary.

Mariss

[TheSlickster]

That's $2.78 per drive to rework the board.

Will the new drives that do not need a rework cost $2.78 less?

[Mariss Freimanis]

Come on now. That is a cost we have to eat at our expense. We will eat it because we made promises and we keep to what we promised. If you want a drive for free, just say so; don't nickel and dime it down that way. Jeez...

Mariss

[Teyber]

the smiley face tells me he was just kidding

[TheSlickster]

Hey,

$33.00 That's not cheap, its a porterhouse steak at the Butcher Shop when you buy 12 drives.

Maybe you should make it a bakers dozen and toss one in free for every twelve pack.

[TheSlickster]

I like to eat too, whats wrong with that?