No, [email protected]

Gerald


On Tue, Jul 21, 2015 at 11:48 AM, Alan Rosenbloom <[email protected]>
wrote:

> OK - great!. For a direct email, is your address [email protected]?
>
> Alan
>
> On Mon, Jul 20, 2015 at 9:57 PM, Gerald Coley <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>> That is a long email. Send me a direct email, and at some point we can
>> have a discussion.
>>
>> Gerald
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 20, 2015 at 6:36 PM, Alan Rosenbloom <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Gerald: I am super impressed that you would offer your valuable time to
>>> help with not much in return than thanks.
>>>
>>> Background: I’m developing a complicated prototype and I am new to
>>> embedded systems. I was fairly frustrated that I could not “just hook
>>> things up” and have them at least not destroy the BBB while testing. I am
>>> beginning to understand that, like any device, more capability comes with
>>> more complexity and vulnerabilities. I still see the BBB as an amazing
>>> opportunity for inventors overall and realize that I need to learn more to
>>> use it properly.
>>>
>>>                 I cannot point to one circuit that caused the damage to
>>> the BBBs because I am trying different arrangements to integrate multiple
>>> devices. However, if you could answer some basic questions on design
>>> strategy, that could help.
>>>
>>>
>>> *Here’s what I need to accomplish:*
>>>
>>> I need to power 4 accessories: (1) a small stepper motor through the
>>> Pololu DRV8834 driver board. It consumes about 200 – 300 mA at 5 volts, (2)
>>> an IC chip via pulse wave modulation – it requires about 620mA at 1.55V,
>>> (3) a small DC motor which consumes about 40 mA at 3V (either by PWM and
>>> a relay or straight from a 3.3 V source) and (4) a small cooling fan –
>>> consumes about 120 mA at 5 V.
>>>
>>> I need to control turning all these on and off by a clock function.
>>>
>>> I need to read a GVS digital sensor:  consumes less than 10 mA at 5 V.
>>>
>>> I need to read a GVS analog input:  5V input, output < 1 volt.
>>>
>>> I need to read DC voltages (analog): (1) on a pin on the DRV8834 driver
>>> board (0-1 volt range), (2) on a sensor with special input requirements –
>>> it needs both (+) 5 volts AND (-) 5 volts inputs to power it. The (-)
>>> voltage is derived from (+) 5 V using this inverter ICL7660A, which I have
>>> found to be about 91% efficient at converting DC (+) to DC(-) for this
>>> application. Sensor output max about 1.2 volts.
>>>
>>> Finally, I need to add and read a real time clock (RTC) such as the
>>> Chronodot (Adafruit) – requires I2C bus SDA, and SCL, as well as GND and
>>> (+) 5V.
>>>
>>>
>>> *What do you think of these strategies:*
>>>
>>> (1)    Use the BBB-GVS board (http://beagleboard.org/project/BBB-GVS/).
>>> This board appears to provide a layer of protection from the sensor voltage
>>> inputs and power outputs for the BBB. The problem is they may not be a
>>> reliable supplier and I cannot tell if this board will accomplish all these
>>> tasks.
>>>
>>> (2)    Use the BBB only for logic and supply all the power from an
>>> independent (probably 5V cell phone charger power pack) source with voltage
>>> regulator, using PWM and relays to regulate the voltages lower than 5 V and
>>> relays to control intermittent power needs. Would this be safer for the BBB
>>> i.e. not using power directly off the BBB while trying to read sensor
>>> output at the same time? It seems dangerous to me tying all the grounds
>>> together (analog, digital and power) that would be required to get both
>>> power out of the BBB and signal into it.
>>>
>>> (3)    Power the BBB via a 3.7 volt backup battery through TP5 and TP8
>>> to prevent abrupt cessation of power should a system failure occur. Seems
>>> like it would be possible to write code to give the “sudo shutdown –h now”
>>> command when the power went down. This would allow the PMIC time to do an
>>> orderly shutdown.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I suspect that the sensors may be putting voltages on the BBB pins
>>> before they are powered up as part of the problem, but I am not sure how to
>>> prevent this. Is there a way to power up the sensors after the BBB has
>>> properly booted and to shut them down before the PMIC does its shutdown
>>> sequence? Any other external wiring or devices that could help safeguard
>>> the BBB? Any advice you can offer on any of this or other ways to protect
>>> the BBB would be appreciated.
>>>
>>> On Sat, Jul 18, 2015 at 8:31 PM, Gerald Coley <[email protected]>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> If you do not use it properly, it will be damaged. That applies to
>>>> every electronic circuit ever designed. I would have stopped using the
>>>> circuitry after the second try.
>>>>
>>>> I would be happy to look at your circuit and see if I can identify what
>>>> the issue might be.
>>>>
>>>> Gerald
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Jul 17, 2015 at 10:27 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I now have 4 damaged or dead BBBs. On this last board (Element 14), I
>>>>> had only a stepper motor driver board connected (Pololu DRV8834), and
>>>>> nothing else. The DRV8834 was initially drawing power from the VDD5v on 
>>>>> the
>>>>> BBB. The BBB "blacked out" twice while nothing was happening and while
>>>>> connected to both a 5V regulated power supply (Adafruit) and USB power. I
>>>>> was worried that the DRV8834 was drawing too much power (although I have
>>>>> found it uses < 200 mA @ 5V), so I used a separate power supply for the
>>>>> DRB8834. Only the logic of the DRV8834 was hooked up to the BBB - nothing
>>>>> that would supply power and no analog inputs.  The third blackout also
>>>>> occurred without an obvious precipitant - again with both power sources
>>>>> connected (USB and barrel plug). Now the power LED flashes briefly when
>>>>> either USB or barrel plug power (Adafruit power source for BBB) is
>>>>> connected to the BBB. It will not sustain the power button nor boot up.
>>>>>
>>>>> This seems to be a repetitive theme on this forum. I am losing faith
>>>>> in the BBB ever functioning in a real world environment if it is this
>>>>> fragile. Is there any way to protect the BBB processor (or whatever is
>>>>> blowing) with external circuitry or power?
>>>>>
>>>>> Appreciate any help. I'm now out over $200 with these boards and I
>>>>> cannot identify anything that should be damaging them. Considering 
>>>>> changing
>>>>> to another system at this point. Although I am impressed with the
>>>>> capability of the BBB, I would not call it a robust system.
>>>>>
>>>>> Help!
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Thursday, June 11, 2015 at 9:08:39 PM UTC-4, Gerald wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The flashing LED indicates excess current is being drawn by the
>>>>>> processor. This can be related to damaged I/O pins or power supplies that
>>>>>> are not well regulated..
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Gerald
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 4:38 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I have the same issue, already 3 boards has died.
>>>>>>> any solution, i tried to use optoisolator/pwm and noting. the BBB is
>>>>>>> a bad board.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Le mercredi 25 février 2015 18:03:24 UTC+1, [email protected] a
>>>>>>> écrit :
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Identical problem this morning:  BBB boots fine when powered by
>>>>>>>> USB, but not when powered by a 2.0 mA rated 5.0 V DC power supply 
>>>>>>>> (nicked
>>>>>>>> from some other device).  BBB power LED blinks continuously.  This 
>>>>>>>> power
>>>>>>>> supply has worked with this BBB in the past.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Mike.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On Friday, January 23, 2015 at 8:44:59 PM UTC-8, [email protected]
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I had a similar problem- my power LED would just continue blinking
>>>>>>>>> when connected to a 5V power source. This meant there was something 
>>>>>>>>> wrong.
>>>>>>>>> First, I checked if my BBB was still alive. To find that, I connected 
>>>>>>>>> my
>>>>>>>>> board to a computer via USB. Surprisingly, this time power LED  
>>>>>>>>> turned on
>>>>>>>>> normally. Then to make sure that everything was properly, I ran some
>>>>>>>>> program as given in the BB website
>>>>>>>>> http://beagleboard.org/getting-started.  I was happy to see, the
>>>>>>>>> programs on the website worked just fine on my board. Thus, I was 
>>>>>>>>> able to
>>>>>>>>> conclude that strangely, my BBB board didn't like 5V external power 
>>>>>>>>> source!
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On Friday, November 22, 2013 at 6:41:41 AM UTC-8, Bert Lindner
>>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Just had a 5V powered Beaglebone Black seemingly die on me. First
>>>>>>>>>> the power led kept blinking, then after removing the (BB Toys CAN) 
>>>>>>>>>> cape the
>>>>>>>>>> power led would flash just once after applying power. Looking back in
>>>>>>>>>> previous threads this seemed to mean I killed the board somehow; 
>>>>>>>>>> there was
>>>>>>>>>> also a GPS module attached to one of the UARTs and a probably power 
>>>>>>>>>> hungry
>>>>>>>>>> USB wlan stick that I'm trying to get to work, so a power hungry 
>>>>>>>>>> setup.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> I was ready to declare it dead, it remained just flashing once
>>>>>>>>>> after repeatedly unplugging and reattaching the power supply.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> However I noticed the single power led flash would also happen if
>>>>>>>>>> I pressed the power button (leaving the 5V plug in). Doing that 
>>>>>>>>>> repeatedly
>>>>>>>>>> seems to have revived the board, will see if new problems occur. For 
>>>>>>>>>> now it
>>>>>>>>>> behaves normally.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Is this expected behaviour?
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Best,
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> -Bert
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>  --
>>>>>>> For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss
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>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Gerald
>>>>>>
>>>>>> [email protected]
>>>>>> http://beagleboard.org/
>>>>>>
>>>>>  --
>>>>> For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss
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>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Gerald
>>>>
>>>> [email protected]
>>>> http://beagleboard.org/
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss
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>>>>
>>>
>>>  --
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Gerald
>>
>> [email protected]
>> http://beagleboard.org/
>>
>> --
>> For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss
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>
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-- 
Gerald

[email protected]
http://beagleboard.org/

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