The units were never intended for a slow ramp I assume it runs into a meta stable condition Neither on or off and then corruption Glad you're can repair them
On Tuesday, June 7, 2016, Bob Camp <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi > > Thanks for the heads up !! > > It almost sounds like they are doing some sort of “use flash as eeprom” > trick and not > quite getting it right. Maybe updating a “how many times turned on” > counter in that > memory space. > > Bob > > > > On Jun 7, 2016, at 5:22 PM, Skip Withrow <[email protected] > <javascript:;>> wrote: > > > > We recently had a customer that purchased an FEI FE-5650A (basically a > > repackage version of the FE-5680A) and reported that it worked for > several > > hours, then died. We promptly sent another unit, and he reported that it > > died as well. He had nothing but power hooked to the unit. > > > > On return of the first unit, it was examined and found to have corrupted > > code. The corrupted code problem was thought to be associated with doing > > bad things to the serial port (like framing errors), and we still believe > > this to be the case. However, the customer said only power was connected > > to the unit. > > > > I was asking some questions about how he was powering the unit, when he > > said he turned on the power supply (a large HP variable supply) and > turned > > the voltage up to +15V (our 5650's are single supply). Ah hah, slowly > > ramping the voltage up on these oscillators appears to be a no no. > > > > The second oscillator has now been examined and it too was confirmed to > > have corrupted code. So, the word of warning is - DO NOT slowly ramp the > > supply voltage of FE-5680A and FE-5650A oscillators. I can't say what > > slowly is, but this guy was good at killing them. If I get some time I > may > > try to repeat the results. > > > > My advice was to set the supply at 15V and just turn it off and on. I > have > > not heard from him since. > > > > If anyone out there has a 5680A or 5650A that does not lock, the code > issue > > is very likely the problem. I have seen several 5680 units as well as a > > few 5650 units with this problem. The good news is that they can be > > fixed. I would happily do this for any time-nut that has one if return > > postage is included with the unit. The bad news is that we don't know > the > > nature of the code problem that trashes the software (stack overflow, > error > > handling routine, etc.) so units can only be restored to their original > > condition that still has the bug in the code. > > > > Otherwise, the 5650 and 5680 are great values to get rubidium performance > > at very reasonable prices. I have 1000's of hours on them and 100's of > > power cycles, with a lot of serial port use, so if treated correctly they > > are reliable units. > > > > Regards, > > Skip Withrow > > RDR Electronics, Inc. > > > > < > https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=oa-2322-b > > > > Virus-free > > < > https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=oa-2322-b > > > > <#DDB4FAA8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> > > _______________________________________________ > > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] <javascript:;> > > To unsubscribe, go to > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > > and follow the instructions there. > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] <javascript:;> > To unsubscribe, go to > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. > _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
