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Stay AWAY from Alligator Board!

Posted by doctorgonzo 
Stay AWAY from Alligator Board!
November 11, 2015 09:05AM
I have been through three of these boards, the first was a "pre-revision" board that would blow a diode when a standard USB cord was plugged in while the board was receiving 12V power.

I understand now, you had to use an ARM-compatible, "signal only" programming cable, but this was nowhere to be found in the documentation, website, or sales info. If you read through the Q&A thread, there is reference to a pre-rev and post-rev board # that supposedly addresses this exact issue. I believe I was the first to uncover this issue in the US.

They revised the design of the board and sent me a replacement. Meanwhile, I ordered a second unit in good faith, as I have several printers and I liked the feature set of this controller.

So now, I have two controllers that both overheat and smell like burning electronics when I power them up. I'm using a standard 12V Meanwell power supply and I know what I'm doing - I have successfully installed, programmed and printed with a variety of controllers, from Ramps to RAMBo to BeagleBoneBlack.

Neither Marco nor Francesco will reply to an email or private message on Indiegogo regarding a repair, return or refund.

I thought I would put this out there as a public service announcement. I'm out over $300 at this point and I intend for this message to cost them at LEAST that amount in lost sales. I do not tolerate dishonesty and lack of professionalism very well. I believe this board has potential, but it was rushed to market without proper testing or documentation, had a hasty and poorly planned revision made, and the end users were and are being used as beta testers.

Chris
Re: Stay AWAY from Alligator Board!
November 11, 2015 10:19AM
.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/2015 10:21AM by filipeCampos.
Re: Stay AWAY from Alligator Board!
November 11, 2015 10:19AM
The board overheat and smell like burning electronics!?!? seriously?

I do not know the board but it is an suicidal move selling board with this type of basic problem. The way you tell your story remember me the release of the replicator 5th generation.
If your are reporting an design problem, them who they do when them have there boards in printing demonstrations?
Maybe is the constructor of the board have not respected the design and they do not have tested the boards they are selling?
Are you 100% sure you have not make an error in the connections?
Re: Stay AWAY from Alligator Board!
November 11, 2015 10:38AM
Can you tell what component on the board is overheating?



Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].
Re: Stay AWAY from Alligator Board!
November 11, 2015 07:04PM
It is the area around the USB ports, perhaps the UART chip, and the power caps at the opposite end of the board. Both areas get really hot.
Re: Stay AWAY from Alligator Board!
November 12, 2015 03:41AM
Power caps normally only get hot if they are fitted the wrong way round, or power is applied the wrong way round, or they are exposed to a voltage above their rating.



Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].
Re: Stay AWAY from Alligator Board!
November 12, 2015 03:51AM
Sounds like a bad ground loop. Search the forums for melting USB cables....
The problem then is not the Alligator board, but the wiring and power supply.

-Olaf
Re: Stay AWAY from Alligator Board!
November 22, 2015 03:45AM
i've experienced the same exact problems as doctorgonzo, and i have to confirm a probable lack of experience in the realization of that board and also poor after sale customer support, maybe, again, for lack of experience. The board that i own melted after few hours of use in a 24v setup (less than a day, if i remember) while i was tuning my printer, sent it for repair and received back with some modifications in circuitry after two whole months and after some solicitations. I've never used it again from then on due to lack of faith in the project, so i don't know if the circuitry's revision is effective or not, anyway i suspect that being one of the first guys that had the problem and be italian helped in having a feedback.
At the moment it seems that the fund raising was closed on 30th october and that the project lacks development, that's not a good sign for the customers of the board, but i hope that i'm wrong.

Andrea
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