Is it possible to send my Botboarduino in for repair with the repair service? It might help to figure out what the problem is, but I’m not sure if the BotBoarduino qualifies for the repair service.
Hey Victor,
If worst comes to worst, trying to get a replacement might be your best bet. If the board is fried, it might be easier to replace it than for someone to probe the entire board to find out what needs to be replaced.
Keep in these are common ways to fry an Arduino based board
Method #1: Shorting I/O Pins to Ground
Method #2: Shorting I/O Pins to Each Other
Method #3: Apply Overvoltage to I/O Pins
Method #4: Apply External Vin Power Backwards
Method #5: Apply >5V to the 5V Connector Pin
Method #6: Apply >3.3V to the 3.3V Connector Pin
Method #7: Short Vin to GND
Method #8: Apply 5V External Power with Vin Load
Method #9: Apply >13V to Reset Pin
Method #10: Exceed Total Microcontroller Current
Since you put on a new regulator, I would go ahead and do a simple test. If you have access to a multimeter, plug in your 12V power supply and probe the input and output of the regulator. You should get 5V. Out of curiosity, any reason why you are not using a 9V battery for logic. In my experience, I usually use 9V for the logic. Once, in one of my projects, I had a bunch of 7-segment displays connected to the Arduino which required a lot more current than a 9V can supply. This caused low voltage issues.
Finally, in your picture, it looks like your using it for a multi-leg project. Did you try following the wiring diagrams provided.
Hi tronicsos,
I think it would be better to send it in so that I know what’s wrong because this has already happened to me two times, and I don’t want it to happen again. I’m using a 12v battery and screwing it into the VS instead of the VL since I’m doing a project with servos, but I still have the VS=VL jumper on. I’m sure I connected the servos correctly as they were working before and I’ve never connected any wires to the board other than in the servo pins. From the Duemilinove specs, it should be able to handle 14v without a problem and with the maximum being 20v and it’s not the voltage regulator that’s broken, so I’m really confused as to what’s going on. It’s not a fault in the program, I’ve installed drivers, the Atmega is broken but a working one plugged in the right way with a bootloader on it wouldn’t work, I’ve checked the serial ports, tried different operating systems, but it’s either not in sync with the computer or there’s a programming error.
As you indicated, we don’t offer repair or troubleshooting service for components.
At this time we only offer such services for certain domestic robots purchased though RobotShop.
Given that the board has been modified, and it is the replacement board, we suggest purchasing a BotBoarduino;
before hooking it up to the robot, simply plug in a normal USB cable and test to see that the program uploads correctly.
Small issues like a loose wire from the power leads protruding from the screw terminals can cause a short.