My main advice is to power the ThunderBorg in a way that you can turn it off quickly without getting too near the board. If something is damaged one or more of the chips might get very hot! Just to be safe you should do any testing with the board away from anything flammable, having an extinguisher on standby and some safety glasses would be a good idea in case of the worst.
Generally short-circuiting the power will not cause damage to the ThunderBorg, but to the battery / power supply instead. The main cause of damage to the ThunderBorg is typically miss-wiring the V+ and GND connections for the battery. If you were using a battery I would be tempted to replace it just to be safe. If a battery ever shows any sign of damage (leaks, melting, puffed up, cracks or smoke) dispose of it properly as it may be a fire risk.
The routine we would usually go through for a basic health check is as follows:
Disconnect everything from the ThunderBorg so it is on its own.
Wire a power supply with a current reading and power button to the V+ and GND screw terminals.
Set the supply to 12 V and turn on.
Watch for large current draws, strange noises or excessive heat. IF YOU GET ANY OF THESE TURN THE SUPPLY OF IMMEDIATELY, THE BOARD IS DAMAGED!
Leave like this for a minute or two, keep watching.
If all okay turn the supply off and wire up two motors (ideally 12 V). Do not connect a Pi just yet.
Repeat 3 to 5 with the motors wired.
If still all okay turn the supply off and connect the Raspberry Pi now. The Raspberry Pi will be powered by the ThunderBorg, you will probably want a monitor and mouse attached as well.
Turn the supply back on, the LED should now cycle colours.
Repeat 4 and 5 again.
If still okay run the GUI example from the desktop and SLOWLY experiment with the motor speeds for one motor at a time. If you see any strange behaviour stop and turn the power off.
If everything is still behaving at this stage try running both motors at the same time. If it is still fine now the board is probably safe to use.
What I will say is that we do not recommend fixing the board yourself or running the board if it is damaged in any way. While it may be possible to use a poor fix or undetected fault may lead to future problems with the board!
piborg
Wed, 09/27/2017 - 10:40
Permalink
Be very careful
My main advice is to power the ThunderBorg in a way that you can turn it off quickly without getting too near the board. If something is damaged one or more of the chips might get very hot! Just to be safe you should do any testing with the board away from anything flammable, having an extinguisher on standby and some safety glasses would be a good idea in case of the worst.
Generally short-circuiting the power will not cause damage to the ThunderBorg, but to the battery / power supply instead. The main cause of damage to the ThunderBorg is typically miss-wiring the V+ and GND connections for the battery. If you were using a battery I would be tempted to replace it just to be safe. If a battery ever shows any sign of damage (leaks, melting, puffed up, cracks or smoke) dispose of it properly as it may be a fire risk.
The routine we would usually go through for a basic health check is as follows:
What I will say is that we do not recommend fixing the board yourself or running the board if it is damaged in any way. While it may be possible to use a poor fix or undetected fault may lead to future problems with the board!
WS
Wed, 09/27/2017 - 19:12
Permalink
All done
I tested the board several times and everything works, the problem was in the raspberry that had lost the i2c configuration... Thanks man