Speedset will not adjust

[IDBoating]

USPS website reports "Delivered, In/At Mailbox" so you should have something to play with when you get home tonight!

[jmhatchett]

Well guys, here is the report everyone has waited for!!

I took the pad to the boat, plugged it in and bang every screen function working flawlessly!! It is like a brand new pad! I hope we can figure out a way to get everyone who needs help on their pads an efficient alternative to buying a new one for $1000+++. Dont give up guys there is hope!

[travis5550]

YES!!! WA, can I send you mine next pleaseee + $$?

[Stingreye]

[IDBoating]

YES!!! WA, can I send you mine next pleaseee + $$?

Let me make a few comments.

We need to be very clear about what is going on here. With all due respect to Tige (and I'm sure they farmed out the design), the physical design of these units is not the best. The use of a flex circuit and the way its pigtail is folded far sharper than the minimum bend radius almost guarantees they will fail eventually. In fact, JM's will likely fail again - on a different trace on the pigtail - and require more rework. IIRC there are six active traces on that pigtail. We've fixed one so far. Do the math.

Yes, I am willing to help folks who are having touchpad troubles. But repairing a failure today doesn't prevent later failures down the road. I don't want to be blamed when the next trace fails on a unit that I've repaired. Just because I touched it doesn't make me liable for later failures. I can fix them as they fail but each repair is its own event, requiring its own analysis and rework effort. I really hate that; I far prefer to fix something once, permanently, so I never have to think about it in the future. The proper long term solution here is to redesign and replace the electronics with a properly designed PCB that doesn't stress its parts. I've actually done the preliminary design work on that but unless enough people want them it will have to be individual repairs with the knowledge that these units may very well break again.

I just want everyone to have realistic expectations, and I want to be very open and honest about what is possible here.

If folks are interested in having their touchpads repaired, send me a PM and we'll work something out. Travis, I'll send you a PM in a moment.

Thanks!

[ChrisSnow]

I should probably mention that after disassembling mine every one of the traces cracked and had no continuity. The reason the up and down fail first is that its the closest to the edge and hence the most flexible joint. The others may follow.

My method whilst the most risky hopefully removes the problem.

That said its still a poor design and when I get chance I wil be replacing it with something else.

[twinturbostroker]

Wish I would've had it replaced while under warranty, but since it seemed to work again for awhile I let go.

Now I've got no up down on mine, rig only has 104 hrs on it.

waboating - pm sent

[travis5550]

After talking with WA, I'm giving the repair a good college try before sending his way. I made some progress last night - dremeled my way down to pin 8, drilled the hole to run the wire through and got access to the snap dome on the reverse side. Picture of my dremel work attached. Definitely not as clean as the pros, but I can still get contact.

After reading some more of the comments above, I'm a bit nervous that more traces than just the one coming from pin 8 are shot. Guess we'll find out real soon. Here's pics of the wip and traces from the front side:

IMG_20150602_215542.jpg

IMG_20150602_234754.jpg

[travis5550]

Well I bought a better soldering iron and managed to get the wire soldered to pin 8 and then onto the snap dome on the reverse side. I plugged into the boat (just sitting in the lift) and amazingly the up and down buttons are functioning again!!! I haven't taken the boat out to really test it or to confirm if the set button works, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. If the weather cooperates today, I'll update with a full report tomorrow. Thanks again to WA for figuring out how to fix these things...he knows his stuff!

IMG_20150603_195833.jpg

IMG_20150603_191822.jpg

[travis5550]

Well just got back in from a run on the slalom course. For the first time in years my wife could focus on keeping the boat between the buoys rather than constantly adjusting the speed. The up and down buttons worked like champs and the speed held as set. The set button still does not work, but hey beggars can't be choosers, right?! Thanks again to WA for his guidance on this. I'll follow up on thoughts for the set button, but even in the current state - this is awesome!

[IDBoating]

Great work! Nice job! Glad it's working again.

Now you need to do a bit of troubleshooting. Dremel away the potting material around the connector pins associated with the center snapdome and check for continuity. Almost guaranteed you've lost one or.both of those traces. A bit more soldering and you should be good to go!

[Timmy!]

After seeing others' success, I decided to give it a shot. I soldered everything up tonight and will test it out in the morning. Wish me luck! If it doesn't work, WA will be getting a control module mailed to him.

[IDBoating]

Just keeping this thread current....

I had my first touchpad failure today. Or, more accurately, I made the conscious decision not to attempt a repair. That damnable flex circuit pigtail has eight conductors on it, of which six are active. On the touchpad I received today, fully five of those six are broken. I fixed one with three broken conductors yesterday, but the two extra on this one are buried deep in the flex circuitry and under the snap domes with no good access. It'd look like I went at it with a chainsaw just to get access, with no guarantee of success. So I'm walking away from this one.

Most of them can be fixed, but as we've now learned some are just too broken.

[Frosty_Power]

Add me to the list of broken pads. I'll be looking into this thread regularly.

[PaceWithGrace]

That's sobering. (WA - thanks for your efforts. I have been silently following this thread and you all deserve kudos.)

Does it not seem that Tige should step up and offer a proper solution? Here's hoping they do.