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--- repairing_adafruit_grand_central [2021/12/01 21:13]
sausage [The board arrives]
+++ repairing_adafruit_grand_central [2022/01/01 05:28]
sausage
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ====== Repairing an Adafruit Grand Central M4 ======
-{{ :grand-central:grandcentral.jpg?direct&400|}}A while back, my friend, Professor McSwivells purchased an Adafruit Grand Central M4. Unfortunately it was dead on arrival, and after being in touch with the excellent staff at Adafruit, they refunded the purchase. The dead board went into a drawer and was forgotten.
+{{ :grand-central:grandcentral.jpg?direct&400|}}A while back, my friend, Professor McSwivells purchased an Adafruit Grand Central M4. Unfortunately it was dead on arrival, and after being in touch with the staff at Adafruit, they reluctantly refunded the purchase but also banned the account.
+Adafruit do much for the maker community but their leadership seem fairly [[https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.adafruit.com|petulant when responding to DOA claims as their reputation shows]].
+The dead board went into a drawer and was forgotten.
 The professor recently found it again and thought he'd send it down to me on the off chance that it could be repaired or at least parts salvaged and recycled.
@@ Line 15: / Line 19: @@
 ===== Fault finding =====
-My first step was to test if I could read +5V at the micro USB connector. Yep, 5V. So that rules out a damaged connector, or not being connected to the PCB.
+My first step was to test if I could read +5V at the micro USB connector. Yep, I had 5V there at the pin. So that rules out a damaged connector, or not being connected properly to the PCB.
 The next was to trace the 5V line. From the USB 5V pin, a trace ran through a small fuse. Testing the fuse with a continuity test, that was fine and I got 5V on either side of the fuse.
@@ Line 25: / Line 29: @@
 ===== The Schematic =====
-I'm trying not to be all fan boy-ish but a simple search showed that Adafruit do indeed supply both a [[https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-Grand-Central-PCB | schematic and pcb layout on github]] in Eagle CAD format. Thank you, Adafruit! You are amazing.
+A simple search showed that Adafruit do indeed supply both a [[https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-Grand-Central-PCB | schematic and pcb layout on github]] in Eagle CAD format. For that, at least, I am grateful.
 {{ :grand-central:pcb-layout.png?direct |}}
@@ Line 75: / Line 79: @@
 Great Success!
-Well that's a win. This was an unlucky board with a misaligned DMP3098L-7 MOSFET from a pick and place machine during board population. This board will come in super handy for some projects. I am pretty impressed with Adafruit's customer service and their support for the community with tutorials, libraries and reference material. Please do [[https://www.adafruit.com | support these guys]] by buying their products.
+Well that's a win. This was an unlucky board with a misaligned DMP3098L-7 MOSFET from a pick and place machine during board population. This board will come in super handy for some projects.
+Based on Adafruit's customer service and leadership's known reputation in regards to shying away from faults, would I continue to support them? They do support the community with tutorials, libraries and reference material. However, I would rather do without: walk the harder road, and support the nicer guys instead.

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