View Full Version : Potential fire hazard!! Be cautious!
737NUT
02-22-2008, 05:03 PM
I have been using IOcards for all my sim projects since 2004-2005. I love them and SIOC but,,,,,,, The last 3 out of 6 cards i have gotten have had issues and this last one VERY serious! USB axis card, wired it up, plugged in and was calibrating the card thru winxp, next thing you know, a bad burning smell followed quickly by by pc giving beeps for the usb plug and unplug warning. Looked down and the usb axis card was smoking!!! After some diag, found that BOTH my usb axis and usb output cards would arc and short out with the slightest movement of the usb cable where it plugs into the pcb. Very strange indeed and just wanted to warn you. By the way, the one that smoked, put in the freezer to cool it off, has worked perfect since as long as you don't touch the usb connection. I think it is cheap usb socket myself??
I hope this new chip fixes the axes card. If not, I will be looking elsewhere. *fingers crossed*
737NUT
02-22-2008, 11:31 PM
Got my crossed for you. I have 2 of them and both of them have been a joke! Very tempermental! I have cards from them that are 3+ yrs old and have been tossed around and dropped, they work PERFECT, it's the new stuff that is having issues.
Got my crossed for you. I have 2 of them and both of them have been a joke! Very tempermental! I have cards from them that are 3+ yrs old and have been tossed around and dropped, they work PERFECT, it's the new stuff that is having issues.
I hope so too. Opencockpits was my second choice for IO hardware. I was going to use Beta Innovations but Leo stopped supporting MSFS and with it FSX.
I would hate to have to start over again.
Xanderol
02-24-2008, 01:59 AM
Are these issues isolated to specific cards? I am considering purchasing a master and usblcd card from them. I like the features they offer but I would hate to drop a bunch of money on them just to have them burn up.
Are these issues isolated to specific cards? I am considering purchasing a master and usblcd card from them. I like the features they offer but I would hate to drop a bunch of money on them just to have them burn up.
I don't know if my issue was me or the card. I started having a lot of spiking on my pots right after hooking up my control stick. While trying to determine if the spiking was coming from the USBAxes card or the pots, I probably shorted the 5 vdc pin with another. According to Opencockpits that can blow the PIC chip.
I have a master card and have ordered a USB adapter for it. I will be trying to hook them up in the next few weeks.
Most of what I have heard about Opencockpit hardware has been good. It is the communications and support that is their weak point.
This forum should be a huge help for English speaking users of the Opencockpits products.
737NUT
02-24-2008, 10:20 AM
Are these issues isolated to specific cards? I am considering purchasing a master and usblcd card from them. I like the features they offer but I would hate to drop a bunch of money on them just to have them burn up.
I haven't had any issues with my master card but it is hooked up via the parallel port. If it wasn't for thr awesome SIOC software, i would be looking elsewhere closer to the USA for options. I have 1 of each of their cards and only the new usbaxis have i had the most issues.
I had to run a gnd from my TQ to the metal shell around the USB port on the card to stop some serious ghost button presses and erratic axis issues.
I haven't had any issues with my master card but it is hooked up via the parallel port. If it wasn't for thr awesome SIOC software, i would be looking elsewhere closer to the USA for options. I have 1 of each of their cards and only the new usbaxis have i had the most issues.
I had to run a gnd from my TQ to the metal shell around the USB port on the card to stop some serious ghost button presses and erratic axis issues.
That is a valuable piece of information.
When I had my USBAxes card hooked up and working, I had ghosting issues on the buttons. I was considering running each one through a diode.
737NUT
02-24-2008, 10:28 AM
I tried the diode and it helped but didn't fully cure the problem. The usbaxis card has a serious design issue. Not an engineer but there is something not right with it. Rest of the OP cards seem to be doing ok. I e-mailed the support of OP and got no response in 2 weeks!
danieln62f
02-24-2008, 07:27 PM
Hi:
it sounds really unusual, I Have been using io cards since 2004, following daily the forum and don,t remember any related to, I remember something reporting a strange behavior when pcb usb connections were move.
My personal experience with smoking pcb was a short cut of pot terminal:o, since then I learnt that electronic needs clean table and all metalic items far form the card
Regards
Daniel Otero
Hi all,
i have been using IOCARDS for quite some time (2 usbexpansion cards - 6 mastercards) of which currently 1 usb expansion and 2 mastercards are already more then 2 years in use and
got no issues with it until....
Well, since I got my cockpit running on several PCs of different types ans speeds I try to move around the software sometimes to get more out of them. I moved the usb cord of the usbexpansion card one from one PC to another one and at that time I started having issues.
Strangly , when I moved my seat (dont ask why) suddenly all kinds of ghost button presses and light coming up and so on ... until I removed the Usb, plugged it back... then it was stable unitl
I stepped out of the cokpit ... again this kind of stupidiies ... so I moved the USB back to the PC I was using before ... no more problems at all....
I still dont know what was causing all these problems on the 2nd PC but I think grounding of the USB could have been the issue....
Greetz Peter
Hi all,
i have been using IOCARDS for quite some time (2 usbexpansion cards - 6 mastercards) of which currently 1 usb expansion and 2 mastercards are already more then 2 years in use and
got no issues with it until.... I think grounding of the USB could have been the issue....
Greetz Peter
Are you talking about the lack of a ground or, the card being grounded?
John
Hi,
i mean the lack of electrical ground of the card of course....
because as stated, when I moved all the opencockpits hardware
back to the original PC I had no more issues.
Until now...and I am running this for more then 2 years...
Another cause I could think about is the power on the USB port
itself. The USB expansion card takes his power from the USB and
if the USB could not handle this power , maybe also strange things
could happen.
It might try again to move it to the bad PC... see if I have this problem
again... then put a powered USB hub in between and see if it goes away..
Greetz Peter
I have several Go-Flight modules. They say in the manual to be sure and use an USB expansion port that is powered externally. Ones that only get power from the USB conection to the computer can't handle power hungry I/O cards. I went out an bought an enexpensive 6 port box that plugs into the wall.