LCD Kit Short Circuit?

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LCDPROBLEMS
 
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LCD Kit Short Circuit?

Post by LCDPROBLEMS »

Good evening,

I purchased the LCD Shield from Adafruit on May 29th, and I've been having a serious issue with it. The LCD PCB was slightly bent when it arrived, but I didn't think that would be an issue. When I plugged it in, the backlight started flashing on and off, a puff of smoke came out of the shield. I flipped it over, and a small square on the underside of the board was glowing orange.

I had trouble getting a good picture of the board since it's soldered to the other PCB, and it looks like the PCB is different than the pictures on the product page (this one is blue, the pictures are of a green board), but here's my best attempt:
http://i.imgur.com/51XMBW3.jpg

The square on the right is the one that was smoking. It looks like the jumpers on the other LCD picture, but I don't think it's labeled, so I can't really tell.

Any reason why this could have happened?

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: LCD Kit Short Circuit?

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

The photo doesn't give us any clear information about what may have gone wrong, but it sounds like something was severely shorted.

Send a note to [email protected] with a link to this thread and the folks there will get you a replacement. They may also arrange return shipping for the one you have so we can inspect the damage and see if there's a problem we need to address.

LCDPROBLEMS
 
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Re: LCD Kit Short Circuit?

Post by LCDPROBLEMS »

Thanks, I'll do that now.

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Re: LCD Kit Short Circuit?

Post by LCDPROBLEMS »

Well, this is just embarrassing -- the replacement is having the exact same issue. I didn't leave it in long enough to see if the short is happening in the same place, but there is a definite problem. If I hook just the +5 and Gnd pins up, it draws about half an amp which seems way too high, and some boxes flicker on the LCD, but the backlight does not come on.

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: LCD Kit Short Circuit?

Post by Franklin97355 »

Could you take some clear pictures of both sides of what you have for us to look at?

LCDPROBLEMS
 
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Re: LCD Kit Short Circuit?

Post by LCDPROBLEMS »

Hopefully you'll be able to divine something from this:

http://imgur.com/a/BEsy3

Let me know if you'd like me to check continuity anywhere.

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: LCD Kit Short Circuit?

Post by Franklin97355 »

There are several pins shy of enough solder, you should touch them up. Other than that I don't see anything that stands out.

LCDPROBLEMS
 
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Re: LCD Kit Short Circuit?

Post by LCDPROBLEMS »

Touched up all the pins with less solder on them, still having the same issue. Do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks.

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: LCD Kit Short Circuit?

Post by Franklin97355 »

Since you've had two that exhibit the same problem you can send an email to [email protected] for a refund. If you would like to send the bad one back please do but I don't see any reason to.

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: LCD Kit Short Circuit?

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

I'm curious about the original picture you posted of the first shield. I really can't make out where that is on the shield. Can you take another picture of the location?

LCDPROBLEMS
 
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Re: LCD Kit Short Circuit?

Post by LCDPROBLEMS »

Sure thing, just took another photo of the same spot on the new board.

http://i.imgur.com/cuLN1El.jpg

The spot that shorted would be the one on the left, closest to the "blue" resistor.

I guess I'll have to think about getting a refund on this, huh?

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: LCD Kit Short Circuit?

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

I don't have any components or pads in that location on my sample of the LCD shield. Maybe we changed suppliers. Is that area coming in contact with one of the header pins?

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: LCD Kit Short Circuit?

Post by Franklin97355 »

From that angle I can see you have some bad solder joints. Make sure they have all flowed and there is no ball on the pin also there looks to be some solder splash between a couple of the pins, if it is clean it out.

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Re: LCD Kit Short Circuit?

Post by LCDPROBLEMS »

Rick: I think that might be the case, none of the photos in the instructions show those little pads. Nothing is coming anywhere near them.

Franklin: You may be confused by the angle, those are the solder joints for the LED leads, they're not between any pins.

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: LCD Kit Short Circuit?

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

Please email [email protected] with a link to this thread for a refund

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