RCB-4 on my KHR-3HV exploded! Where to buy a replacement?

[chrisvo]

I'm not sure yet why, but today my KHR-3HV's RCB-4 board exploded (fire, smoke, sparks, etc.) while it was running a motion. I'm still trying to investigate what exactly happened.

In the mean time, does anyone know where I can purchase a replacement RCB-4 board -- to be shipped to the United States? I could really use one soon!

Here's a link to part on Kondo's web store....

[Novice]

I'm not sure yet why, but today my KHR-3HV's RCB-4 board exploded (fire, smoke, sparks, etc.) while it was running a motion. I'm still trying to investigate what exactly happened.

In the mean time, does anyone know where I can purchase a replacement RCB-4 board -- to be shipped to the United States? I could really use one soon!

Here's a link to part on Kondo's web store....

Hi, Chris
I got the same problem 10 days ago except the smoke and fire
Robot was walking , than stopped suddenly, had loosen control and fell.
I tried to restart but not success.I have an experience in electronics,thats why first I was to do I measured the current of RCB,it was 1500 mA including the servos current instead of 1000 ma in good conditions.I unattached the connectors of servos,no result , the current was the same 1500 mA and the body of the microcheap was a very hot,the reason it was not exploded I think because I turn off RCB before the explosion
Now , I'm not turning on the RCB, because the input resistance of one is only 7 Ohm in time when the integral 5V stabilizer works good , it makes 5.05 V from 10.8V of a battery.I think Kondo put in the RCB unreliable kind of controller M16C26A , may be they bought a defective quantity volume of the cheaps from manufacturer from China .
I wrote to Pedro and asked to him to change the damaged RCB to new free of charge.Because I'm sure , the problem is not our problem, this is a mistake of manufacturer I hope.Kondo still does not translate the software from Japanese ,I think it still are testing the new product in the domestic market.
I think we should to unite our efforts and request to Kondo,only one thing ...Pedro asked do not write to Kondo directly and promised to organize everything himself. I wait for him decision, he still waits for answer from Japan .Not sure you can buy the new RCB somewhere exclude the Japan.Thats why lets write to Pedro your complaint .In case the quantity of complaints will grow,there are the statistic against simple single event.
Best regards
Oleg

[Thex1138]

I'm not sure yet why, but today my KHR-3HV's RCB-4 board exploded (fire, smoke, sparks, etc.) while it was running a motion. I'm still trying to investigate what exactly happened.

In the mean time, does anyone know where I can purchase a replacement RCB-4 board -- to be shipped to the United States? I could really use one soon!

Here's a link to part on Kondo's web store....

Try here..
http://translate.google.com.au/translat ... l=ja&tl=en

[taylor]

Dear All,

I'm not sure how many people got the KHR-3HV but it seems to me that many of us got it on fire.
I send Email (translate into Japanese by my friend) to them but never got reply. Then my friend help me to call the service department and they told me to mail back the defective part to them.
They did not mention warranty and they did not beleive this is a problem of their product.

[Novice]

Kondo is not manufacturing the microchips M16C/26A I told about .The ones are produced by Renesas Technology.I can't accept that Kondo used the defected controllers,I accept Kondo used the chips were not tested in long time.I'm not talking they put in the RCB damaged parts,I meant Kondo still has not full statistic of work of the new RCB-4 board, because the board is new product .We are, all together,bought the new production of Kondo.We tested it for our own risk and for our own money.That's why I go to suppose we should say to manufacturer something is not good with the production they are selling.One vote is one vote,if they are getting around a lot of votes from, they should think about how must been it fixed.
Best regards

[Thex1138]

Kondo is not manufacturing the microchips M16C/26A I told about .The ones are produced by Renesas Technology.I can't accept that Kondo used the defected controllers,I accept Kondo used the chips were not tested in long time.I'm not talking they put in the RCB damaged parts,I meant Kondo still has not full statistic of work of the new RCB-4 board, because the board is new product .We are, all together,bought the new production of Kondo.We tested it for our own risk and for our own money.That's why I go to suppose we should say to manufacturer something is not good with the production they are selling.One vote is one vote,if they are getting around a lot of votes from, they should think about how must been it fixed.
Best regards

Hello guys, there are some support pages...

You will have to consult with the shop you bought it from, otherwise you will have to send the faulty part back, they will look at and test [if not burnt out of course].


http://translate.googleusercontent.com/ ... wPbxTz0utw

[chrisvo]

I'm sending the board back to Kondo. The explosion blew holes in the Renesas M16C series chip.

Here's a picture (click for bigger):


In this picture you can also see that the copper traces from pins 9 and 11 (GND and Vcc) on the Renesas chip toasted the soldermask.

[Thex1138]

I'm sending the board back to Kondo. The explosion blew holes in the Renesas M16C series chip.

Here's a picture (click for bigger):
.....

t would seem that the voltage is a bit too high for the board and servos. Probably needs a more robust voltage regulator.

My ni--cad battery also died.

I would have thought that Kondo would have a better product with the third generation...

[Novice]

I'm sending the board back to Kondo. The explosion blew holes in the Renesas M16C series chip.

Here's a picture (click for bigger):


In this picture you can also see that the copper traces from pins 9 and 11 (GND and Vcc) on the Renesas chip toasted the soldermask.

Hi Chrisvo
I think you got the same problem like me.I still have not the hole in the body of the chip because I turned off the board before the explosion.
Please, make sure the voltage of 4805BF integral stabilizer in case it still alive.The output voltage must be +5V if the incoming voltage is till 11 V.
If the stabilizer still alive nobody will say you are guilty.
I think this is a problem with the bulk of the chips purchased by Kondo from manufacturers.

[PedroR]

Hi Guys

Allow me to step and explain the Official position of IXS which the distributor of Kondo outside Japan.

Both users who report the issue have already contacted us (Robosavvy) and we made a number of contacts with IXS about this.


Turns out you are not alone and this behaviour has been occasionally observed with other users.
Having said this, bear in mind that NOT all boards have suffered with this issue.
We have sold quite a few kits and we've only has these 2 incidents.

I believe Kondo is accepting responsibility for the issue and offers repair under warranty.


FYI, for history sake, this is the second time we've encountered such an issue with Kondo but they are very swift and effective in fixing them.
If I recall, two years there were a couple of customers who had some power issues with Kondo servos (788HV) too. It has was fixed at the time and never happened again.

Regards
Pedro.

[Thex1138]

Hi Guys

FYI, for history sake, these issues are not new to Kondo but they very swift and effective in fixing them.
If I recall, two years there were a couple of customers who had some power issues with Kondo servos (788HV) but too. It has since been fixed and never happened again (it was likely a problematic batch).

Regards
Pedro.

Have you had any battery issues where the battery fails to hold a charge?

My kit in question had the servo fail and the battery no longer holds charge...

[PedroR]

It probably short circuited with the explosion of the regulator and the chemistry may have died.

I would recommend sending the battery together with the controller when you send them for repairs.

If you want to buy an extra battery, we DO have those in stock, in our store. Just search for 'khr battery'.

In any case you should be able to send it to the manufacturer with the damaged controller for repair.

Regards
Pedro

[chrisvo]

Thanks for the update, Pedro!

I want to add that I've used Kondo parts for years (having built at least 5 humanoid robots, including the 1HV and 3HV) and never had an issue, and never had to go back to the manufacturer for any reason.

Also, the 3HV is just about the best advanced humanoid kit for the money. It has strong serial servos (and metal geared, unlike the Bioloid kit), good range of motion, and simple, durable frame. There has been mostly a lack of documentation in English, but we've been able to get by.

So I hope the problem with my RCB-4 was isolated to just my board - we're planning to purchase 3 more KHR-3HVs here at our robotics lab soon.

[Thex1138]

Thanks for the update, Pedro!

I want to add that I've used Kondo parts for years (having built at least 5 humanoid robots, including the 1HV and 3HV) and never had an issue, and never had to go back to the manufacturer for any reason.

Also, the 3HV is just about the best advanced humanoid kit for the money. It has strong serial servos (and metal geared, unlike the Bioloid kit), good range of motion, and simple, durable frame. There has been mostly a lack of documentation in English, but we've been able to get by.

So I hope the problem with my RCB-4 was isolated to just my board - we're planning to purchase 3 more KHR-3HVs here at our robotics lab soon.

Hey there Crisvo... just a question, when you work on them in the lab what kind of projects do you work on the kits with?
Range of motion or developing motion algorithms / sequences?

[chrisvo]

Hey there Crisvo... just a question, when you work on them in the lab what kind of projects do you work on the kits with?

I work in the area of robotic motion planning (like too many other people). Humanoids are generally more interesting to me than wheeled robots because there are many more actuators to plan for, and you also have to prevent the robot from falling. My colleagues work on other problems related to the humanoid robot such as simultaneous localization and planning, and evolutionary algorithms.

Partly for fun, and partly to motivate research, we also are participating in RoboCup 2010 soccer competition in the autonomous humanoid league. Here's our small web site about that:
http://cs.gmu.edu/~robotics/pmwiki.php/ ... boPatriots