Rushing things is the best way to break things. WAS: Powerboost issues

[Popcorn]

So my first Powerboost suddenly got extremely hot and melted all the hot glue on it to liquid and no longer functions. The guys at exp-tech.de were super nice. They sent me a second one for free. I put that in my GBZ and it was working ok. I closed it up and was able to play my GBZ for a day. I thought I was finished. But suddenly, it fails to turn on. I open up my GBZ, and it had also got extremely hot, melted glue, and fails to turn on. I'm in the process of resoldering everything back on and checking for shorts but I'm pretty concerned about the reliability of these things. Have any of you had problems with yours?

[Fleder]

Hmm, that sounds pretty dangerous if left unattended.
But no, i did not have the same issues. I only ran mine for about an hour or so, but it did not get that hot.
I hope to finish the wiring this weekend and will test out how long the battery will last, then i can tell you if this affects me, too.

Do you have a spare power supply form a different manufacturer to test if it is the wiring or the PowerBoost?

[SidSilver]

So my first Powerboost suddenly got extremely hot and melted all the hot glue on it to liquid and no longer functions. The guys at exp-tech.de were super nice. They sent me a second one for free. I put that in my GBZ and it was working ok. I closed it up and was able to play my GBZ for a day. I thought I was finished. But suddenly, it fails to turn on. I open up my GBZ, and it had also got extremely hot, melted glue, and fails to turn on. I'm in the process of resoldering everything back on and checking for shorts but I'm pretty concerned about the reliability of these things. Have any of you had problems with yours?

It looks like a short indeed.
Or maybe you should not put hot-glue on it

[m0rphman]

I am using a 1000c also from exp-tech and I noticed that while it was charging my 3000mAh battery it was getting concerningly hot. The guys at adafruit say that it is normal (https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-pow ... -boost/faq) but of course this turns into quite an issue when using hot glue.
I was actually thinking about sticking one of those coolers which are normally used for the pi itself onto the voltage converters on the powerboost: http://www.ebay.de/itm/like/25241352812 ... noapp=true
Maybe this will help to cool the thing down to manageable temps.
I'll keep you updated as soon as they arrive.

[Popcorn]

Ok, just resoldered the cables and the unit seems ok again. I think what's happening is that when I'm screwing the shell together, it's pressing something together and creating a short. I think this issue is different than my first Powerboost which was faulty. I'll keep testing this out.

[Popcorn]

So, it seems like it's the driver board of the screen. When I screw the two halves together, it shorts. I'm using Kapton tape all around so nothing is physically touching it to short.

[wermy]

Yikes! That's scary.

I've used Powerboost boards in a few different projects. They do get pretty warm but I've never had them get *that* hot.

[Mad_Duke]

So, it seems like it's the driver board of the screen. When I screw the two halves together, it shorts. I'm using Kapton tape all around so nothing is physically touching it to short.

Do you have some solder points which get connected only when pressed more tightly?

[wermy]

How did you determine that it's the screen doing it?

[Popcorn]

How did you determine that it's the screen doing it?

I have jp2 connectors for the power on each device (pi, usb hub, screen, audio amp). So I unplugged each one, one by one until it stopped doing that weird failure to boot. When I unplug the screen and boot up, it boots up normally. When the screen is plugged in, the blue led goes off when I try to turn on. I removed the kapton tape on the screen and wiggled everything around and rearranged the cables. Now it seems fine.

I think I'm going to have to remove these JP connectors though because it's making everything too thick. I can't quite make the shell completely close.