Battery Disaster?

[dalbyspook]

Hi folks, longtime lurker and first post here. Hope you're all good.

I've been working on my GB Circuit Sword build over the last few weeks, and it's all gone nice and smoothly aside from one fault which Kite was very quick to help out with and fix, and get back to me sharpish. Unfortunately, I've sinc run up against another issue and I have a horrible creeping feeling that it's terminal, and my fault to boot…

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I bought the Megabat 4.5 from Galaxy Gaming as I thought it'd be perfect to power my setup, and when I got my Circuit Sword back from Kite with the repair made I was keen to get going. I tested the power and boot using the USB-C port, and all was great. After powering down, I disconnected everything and plugged the battery into the Circuit Sword board. You can probably see where this is going… No power, nothing, not even with the USB-C connected. It was then that I realised that I'd failed to check that the polarity of the wires matched the connector on the board, and of course, they didn't.

When I'd stopped cursing myself, I flipped the wires and attached them to a new JST connector, and after testing I have the following outcome/issues:

• The setup powers on fine and runs perfectly from USB-C power input.

• The setup powers on fine and runs perfectly from battery power.

• The setup recognises that both battery and USB-C are connected at the same time (see screenshot below)

• The battery is not taking a charger while plugged in a the same time as USB-C power, and the CHRG LED stays off.

• When I perform the basic sanity test, the CHRG LED doesn't light up.

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This leads me to the conclusion that as per Kite's very clear warning, I've fried the charging component of the Circuit Sword.

Of course, the setup still works if it's plugged in at all times but that rather defeats the purpose of it being in a portable shell. I guess my questions are twofold - firstly, am I right in my thinking that I've fried it? Secondly, is it possible to make some kind of fix or repair to sort this out? I'm more than happy to pay for this given that I was a fanny and made the error (although I'll drop Galaxy Gaming a note that they should probably stick a note on the product listing for this battery that it'll need flipping for these types of builds, because morons like me exist).

Thanks for reading folks, any assistance gladly received!

Tom

[Helder]

Not for me to say since I'm sure Kite will respond but when he and I spoke about the polarity on my battery and if they are plugged into the Board's JST nothing bad will happen to the battery or the board UNLESS you powered it via the USB which you did so some component on there (likely the Charge IC) is toast.

I'm pretty sure Galaxy Gaming has some pictures explaining how to reverse the polarity on the wires and it should be stated that Kite's board will need the wire swap. Always double check things and read the product descriptions before plugging things in.

Either way Kite will likely have a fix for you, I chimed in to let you know the likely cause of your problem in case someone doesn't respond right away.

[dalbyspook]

Thanks for replying mate, much appreciated. Yep, I'm pretty sure it's fried as I had the USB plugged in at the same time as your battery. I've flipped the wires since. Your site for US sales mentions needing the flip and has that comprehensive guide to doing so, but Galaxy Gaming doesn't, and I just wanted to save other idiots like me from a similar fate!

[kite]

Hey, yep as Helder has written that's exactly what has happened! Thanks for adding that

As far as options, you have two!:

1. Return to me, for £15 I will repair and return to you (replacing the charging IC)
2. Buy a "TP4056" (really cheap!) and wire the "power in" to the header next to the USB C connector, and the "power out/batt" to the back of the JST battery connector on the board. This effectively enables the charging to be offloaded to that little board the only down side is that the 'charging' LED or the battery icon will not light (but it will still be charging because of that module).

If you want to go with #1, send me an email and i'll reply with the next steps

[dalbyspook]

What an absolute gent you are, Kite!

Thanks so much for getting back to me - I'll definitely take you up on the first option. I'll drop you an email just now to sort that out.