# Scary Terry board part fell off.



## tzankoff (Nov 16, 2008)

Well, this is just peachy. I was adjusting the pots on my Scary Terry audio board when I looked down and noticed that a piece of it had fallen off.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...a.101626196674835.3937.100004823641315&type=1

What I want to find out is: 1) can somebody identify the part and 2) can I possibly run the board without it?

Of note is the fact that the board seemed to run just fine without it. The board was running for about ten minutes or so until I reached down to pick up something else and noticed the part lying on the floor. After realizing what it was, I turned off my robot and removed the board from my robot to make sure there was no ensuing catastrophe.

I sent an e-mail to CD asking for advice on what to do. Soldering the part back on is not an option for me because my vision is not that great anymore. I would rather not buy a new one because the new version of the board does not have key features that this version of the board has that I would like to keep.

My woes with Cowlacious Designs products appear to be continuing. This is the third time (twice with this product alone) that something had broken through no fault of my own that I am aware of. (i.e.: I did not knowingly bump it or anything). Can anybody offer suggestions/advice/alternate ideas?

Thanks in advance.


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## Dead Things (Apr 4, 2009)

It is a capacitor and the same part fell off of mine, without bumping or mistreating the board. I am not a fan of the ST boards. I have had nothing but problems with them and do not use them anymore. They would heat up and then malfunction, causing excessive jitter. Had to run separate power to the servo. Cowlacious seemed very uninterested in the problem and never returned emails (or answered phone calls). PM halstaff, he may be able to help you out.


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## bfjou812 (Aug 15, 2008)

If you can't solder it back on yourself I would try a computer repair shop in your area, they might be able to re-solder the cap back on or replace it if needed.


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## tzankoff (Nov 16, 2008)

Dead Things, I have never encountered the problems that you have other than this capacitor having fallen off. I did have one of the headphone jacks fall off of a previous version of the board but CD was nice enough to send the board I have now to replace it. I'll call around the local shops and see what they can do.


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## tzankoff (Nov 16, 2008)

Whew! I might have dodged a bullet on this one.

A guy at a local computer shop was able to solder one of the leads back on...but the other lead is somehow not solderable anymore. However, the capacitor just filters the input voltage. The board is plugged into the regulated 5V power bus on my Axon II microcontroller which has its own regulator...so it seems that the voltage input (in my case, a 6V NiMH battery) may have already been filtered to some degree before it hits the board. With that in mind, I gave CD a call and asked for their input. According to them, I should be able to plug in the board and use it as usual.

Let's hope so...


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## bfjou812 (Aug 15, 2008)

That's good to hear!!


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

Never had a problem with my ST board but I did go over a couple of joints with lead based solder. For insane reasons which I won't go into, lead based solder is now not used by manufacturers in the US although you can still get it (off ebay for example). The alternative solder is less effective and more prone to failure.

If you know of someone or can wield a soldering iron yourself, this is an easy fix.


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

DT, using a seperate power source to drive the servos is ALWAYS recommended.


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