SparkFun Forums

[gregd]

I still haven't been able to revive my EM-406A module. Is is dead, a sleep (low power snooze, whatever), confused, or what? I'm new to these devices, and need some expert troubleshooting advice before blowing another $60 on a replacement.

Symptoms:
- The little LED glows very very very dimly. Steady, not blinking
- Current draw is about 10ma
- No output from the serial port. The output pin is sitting at +2.52v
- Power to the device is steady at +5.03v

It was working, tied to a 2 watt ham transceiver. Batteries ran down, I recharged them, and now it's in this state.

I've let it sit, turned off, for about 3 weeks; no change when turned back on today.

What should I do?

Thanks,

Greg.

[henryhallam]

Sounds dead to me. I've had one die on me before.

[gregd]

Sounds dead to me. I've had one die on me before.

When yours died, were the symptoms the same? Dim LED, low current, etc.? Do you recall what killed it?

I saw one other posting on another site, where the owner claimed that having the unit some 45 meters from a 2.5kw shortwave transmitter killed the LNA. Seems a bit hard to believe, but my unit was a few inches from a 2.5 watt (NOT Kw) VHF transmitter... Again, hard to believe; anyone else have some direct experience on this sort of thing?

Thanks,

Greg.

[theatrus]

I saw one other posting on another site, where the owner claimed that having the unit some 45 meters from a 2.5kw shortwave transmitter killed the LNA. Seems a bit hard to believe, but my unit was a few inches from a 2.5 watt (NOT Kw) VHF transmitter... Again, hard to believe; anyone else have some direct experience on this sort of thing?

I've had CC2420 (a 2.4GHz 802.15.4 transceiver) get its front end receiver blown out by an unintentional radiator (a very dense high performance computing server cabinet if you must ask). The IC was still alive, and could transmit, but was deaf to incoming signals. It is possible, especially with very small signal stuff.

Not responding to commands doesn't sound likely for that type of damage however.

See if USGlobalSat would entertain the possibility of doing FA on it.