Hi guys, anyone know how to recover photon? My wife made me burn my particle photon, I just inverted positive and negative at VIN-GND pins and got a burned component sound, I was trying to figure out which component I have burned but no luck. Does anyone have some tip?
@maximusx, you may have blown the power input capacitor or the switching regulator which provides the 3.3v for the Photon to work. Both of those components are near the USB connector (see picture) and if either was damaged, you should see some damage or small that classic burned electronic smell. Do you have a multi-meter?
Thanks for reply.
Yes, I felt that burned smell but no visible damage at component, also heard that click sound when some component burns
Currently I don’t have a multi-meter but I will get one tomorrow, can you tell me which component to measure? I tried USB power without success. When I connected battery power (when it burned), this component with red arrow got really hot.
@maximusx, you most likely burned the 3.3v regulator. You could replace it but it requires a lot of experience and a VERY fine tipped soldering iron.
@harrisonhjones, @kennethlimcp, @Moors7, any of you had experience with a blown regulator?
Hmm… if you flipped the positive and negative of the supply, I’m not sure if the P0 module is still functional.
You can try to power up with a 3V3 supply and see if it is worth repairing the smps regulator portion.
There’s a chance that the IC is blown since the cap is probably non-polarized and shouldn’t have blown (unless the voltage you applied is beyond 5V)
Since it is already damaged, you should not attempt to power it via the Vin and GND.
Do you have a 3.3v power supply?
If it is 3.7V…what happened? The + and - wires were reversed? If that’s the case, my guess is that the regulator might be damaged.
True. Yes, was a 3.7v battery, I inverted + and - wires.
Yes, I have a 3.3v power supply.
You can use the 3.3V power supply and power it via 3V3 and GND to see if the photon boots up.
BE SURE NOT TO PLACE IT THE WRONG WAY
OMG, He is ALIVE,
Can I ask if there is some alternative regulator (not SMD) which I can use to replace this one? Will be a really hard work to replace a SMD and I’m sure about 98% I will need to import this component.
Cool. I’m not sure if the inductor or IC is burnt without probing though.
None SMPS is possible but has much more losses. A temporary solution is to use an LDO regulator to step down to 3.3V but take note that it must be able to supply up to 600mA.
You will be able to buy the components online from Newark, RS, digikey etc without much importing issues.
If there’s a real need, drop me a PM and i can mail you some at airmail cost
BOM is available here: https://docs.particle.io/datasheets/photon-datasheet/#build-your-own-design-based-on-the-photon-
You need:
- RT8008-33GB
- NR3015T2R2M