Konrad
Very Strong User
For years I've loved my 1/2 dozen or so X9D+. With the advent of ACCeSS, and it was about time, I got a customer returned X9D+ 2019. Well in short order, less than 5 hours of flight time I had learned to hate the new X9D+ 2019. This could be traced to one issue, the rotary barrel interface! The resolution of encoder and system made the interface all but impossible to use!
Last Friday I was at Aloft and was asking about getting a discrete encoder as I didn't see one on the sales site. This was to be expected as most electrical repairs are now only done to the board level. I was complaining that I didn't want to buy a new mother board at $79 to replace a $1.39 encoder! I was asking if FrSky could supply me with a P/N or spec so I could try to find one on DigiKey. I was shocked to see how few encoders were in stock at DigiKey.
While I was moping around the store, Criss said that Aloft had a few parts radios, but that none had good mother boards. I asked If I could take these boards and try to salvage an encoder. Wayne gave me the collection of parts radios and said; take what you want and return what you can't use. Now that's customer focused, product support!
If you have tried to remove electrical components from a board you know it can be difficult to do without damaging the board or component. Here I'm using gravity to help pull the encoder off the board. With the weight pulling on the encoder I try to heat all 5 solder pads at the same time by moving my wide tipped iron back and forth. This worked great as I didn't damage a board or an encoder!
Being an engineer type I wanted to learn what was the root cause of the encoder failure. So I opened up my failed encoder. And there plain as day I saw the problem. The detent spring did not nest well in the decoder wheel valleys. The spring had too large an arch and basically just spanned the valleys. This was going to be an easy fix, or so I thought.
I took the spring and tried to make a sharp well defined peak in the spring. Well, and the small scales we are dealing with, I used my sharp pocket knife. Only to have it cut through the spring! (I like sharp tools). So what do I have that can make a defined peak without cutting the thin spring? Well, how about a bulky cold chisel! That, and using a valley between two cast iron table extensions (as a die) I was able to form a spring that now detents into the encoder wheel valleys.
I reassembled the encoder, soldered it onto my mother board. And much to my surprise the radio worked after reassembling it. So did the repair fix the encoder issue? Yes, I think so! This is the best feeling scroll wheel I've ever dealt with on a X9D+ 2019! The cursor no longer goes all over the place when you try to click (enter). Also I'm is less likely to over shoot the value I want. It has held up just fine reprograming 4 models.
This repair worked well, but I don't think of it as a consumer level repair. Now as most of us are modlers it might be something some of you would want to try. After all what have you got to loose, $79. Even new the encoder doesn't work well!
This repair worked so well I'm going to try this fix with my Spektrum DX9 that has much the same issue with the scroll drum. Now I abandoned that radio for different reasons.
Last Friday I was at Aloft and was asking about getting a discrete encoder as I didn't see one on the sales site. This was to be expected as most electrical repairs are now only done to the board level. I was complaining that I didn't want to buy a new mother board at $79 to replace a $1.39 encoder! I was asking if FrSky could supply me with a P/N or spec so I could try to find one on DigiKey. I was shocked to see how few encoders were in stock at DigiKey.
While I was moping around the store, Criss said that Aloft had a few parts radios, but that none had good mother boards. I asked If I could take these boards and try to salvage an encoder. Wayne gave me the collection of parts radios and said; take what you want and return what you can't use. Now that's customer focused, product support!
If you have tried to remove electrical components from a board you know it can be difficult to do without damaging the board or component. Here I'm using gravity to help pull the encoder off the board. With the weight pulling on the encoder I try to heat all 5 solder pads at the same time by moving my wide tipped iron back and forth. This worked great as I didn't damage a board or an encoder!
Being an engineer type I wanted to learn what was the root cause of the encoder failure. So I opened up my failed encoder. And there plain as day I saw the problem. The detent spring did not nest well in the decoder wheel valleys. The spring had too large an arch and basically just spanned the valleys. This was going to be an easy fix, or so I thought.
I took the spring and tried to make a sharp well defined peak in the spring. Well, and the small scales we are dealing with, I used my sharp pocket knife. Only to have it cut through the spring! (I like sharp tools). So what do I have that can make a defined peak without cutting the thin spring? Well, how about a bulky cold chisel! That, and using a valley between two cast iron table extensions (as a die) I was able to form a spring that now detents into the encoder wheel valleys.
I reassembled the encoder, soldered it onto my mother board. And much to my surprise the radio worked after reassembling it. So did the repair fix the encoder issue? Yes, I think so! This is the best feeling scroll wheel I've ever dealt with on a X9D+ 2019! The cursor no longer goes all over the place when you try to click (enter). Also I'm is less likely to over shoot the value I want. It has held up just fine reprograming 4 models.
This repair worked well, but I don't think of it as a consumer level repair. Now as most of us are modlers it might be something some of you would want to try. After all what have you got to loose, $79. Even new the encoder doesn't work well!
This repair worked so well I'm going to try this fix with my Spektrum DX9 that has much the same issue with the scroll drum. Now I abandoned that radio for different reasons.
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