fit-IoT Users Forum

...and I really should have double-checked the polarity of the power connection on my sailboat install of my new Fit-PC3.

But I didn't. And now I have destroyed my Fit-PC3.

For posterity's sake, this is what happens if you feed the wrong polarity power to a Fit-PC3:



Now, given that I'm currently afloat in the Sea of Cortez and won't be back in range of a shipping depot for some time, I'm left with a conundrum. Is the Fit-PC3 actually dead, or is that scorch mark the remains of something replaceable, like a capacitor, diode or (oh please oh please) a fuse? Can someone please tell me the component and the value so that I can at least attempt a resurrection?

Interestingly, the only other thing plugged into the Fit-PC3 when this occurred was an audio cable to the 1/8" audio output, which led to the RCA inputs on a small amplifier. The amplifier was also destroyed.

*sigh*.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Ok, maybe can someone take a high-res photo of the power-connector section of their Fit-PC3 mainboard, so I can at least have a comparative photo of what it's *supposed* to look like?

I'm literally dead in the water down here.

...also, once I have figured out what the blown component is and replaced it with a suitable replacement, can anyone recommend a suite of (free) diagnostic tools for Windows 7? If it's just that component and replacing it makes the Fit-PC3 able to boot then yay, but I will need to rely on this machine so it would be nice to be able to subsequently verify that the ram, controllers, ssd, audio, etc etc etc are actually working 100%

The damaged part is a ferrite bead that can be temporarily replaced by wire. Since the current through this wire can be up to 3A, use at least AWG18 or thicker wire.
Soldering a wire instead ferrite bead itself may not succeed since the PCB is damaged near the ferrite bead. So it is recommended to connect a wire as shown on Fix1 picture.

If the FirPC does not start after that, probably another ferrite bead is damaged on the other side of PCB. Solder a wire instead of it as shown on Fix2 picture.

AHAH! Thank you so much Gabriel!!! You just made my day!

One quick question though - ferrites are usually installed to cut down on transmitted radio frequency (RF) energy... and this computer is going to be installed in a cupboard with a ham radio rig! I will definitely jump the circuit with wire to test, but can you send me the value of the ferrite module also, just in case this modification causes excessive RF noise?

Hi

Both of them are 120Ohm@3.5A

Thanks very much!

Just as a follow-up - jumping this component with a bit of 18ga tinned copper wire absolutely did get me back up and running again! Thanks Gabriel, your help is very much appreciated!

You are very welcome