I am totally frustrated - BU0836X died

[jmig]

I had just finished re-designing my control stick, throttles and rudder/brakes around the BU086X. Beta Innovations went belly up leaving me stranded so I tried Leo Bondar's card and fell in love with it.

Re-ran all the cabling and reconfigured them to his card. It worked like a charm. Using 100 mm pots I had full deflection with my 24" control stick, good control with the throttles. Man it was fun to fly again. Put the CH Products stuff on the shelf. This weekend the new card became a dead cockroach!

I had wired up an Opencockpits USB Axes card for the rudder trim. I used 100Kohm resistors across each of the four blank axes inputs to stop noise. When I fired up the computer I got a over amp message from the computer on the USB ports. I shut everything down and put the axes card on a external powered Belkin USB card. The Opencockpits card came up fine but the BU0836X didn't. I don't know if that had anything to do with the BU0836X failing? But it is dead!

Spent an hour or so trouble shooting. Tried different cables, different ports. Nothing worked. And now I can't even replace the damn thing because Leo Bondar seems to be history.

Sometimes I just want to take up TV watching.

[Geremy Britton]

sounds very frustrating. Speak to Leo and see if he can offer you any help. Sounds a great chap.

I too will be purchasing Leos card when i get my overhead for the avionics side of things there. This is the first issue i've heard however i know his products are top notch. It may be due to your system or some time of surge/clash with hardware.

I couldn't possibly say, however i wish you the best of luck getting sorted out. And i don't think daytime telly is any fun for any of us .. stick to the simbuilding


Gez

[Padraig]

If the card has actually died, it could be some simple things, first of all, as a sim builder you must have a multimeter, excluding the Microchip, meter out whats on the board, if something fails on the component metering, then you know where you stand with replacing it. If it all works out, then maybe the chip died, or the firmware got currupt. Which if LEO supplies a firmware update program for it, he could just send you the hex file.

I don't know which chip he uses, or this product to be honest, but judging by my own field in this, it should not be to hard to fix with minimil cost, depending on your own skills, and technical support from LEO.

I haven't seen posts about this card to stop functioning, I think he builds a good stable robust product.

[jmig]

I thought it was good too. Seemed to be. Is he still around? Everything I have heard seems to imply he is out-of-business?

[Geremy Britton]

oh no Leo is still in the business. Definately.

His products are great. I know Ian Sissons known him very well perhaps if he doesn't see the post here in a week or so Ian will let him know theres a little problem with one of his products. I'm sure it is nothing to worry about or something that cannot be sorted out.

Good luck.

[Bob Reed]

Leo has taken his site down and is for now on "vacation". No time line when and if he will be back.

[ian@737ng.co.uk]

g'day chaps.......
well i'm at a loss. i have recieved so many e-mails about leo that i have forwarded some of them to him. i've also mailed him a couple of times and as yet no reply.
so i have no idea what is happenng or where he is i'm afraid.
but, being positive, the word 'temporarily' on his site may have a bearing. and the second thing is that it's only the entry pages that are down. the forum and the links to connection diagrams are still working......hmmm
so all we can do is wait and see......hope springs eternal.........
i know that doesn't help jmig, but usually the bu0836x boards are 'bombproof' and because i've never come accross one that's gone down, i just don't have any ideas as to what can be the problem.
good luck with it anyway and you all have a great day.... rgds ... ian

[jmig]

I am currently on a bus trip. when I return, i will do some more troubleshooting. It is good to know that the cards seem solid.

However, if and when Leo does return, I think I will buy a spare

thanks for all the replies.

[No Longer Active]

We just need Leo now! What is he doing!

Either:

1) Low on stock or no stock will not accept orders
2) He's gone on long holiday or trip and cannot take orders
3) He's doing alot of work and no time for this 'sideline' business of his!

[shafian]

I really dont understand why people who trade in simbuilding stuff dont show simple courtesy and advise existing/prospective customers of their intentions. This is one of the perfect examples.. Didn't expect something like this from Leo as he's a great guy to deal with and it makes it very hard to come to terms with the fact he doesn't seem to have informed anyone of his intentions.

I just hope he is well and that he should let people know what he's upto..