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 :roll: .. stick to the simbuilding :p


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..

[brynjames]

As far as I can see, the last post he made on his help forums was more than 2 months ago. Not very encouraging for purchasers.

--
Bryn

[No Longer Active]

Just imagine the work and frustration ahead of those sim builders that would like a BU0836X, I guess those with the BU0936 should really hold on to them because they will be like gold dust if Leo's is out of the scene!

I really do need the X version, and very soon, sooner rather than later!

I guess people are going to get a little peed off now!

I have sent him 2 emails to the 2 email addresses I know of (the dsl.pipex one and the leobodnar.com email)

[Buddym]

I love the board I have from Leo, it would be too bad if he is gone. If he has stopped production, and is not going to resume, perhaps he is willing to put his work in the hands of the community.

It would be too bad really for him, since he should reap the rewards of having designed and built such a great board.

If not we can build our own similar boards using freely available project source such as this one:

http://www.mictronics.de/?page=avr_usb_joystick

Still, it would be a shame since Leo's card works so well, and is a good value I think.

BuddyM

[No Longer Active]

your link is broken buddym

[Padraig]

your link is broken buddym

Hi Alex, it works here on my side, using Mozilla FF and IE, latest versions.

[No Longer Active]

Sorry, just tried it with mozilla and works a treat, I use google chrome most of the time hence why It didn't work!

[Padraig]

Hi all, I have done a little bit of google work, and I can find that his forum is not down, only his main website frontpage. I have had a short look through them, and it seems that his members there are still posting. Maybe you could find a solution to your problem, I am not sure if the man himself is posting @ the moment. I didn't get a chance to look to his profile to see when he was last logged on.

http://www.leobodnar.com/forum/index.php

Hope you can find an answer! good luck.

[vybhav]

Thanks for the update Ian and Bob. I can only hope he is back soon as need BU0836X badly.

Thanks

Regards

[shafian]

I just hope there is nothing serious that's happend. Leo is one of the highly regarded people within the fs and the greater community and there is a lot of people who are I supposed just concerned about him.

[Trevor Hale]

Beta Innovations went belly up leaving me stranded so I tried Leo Bondar's card and fell in love with it.



Just in case you are all wondering.. ACE (Aircraft Controls Engineering) appears to have all the Beta Innovations cards listed on their site.

If Leo is away (Perhaps on vacation) Maybe contact ACE and find out what they have available.

Additionally Don't forget to tell them you came from MyCockpit.

Trev

[jmig]

OK, I found the problem. My apologies to Leo Bodnar, if I offended his product. It turned out to be a shorted pot. Once that was fixed, the card started working again.

However, I still want a spare card...just in case. :)

[manhattan]

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

Hi Bob.

As a user of BU0836X (Bodner), I am hoping that you can explain how the 'matrix' wiring system works? Normally, 32 switches would be wired one to each pin with the other switch contact grounded - 33 pins. How can so many switches be independently connected to so few connection pins? Any chance of a diagram? As a matter of interest, if Leo is difficult to contact, would it not be a bit risky to place orders and send money. Just a thought.
I have written to you because you are a seasoned forum member - hope you don't mind.

TONY
TWIN OTTER.

[Buddym]

To be honest, I am not sure how Leo accomplishes the matrix functionality in hist code. The typical scenario on the design side of things is to use a matrix for more inputs by using some pins as outputs and some as inputs and scan them in a matrix. For instance, we could take a 8-bit port on a AVR or PIC and use bits 0-3 as output columns and bits 4-7 as input rows. You connect a switch across each intersection between the 4 inputs and the 4 outputs for a total of 16 switches. The you can scan each input in sequence while strobing the outputs in sequence. The code is written so that when a switch is pressed, it knows which one by knowing which output was HIGH and which input it was detected on. This is very common in the microcontroller world and is an industry standard practice as well. I am not sure if this is how Leo does it or not, there are other methods like port-expander chips, etc.

I am currently building a few MJoy-16c boards for myself and some other simmers. The functionality is the same as the BU0836X, although my own BU0836X works extremely well I am seeking to get more inputs at a lower cost. I can tell you from a construction viewpoint that the
BU0836X does offer great value given that it has the quick-connect terminal strips and can also support rotary encoders. The terminal strips themselves are not cheap.

BuddyM
Tampa Fl USA
A320 Builder

[ian@737ng.co.uk]

hi guys..........
how does he do it? magic :o seriously, this has got to be the most cost effective way of getting your input's in. frankly speaking there is nothing to touch the BU cards out there for the money.
i swear by these boards (i actually have 6). never had a minutes trouble with any of them and the oldest standard card is 4 years old.
i have to admit that communication is not leo's strongpoint, but i know from contact with him that it's not that he doesn't want to communicate, he just doesn't have time.
sort of a 'victim of his own success' really.
great product at a great price, now where else do you get that in sim-building ?
long may the BU0836 family of cards be available :o
have a great day gentlemen.
regards from wales ... ian