Re: Pac repair using a chip comparitor

>I wasn't blaming the part for the fault of backwards insertion. My dismay
>is that Clay's device is not repairable at all by anyone other than him.

I've long ago accepted the fact that I can't please everyone, all the time.
;-)

>What happens if Clay doesn't want to service the devices? This has already
>happened in the case of the Multi Pacs.

A little different situation there, but again I'd like to clarify something,
Kev... I will happily replace the custom IC on the MultiPac with a swap for
the damaged one and a $7 replacement charge. I've maybe done that once (I
don't remember it, but it's probably happened). What I *won't* do is
distribute any Namco code anymore. There are ROM images of the MultiPac on
the net though.

>Look at what great lengths people have gone to decrypt, dechipher & reverse
>engineer arcade stuff now for the benefit of all. I can understand Clays
>intention to protect his work but it negates my ability to repair it.

Cracking code for MAME is one thing-- wrapping up a few grand in parts and
PCB's and inventory (and having to operate as a business-- industrial
insurance, income taxes, and licensing anyone?) is quite another. My kits
are aiming to be easy to use and reliable. I can tell you that I have an
EXTREMELY low return rate (well under 1% on the 284's/285's or any of the
other kits for that matter), so I'm fairly confident that I'm succeeding.

>I've had another unit of Clays fail, a Sync Buss Controller that I know
what
>not plugged in backwards. The only thing I could find was a stuck data
line
>but I don't understand how this could blow out the chip and I know it
wasn't
>a short to higher voltage as I troubleshoot with +5 only until the board is
>up & running then finish the audio section, then do AC.

I dunno, Kev... I've got a couple places that have bought hundreds of those
boards over the years (literally) and I've never got *one* back from them.
On the other hand I've had a couple people buy <10 and roast 2-3. Those
instances have generally been attributed to "operator error" (don't plug DC
modded boards into AC supplies, that sort of thing). You could cut the
power line on the PCB and put a 4.7V zener in there or something in there to
try to stop any spikes...

Given the number that I've shipped over the last three years if there was a
significant problem I think I'd be seeing the pattern by now. I doubt that
people are roasting them at $15-20/ea and not complaining... (My website
address and name is on every card, so I don't think it'd be hard for even
2nd or 3rd hand owners to find me.)

>$7.00 is a reasonable price for a repair but if I have an option for an
>equal replacement part that I can repair versus a part that I must ship out
>for repair, the choice is clear.

>To a non-solderer the Clay part & repair service is probably a good deal
but
>your are dependant on a soul source provider/servicer.

>I'm happy to have an option now with Mark producing TTL style replacements
&
>if I get strap down holes in the next revision I'll be estatic.

I'd definately stick with Mark's boards in your case, Kev. Some people will
prefer smaller, lower power, solder-masked PCB's with a higher level of
integration. Like you said, it's good to have options.

This whole thread is a little irksome to me because it seems to give the
impression that these things drop like flies when the simple fact of the
matter is that they don't. It's very reminiscent of our technical support
people at work-- all they hear is complaints about failed units all day, so
they think that everything we build it crap. Well, in the same amount of
time that they issued 100 returns for dead MP3 players, we had shipped
300,000. The overall defect rate is quite low. I sure wouldn't be selling
the same design 3 years down the road if I was getting peppered with returns
and complaints...

-Clay
Received on Tue Dec 12 09:40:27 2000