So after years of great service I have damaged my Simucube base I bought new from Simracing bay. My youngest decided to yank on one of the two usb cables and damaged the right side socket on the granite board.
I have a few questions.
The wheel gets recognized with the left usb cable plugged in only (something I have never tried). Zero happens when I try the damaged right usb port (IONI socket). Is the duel usb even necessary? Is it just a redundant system or do I need both usb cables for the small MiGE to operate properly?
Also…I can solder a bit and might attempt to replace the socket myself. I can’t tell if its just the four socket lugs soldered onto the pcb and the socket “pads itself” onto the contacts on the pcb for the usb connections…or if I need to solder the microscopic 5 leads for the usb connections to the board (not happening if this is the case). If anyone has tried this repair…can you give me some tips?
Finally…is it just a matter of inserting the servo card/hooking up the wires/installing the latest software (if I need to buy a new granite board)? Or do I need to do more prep work to make sure I purchase the correct board to get it back up and running?
Thanks in advance for any help.
You won’t need the damaged port until you need to upgrade firmware or connect to the Ioni via Granity.
As far as repairing the board if the traces are not totally destroyed a highly skilled person with a high wattage soldering station might be able to fix it.
The SC1 board acts like a big heatsink when you try to solder on it. If you don’t have a high watt station and are not pretty talented with a soldering iron I wouldn’t attempt the repair.
My suggestion is to buy a new Simucube board and keep it on hand to swap later if needed.
The SC1 board is now around 5 years old. At some point I would expect Granite Devices to no longer replenish their stock. So better safe than sorry.
In regards to setup it as not as simple as just swapping boards. I takes a bit of software installation.
If you are in the USA I would be glad to help you get setup via a remote pc when you are ready.
The second USB connector (X4 connector) is only needed to connect to the servo drive via Granity.
Simucube firmware includes the IONI firmware, and Simucube firmware will always automatically update the servo drive to the minimum required version, so you do not need to worry about firmware updates being impossible.
Thanks so much for the help. I am more than likely going to order a new board (will reach out for help when it hits the states). I did a test run lastnight and the wheel does still seem to work with just the one cable. Fortunately…I just updated to the most recent flash…so I have time to plan on the repair.
Because I have not noticed before…does that broken port get recognized by windows when you plug it in? I was wondering how I test it if I attempted a repair (I have a good Hakko soldering station).
