MX630 Smoked

rustywd · Post by **rustywd** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:20 pm

Yesturday, I received a MX630 that I had ordered. I followed all the instructions, made sure the jumper was set to 12v, plugged in the usb, 3 fans (120mm rated at 12v, .2amps) , and the floppy connector for powering the fans. The fans and display started up and seemed to be working great. I then installed the drivers and software and began to configure things using the LCDC software. Upon pressing the Start / Stop Display button, I began to smell something burning and could see smoke rising from the back of the display. As I moved to be able to see what was happening I could see the largest microchip on the back glowing white and starting to catch on fire. I quickly unplugged the display but it was too late and it is now dead. Is this something covered under warranty of did I just watch my hundred bucks go up in smoke?

Fryed Chip

Entire Board

Entire Board - No USB Cable

Post by **Henry** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:41 pm

Hi,

This concerns us greatly, as when magic smokes gets released fromthe display with out a good reason makes us really concerned... Can you please post a picture of the entire back of the display? what way we can take a quick look at the entire displays circutry and have a look over it. We really want to get to the bottom of this ASAP, as the display going up in smoke is really a bad thing.

Jon · Post by **Jon** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 10:44 am

That's one fried chip.

rustywd · Post by **rustywd** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 2:31 am

OK, so I got the replacement unit. First I got to say awesome job on the customer service. So I have been very carefully experimenting with the new unit. I hooked up the temp probes, some 80mm fans, got some plugins working. So last I try pluging in the 120mm fans that I plan on using with it. When running full power everything is ok. When I try to control the fans, the same chip that burned up starts to get hot, when it got the where it was starting to be hard to touch I unplugged the cause I'm afraid it's going to burn up again. So my question now is is that supposed to get hot like that or is there a setting I'm doing wrong or are the fans I'm using just not compatable? I am using three 120mm SCYTHE S-FLEX 1600 RPM fans. Thanks

rustywd · Post by **rustywd** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 12:52 pm

Well I've done some more extensive testing and research and I believe the SCYTHE S-FLEX 120mm fans are incompatable with the MX630. Even if I only hook one of them up and try to run it at less than 100% the chip on the back starts to instantly get hot. I also have a few SCYTHE DF-Series 80mm fans and they have no problems running and being controlled. The chip the back does not heat up at all. So I investigated the differences between the two fans and I believe the problems lies in that the S-FLEX fans have a linear IC built into them to reduce noise and I believe the throttling methed used to control the fan speed just doesn't play well with that circuit. So I guess I'm gonna see if I can exchange those for some Scythe DF series 120mm fans. I would definatly add it to some kind of incompatablity list on your web site or something, much cheaper than having to replace displays anytime someone tries to use those fans with it. Thanks again for all your help. By the way do you want me to send the damaged unit back to you guys? I haven't heard anything about where to send it or even if you want me to. Thanks again.

Jon · Post by **Jon** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 2:44 pm

Hi Rusty,

I belive you may have hit the nail on the head with your assumption, as it does have to do with the method that the fan is using for controlling the RPM's. You can solve it by removing the tach wire (often yellow) but then you won't be able to read the RPM's anymore.

We are still looking for a true fix to this problem, and I am sorry for the inconvenience that it has caused you.

rustywd · Post by **rustywd** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 10:16 pm

So I got my DF Series 120mm fans in the mail but the clicking noise they make while running at less than 100% is totally annoying. I tried all the suggestions on the forums, except adding extra circuitry and nothing seemed to help. I finally descided that the MX630 is no good for controlling 120mm fans, unless you only want 100% ON or OFF. So I tried plugging the fans into the control board for my Koolance system and they are totally quiet no clicking. unfortunatly it's not programmable, but I do like they way it ramps up depending on the temp. So I ordered a controller board for the new system I am building. Matrix Orbital should look into how they are controlling the fans and make it something that is programmable that would be awesome. By programmable I am thinking having a setting that lets you choose a temp range (for example 90 F to 110 F) then tell the fans to increase in speed from 0% to 100% depending on the specified temp range. That was what I thought I was going to be able to do with the MX630 but in practise it seems to really be more of a display/monitoring device (which it does well) with fan control slapped on as an after thought. Anyways just my 2 cents about how to make the next model better.

Jon · Post by **Jon** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:27 am

Rusty,

Thank you for your suggestions, we will defenetly look into this.