Chuck Cox wrote:
Wayne.B wrote:
[snip]
I know, that is what worries me most about this product. Since it
incorporates a microcontroller, we intend to record diagnostic events,
so hopefully we can detect abuse. We will certainly incorporate
automatic protection for reversed polarity, shorts, over-voltage,
over-current, over-temperature, etc, etc. If we want to sell in
California I think we have to add a warning that it isn't safe to eat.

I once attended a symposium where a ladder manufacturer explained the
stupid user actions behind each warning sticker. I am wary, and our
insurance agent could easily crush this product if it increases our
insurance costs significantly beyond what we have already budgeted for.

i admit i have done the reverse-polarity thing before. after doing a
big install of radios in the truck i removed the deep cycle batteries
so that i could install a little battery shelf i had made and service
the batteries while i had them out. i was just finishing the install,
putting heat shrink tubing on all the wires, soldering connectors on
where i just had twisted wires, that kind of thing, and damn wouldn't
you know it ... i put one of the deep cycle batteries into the truck
backwards. i hooked the positive terminal up to the ground ... then i
reached over, grabbed the hot wire, and hooked it to the negative
terminal, and there was a huge ARC of electricity, like i was trying to
do some welding. i hadn't gotten to the second battery yet, the first
one was the one that was backwards from how it had been installed
before.

you can imagine the result, burned out both radios and an audio
amplifier, basically everything i had been installing that week. had
to send one radio back to the manufacturer, had to replace the
amplifier, and took the other radio to a cb shop where a guy soldered
it's melted board back together. he had to replace a coil and rebuild
some of the traces on the circuit board. amazingly the manufacturer,
even with a note describing that it was totally my fault, fixed the
other radio and sent it back without any charge at all. i didn't even
feel it was their responsibility. also the amplifier salesman replaced
the busted amplifier (that i got locally) with another one without
charge. in the end the only thing i had to pay for was the soldering
job the guy at the cb shop had to do. in some ways i sort of felt like
they should fix it though because reverse polarity just happens
sometimes, and the radios should have burned a fuse or something
instead of relying on a surface mount diode that isn't easilly replaced.