Categories: General WowWee Discussion
This may have been a bad idea, but I bought a broken V2 on eBay this week. He just arrived yesterday, so of course we had to break out the screwdrivers and determine the extent of his injuries. He seems to have been the subject of several '1 m drop tests', or else was previously owned by a hammer-wielding maniacal 4 year old! It remains to be seen whether we can resuscitate this poor thing, but we're going to give it a good try!
Here he is out of the box- neck broken; one hand clenched (except for one finger)
With the remnant of a sticker on his chest mentioning 'servo board' and 'left hand mech.':
After some major surgery, it became apparent why his head was lolling like that- the head-rotating bar or 'collar bone' is snapped, with a section missing:
After opening the clenched hand- we found the finger that didn't work had lost it's attachement to the cable (and after applying voltage to the hand motors, we found one finger on the other hand was similarly broken- but I can't post a picture, it's rude!)
The back of his torso has seen better days, but this is just cosmetic:
Today I'll try powering him up and see what happens- I don't have a remote at the moment, but I think we're going to visit a big box store and adopt a fresh V2.
If anyone knows the trick for initiating a self-diagnostic mode, I'd love to hear from you!
cheers- Scott
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That looks like fun! When you power him up he will go into a bit of a "resetting" mode where he will return himself to his home position. If nothing is wrong with his board it might be an easy fix with some screws and glue.
Where will the madness end?www.evosapien.com/robosapien-hack/marcus
Moderator
Madison WI, United StatesThanks Marcus, I've also found that a bunch of wires in the neck region have been pinched, so I have to do some rewiring as well. I'm trying to reach Knitsu to see if he has some replacement parts, too. Do you know the wiring of the main battery compartments? I'd like to hook him up on a bench power supply instead of D cells, for the diagnostics and repair.
<note added>
I powered him up after soldering the wires, he says "Self diagnostic initiated" and then his head tilt motor runs- he would be looking down if his head were on- and then a few seconds later runs again. That's it, nothing else occurs. I'm off to the read the manual for details.
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The arms and torso are meant to move at that point aswel.
If you need wiring diagrams for V2 head over to Nocturnals site;
www.evosapien.com/robosapien-hack/nocturnal
It might be a bit of work for you but it will be be fun.
Where will the madness end?www.evosapien.com/robosapien-hack/marcus
Good Luck. I love buying broken stuff off of ebay! I get all sorts of crap. This guy now sends me all sorts of crap for free. He calls me his free dump. lol,
Moderator
Madison WI, United StatesWell, I spent several hours last night replacing some of the wiring harnesses. A lot of the insulation has become brittle and broken off of the wires, especially near the ends. The main power cables were the worst, and I burned my fingers on them after doing the initial power up (before I noticed the bare wires!). I wonder if a repair tech sprayed refrigerant on them during testing? Its very odd that only the exposed ends of some of the harnesses are showing this symptom.
I hope to repeat the powerup again today, with all sensors plugged in (I had forgotten to re-attach the halves of the head on the first go-round).
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Moderator
Madison WI, United States$15.50 for the unit, but unfortunately it was in Canada and I'm in the US so shipping was much more than I would have liked to pay.
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I have some extra parts from my broken V2. I could send you both hands and the breast plate maybe.
I may stick them on ebay if you would rather get them there for safty reasons.
I have a piece of the front of the head if you would also like that. I cut the wires off when I was looking at how it worked.
Moderator
Madison WI, United StatesBillboard- yes, I'm interested in the hands. PM me some details, OK?
I've fixed as much of the wiring as was obviously bad, but he is still only doing the first part of the power-up diagnostics (the head twitch). We got a new V2, so now I know what it is supposed to be doing! I've next focussed on the motor output board, and have tested each of the 11 H-bridges in isolation. Two of them are giving weak output (Chest and Left Shoulder) in one direction, but I'm not sure if that's due to testing with input power of 6V instead of the normal 9V. One H bridge appears to be completely non-functional- the Waist (lower left corner in the photo below)- so now I'm contemplating building a replacement H bridge on a little 'daughterboard'; or trying to locate a replacement for the whole board. I've worked out the schematic for one of the bridges, I'm not certain though if they are all identical. If anyone is interested, I can explain how I tested the bridges...
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milw said: Billboard- yes, I'm interested in the hands. PM me some details, OK? I've fixed as much of the wiring as was obviously bad, but he is still only doing the first part of the power-up diagnostics (the head twitch). We got a new V2, so now I know what it is supposed to be doing! I've next focussed on the motor output board, and have tested each of the 11 H-bridges in isolation. Two of them are giving weak output (Chest and Left Shoulder) in one direction, but I'm not sure if that's due to testing with input power of 6V instead of the normal 9V. One H bridge appears to be completely non-functional- the Waist (lower left corner in the photo below)- so now I'm contemplating building a replacement H bridge on a little 'daughterboard'; or trying to locate a replacement for the whole board. I've worked out the schematic for one of the bridges, I'm not certain though if they are all identical. If anyone is interested, I can explain how I tested the bridges...
Picture here
I just saw the broken piece on the neck. (After I sent the PM) I will look in that when I have time tomarrow. (1:19 AM here)
If I saw it right, there is no purple thing protecting the wires in the head in the one picture. Did you need one of those or did you just take it out?
Hey scott, In the picture you showed of his broken torso, under the torso was a tiny sign that showed an X ontop of something that looked like a battery.. I am curious, what's it for?
All the best, fahad
The Revolution will never end! :P
RobosapienRevolution said: Hey scott, In the picture you showed of his broken torso, under the torso was a tiny sign that showed an X ontop of something that looked like a battery.. I am curious, what's it for? All the best, fahad
Its a trash can saying dont throw the entire robot away with the batteries inside.
Thanks billboard, I was wondering because my v2 doesn't have that.. And another question for Scott ( I must be getting pretty annoying by now! ), is that one of the new Robosapien™V2's or the old ones. I heard the new ones don't have the laser targeting button and the old ones do.. Anyways, i always wanted a broken v2 so i can take out all the parts and add some stuff on my origanal one, and $15 US is a GOOD deal, i understand that to ship to the US it must have cost alot but to ship to where i live ( Toronto, Ontario, Canada ) i think it would be pretty less::: BAD NEWS, there is no broken v2s on ebay anymore. If anyone has one on robocommunity ( And lives in canada of coarse ) Please post it on ebay and PM me the link!
The Revolution will never end! :P
And as for that little symbol.. Who would throw out a robot in the first place! Even if it was all crashed up, they could still use the parts or sell it...
The Revolution will never end! :P
Moderator
Madison WI, United StatesRR, this broken one didn't come with the remote, but both the 'new' RSV2 we got from TRU last week and the new purple RoboPet from Target have something called 'laser targeting' built into the remote- there is a big clear lens that projects a green light on the floor or wall, and I think it is also shining IR- the new RSV2 makes a pinging noise and moves to follow the green spot. I don't know if that is identical to the original laser targeting, and I also don't know how long he was on the shelf at TRU... My broken one has a serial number inside the battery compartment but I don't know if it encodes the manufacturing date.
Oh and I think the little trash can icon is for European compliance, to indicate that the robot should not be disposed of in the normal trash waste stream. Probably because it still has lead-containing solder in the circuit boards.
And keep an eye on eBay, though it would be even better if we could get the non functional brokobots direct from WowWees service center!
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Scott, It is normal for both of the Rsv2's , the thing is that the older versions ( i say newer because they were made first ) have a laser tageting button and a lens on the remote but the ones made after don't have that stuff on the remote, but they both react to the light if you manage to get a light on them. The numbers were the first 100,000 i think... And every V2 has a serial number in the foot.. Also, didn't you say you got it from canada? So why would it be for European compliance.. Was it manufactured for European use? When you say ' Service Center ' do you mean costomer service or something like that? And do you have a estimate of how much it would cost for one from wowwees service center? ( Sorry for all the questions! )
The Revolution will never end! :P
Moderator
Madison WI, United StatesAye, I got this broken one from Canada. AFAIK WowWee has only two offices, Hong Kong and Montreal I believe. If someone had to return a unit from the UK say, I'd think it would go to Montreal. Also, I don't know how WowWee handles replacements and servicing- some companies farm it out to third party repair companies; by 'Service Center' I meant 'Repair Center'. I've no idea what WowWee does with the unfixable ones, but they seem to be getting into the hands of surplus electronics dealers. They should send them to me for cannibilizing instead, then I can open a RoboRepair!
cheers- Scott
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Scott, Thats acctually a good idea... but i think they would give it to the people who made them ( all the mechanics ) rather that somebody else if they did do repairs in the first place. That would probably be a good job for you.. **NUDGE**NUDGE**WINK**WINK**
The Revolution will never end! :P
Scott, did you get my PM? I am getting the pieces from the neck right now and I am cleaning the breast plate and hands if you would like those.
-Billboard
When you got him out of the box, did he turn on and run?
The Revolution will never end! :P
Moderator
Madison WI, United StatesErm, I didn't try 
! I wanted to see what was broken in the neck first, so I started by taking the head apart; then the body shell. Its actually a good thing, because the main power wires were so disintegrated there could have been a fire even with his On/Off switch set to 'off'.
This is out of the box, just after taking off the shell:
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Member
Melbourne, AustraliaThe Australian units also have the do not dispose of on the rear.
I suspect WowWee trashes old units (more likely the local distributors), why? because I've never heard of anyone returning a damaged one and having had it sent to a repair center (which is the norm for things that can and will be repaired).
I can suggest a reason why the insulation on the wiring was damaged, if you have a damaged H-Bridge (or several), that can result in a (momentary or perminant) short circuit, drawing more current through the wiring than it is rated for, resulting in overheating of the wiring.
The H-Bridges that moved the motor in one direction slowly, most likely have a blown transistor, and are actually causing a short circuit when the power is applied in the direction they do not move. The tranistors in question should get very warm, very quickly, when power is applied. After a while they will burn out completely and the H-Bridge will stop functioning completely.
Personally, rather than attempting to build several new H-Bridges, I'd spend some time identifying and replacing the damaged transistors. The dead ones will most likely have gotten hot enough to deform their casings slightly or the writing on the face may have been burned off.
The damaged wiring in the fingers can be repaired, all it takes is a little ingenuity (I've snapped one or two of mine in the past).
Moderator
Madison WI, United StatesThanks Nocturnal, I'll take a closer look while under full 9V power. With the board out, and looking without magnification, I don't see or smell any sign of burnt transistors, and I can't detect any warming up with my fingertips while trying to run the bad bridge on 6V.
On the one hand I opened, the loop of wire in the brass eyelet has come loose- I have a couple of ideas of how to fix it, but that's the least of m worries for now!
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I edited this post yet again to tell you I got your PM and I will be sending the one with the info tonight after I get the chance to make sure the parts are all together and nothing is missing.
Nocturnal said: The Australian units also have the do not dispose of on the rear. I suspect WowWee trashes old units (more likely the local distributors), why? because I've never heard of anyone returning a damaged one and having had it sent to a repair center (which is the norm for things that can and will be repaired). I can suggest a reason why the insulation on the wiring was damaged, if you have a damaged H-Bridge (or several), that can result in a (momentary or perminant) short circuit, drawing more current through the wiring than it is rated for, resulting in overheating of the wiring. The H-Bridges that moved the motor in one direction slowly, most likely have a blown transistor, and are actually causing a short circuit when the power is applied in the direction they do not move. The tranistors in question should get very warm, very quickly, when power is applied. After a while they will burn out completely and the H-Bridge will stop functioning completely. Personally, rather than attempting to build several new H-Bridges, I'd spend some time identifying and replacing the damaged transistors. The dead ones will most likely have gotten hot enough to deform their casings slightly or the writing on the face may have been burned off. The damaged wiring in the fingers can be repaired, all it takes is a little ingenuity (I've snapped one or two of mine in the past).
Nocturnal, they send some parts away to people who need them.. They don't repair the robot but they reuse the parts. If you are still under 90 day warranty they may send you parts such as a speaker if you need one. Also, wow wee sends Chance parts because he repairs robots. I don't know why they would have that symbol for themselves to use and I'm very sure that they use the damaged robots in this way. I hope this helps some people as i know it helped me when i figured it out. Thanks.
All the best, Fahad
P.S - My writing is blue! ( you probably can see )
EDIT:: I wrote dome in the first sentence instead of some.. So i just changed that.. I always notify you when i change my posts.
The Revolution will never end! :P
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