The Moog "Mother-32" synthesizer. On the back of the mainboard is a user accessible 8 pin header connector that's used for connecting the module to rack power. The standard is 16 pin IDC it seems so they just use a 16 pin female connector on both ends of the supplied cable to connect to the 8 pin power header on board:
A few inches away on the PCB, well within reach of the cable length, is an actual 16 pin male header. those seem to be the JTAG pins for the CPU. If a user with poor eyesight confuses the two connections and connects the 16 pin IDC socket to the place where it looks like it fits the digital/CPU section of the board is immediately damaged or the CPU destroyed
Connectors selection is an excercise in madness. So many of them, but one can seldom find a perfect one. For that reason I gave up and started contracting my own to be CNCed for me. Mostly high current, low voltage ones, but not only.
I can't say I understand the connector issue. There are so many to choose from that I don't know how there wouldn't be an acceptable connector alread y in production. Enclosures are a different matter. It seems like there a re very few enclosure makers (at least other than on Alibaba) and they most ly make the same stuff. Add in the fact that every enclosure requires conn ectors, buttons and indicators - the result is nearly every one becomes a c ustom.
In this case there isn't so much a problem if the connectors were only designed to be installed at the factory, use whatever you like and be sure the assembly team gets it right.
But I think it's asking for trouble to ship a product where the connectors are designed to be user-accessible and put two connectors in physical proximity to each other where it's physically possible for the user to just absent-mindedly connect it up wrong. One choice leads to proper operation and the other to instant product destruction.
So it's partly a philosophical question as to whether one thinks engineering should try to protect against "everyday stupidity" like that or if the user deserves their fate for being tired/drunk/absent-minded/a dumbass and not reading the labeling carefully. On a piece of equipment that costs 600 bucks I figure the punishment doesn't really fit the "crime" and is gonna lead to a number of unhappy customers, label or not.
If two different-function end-user accessible connectors have to be situated next to each other, it should be physically impossible to mate them improperly.
The only thing I take exception to in your post is the notion of "everyday stupidity". I no longer believe that such a thing exists. Instead, I now believe that idiots stay up very late a night, thinking of new and different way to f^ck stuff up.
Naturally, this is to be considered "exceptional stupidity" but I'm still on the fence whether to call such behavior "genius".
I mean even in the 1950s many tube-type radios had safety interlocks on the back so a "tech" couldn't open up the enclosure and turn the set on simultaneously without performing an exercise in extraordinary-stupidity.
Loss of 600 bucks is a significantly less serious consequence but y'know
600 bux is 600 bux.
It's possible it's one of those situations where they figure it won't happen enough to justify the expense of spending 15 cent more per unit on better-designed connectors. It's definitely happened once though and I've read a couple anecdotal stories online of it happening to other users.
Maybe a statistician could do some kind of Bayesian analysis on failures like this to get a ballpark on how many times it's happened given the number produced and available reports and their frequency idk. It seems like the kind of design decision that given the relatively small number produced (10k, maybe) vs. perhaps ballpark 10x times it's happened vs reports that might indeed end up costing the mfr real money.
Can't afford to lose too many customers paying out 600 and if a customer were told "Heh sorry eat it sucker" after making that error on a product at that price point I'm guessing they would be lost regardless of any "philosophical" questions about how one should be careful with nice things.
My guess is that when it does happen they quietly replace the unit for the customer, at least once.
I threw my last Dell laptop in the garbage a couple months ago, my main lappy is now a Lenovo "Ideapad 520" 15" screen model, brushed aluminum enclosure, i7 7500U, 12 gig RAM, 2 gig GeForce 940MX GPU, standard 2 pin power connector, 1 TB 5400 HDD (the only real letdown but the flash memory cache makes it serviceable.) Battery life is quite good also.
It was a Lenovo Ideapad that I was happy to be rid of some few months ago. I've never had or even seen such a flaming piece of crap. I hope yours works out better.
It's not about winning, Rick, I just have pretty non-standard requirements. It turned out to be more cost-effective to stop looking for a ready-made connector after two or three days and design my own. CNC machining in brass and 3D printing (for the connector's casing, if required) are affordable today, so why not use these new possibilities, especially if the final cost is comparable to the low-volume offers in Mouser?
It's just an expression.... I meant you have an application I've never gotten close to before. I typically deal with low current rather than high current.
go. I've never had or even seen such a flaming piece of crap. I hope your s works out better.
The problems with the Lenovo had nothing to do with performance. It was a crap machine... a higher end crap machine with a separate video chip, i7 CP U, etc. Everything from the poor quality display to the hard to type on ke yboard and the total lack of coherent support for driver updates. The list of problems with that machine was too long to even recall. The best thing that happened to it was for it to go belly up after just two years requiri ng me to get another computer. I ended up with a Dell Precision powerhouse machine that actually works, has a clear display and I can type on as fast as I can think... read into that last one what you wish, lol! I had just bought a 1 TB flash drive to put in the Lenovo when it crapped out... proba bly deliberately just to tick me off!
The Dell Precision business laptops with i7 processors and dedicated GPUs _start_ at around 1.5k, idk if even a fully optioned out Ideapad you could hit that price, it's their mid-range line below the Thinkpad.
I would certainly hope the Dell machine in that class is all-around more impressive machine with a better display, longer battery life and a nicer keyboard etc. or like wtf am I paying for
ago. I've never had or even seen such a flaming piece of crap. I hope yo urs works out better.
st
s a crap machine... a higher end crap machine with a separate video chip, i
7 CPU, etc. Everything from the poor quality display to the hard to type o n keyboard and the total lack of coherent support for driver updates. The list of problems with that machine was too long to even recall. The best t hing that happened to it was for it to go belly up after just two years req uiring me to get another computer. I ended up with a Dell Precision powerh ouse machine that actually works, has a clear display and I can type on as fast as I can think... read into that last one what you wish, lol! I had j ust bought a 1 TB flash drive to put in the Lenovo when it crapped out... p robably deliberately just to tick me off!
I'm not sure why you are comparing the Lenovo to the Dell. It just happens to be what I bought after the Lenovo died. There's some irony. The Lenov o dies and I replace it with an older, used machine and am much happier! l ol
The point is the Lenovo was such a poor machine it wasn't suitable to sell at *any* price. It is the only PC I have ever regretted buying. I always end up not liking my machines when they start giving me problems, but with the Lenovo this was in the first month of having it. I bought it by mail o rder so I was stuck. Had I bought it at Costco, it would have been returne d right then. I did buy an HP at Costco for my first attempt to replace it , but the keyboard and touch pad were inferior and crapped out very quickly .
Do you know which year/model revision it was? It seems they sell these in lots of hardware configurations but call them all "Ideapad 520" which is...confusing.
What's hilarious is that Wal-Mart wants over $1300 for more-or-less the same spec machine (16 gig of RAM vs 12 and a 8500U stepping on the i7 vs
7500 that I paid $569 for on the Lenovo site, shipping included.
The keyboard and touch pad are definitely nothing to write home about. At the price I paid however if I get 2-3 years of hard daily use out of it before it craps out I don't consider that a bad value.
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