The Ware for March 2009 is shown below. Click the photo for a much larger version.
This ware is interesting because it’s the guts of an appliance that I owned that nearly caught fire. The dark brown tint of the epoxy overcoat is evidence of its smokey demise. Bonus points for anyone who can correctly guess what instigated the death of this ware.
my lucky guess that this is some kind of impulse generator for a twisted pair telephone cable (cutting clamp). The overcoat is probably for protection against moisture, and the button for turning it on and off. A lightning would explain why your device is fried.
Based on the decent amount of power electronics (several large inductors, some FETs) my guess is that this is part of a battery pack (possibly NiMH or Lion), which includes the charging circuit as well as – hopefully – some protection circuits. The button might be used to blink the LED next to it depending on the remaining energy. Not sure what the other LEDs are for, maybe a charging indicator?
Based on the level of integration, I’d rule out a mobile device, probably as well as modern laptops – they usually show a higher level of integration, trying to save any small piece of space. Might be for some other portable device?
My guess for the reason of the death is overcurrent/shortcut of the output pins.
On the other hand, I can’t see any of the protection circuits, fuses or thermal fuses. So I just hope it’s NOT a battery pack, or that they are just hidden well.
Can not quite guess the domain that appears at the top. cctech.com? or CCIEEH? can not tell.
Very small, usb sized.
overheating of part m001 appears to be the cause of device failure.
SWAG: Is this part of an flourescent lamp ballast? Or electronic transformer? That button does not fit that application.
looks like an RF shield on the bottom so given that and the size Im guessing bluetooth headeset. the failure is hard to say but probably something battery related
cctech.com would have been Cooper and Chyan Technology, an “electronic design automation” company. That seems to conflict with the 2506 date code though, since they were bought out by Cadence in 1997. Maybe an ex-CCT guy does the silkscreening? Maybe their software did the PCB design? I don’t see enough space for there to be a .cn or .tw after the .com.
Other than that I’m stumped. Wild guesses are garage door remote, or maybe non-display pager (OK, not in 2006…).
Either that, or this was the device protecting your blog from hackers, and they made it catch on fire.
why all the proxy ? usb token like RSA or a YubiKey
sorry ment epoxy
AAA battery operated bluetoth headset; step up DC-DC failure (caused by diode or step up IC failure?)
Hmm…nobody is getting close yet. I’ll drop another hint — that clear overcoat is there because it needs to be waterproof (or at least splash-resistant) in its normal operating environment.
The failure mode is not related to environmental water interactions — that would be too easy!
My initial guess was a AA battery charger. Since you mentioned it was waterproof, I wondered about an FM radio for use in the shower. The main IC seems to be a Philips TEA1230TS, which sites confirm is in SSOP24, but nothing says what it does! But there’s a TEA12xxTS family of DC/DC converters, so we’ll assume the TEA1230 is the same.
Given that, I still reckon it’s some kind of battery charger. Maybe camera or similar rather than AAs. I can’t find anyone who does waterproof battery chargers other than for boat batteries though (there are some solar/windup chargers and torches, but it would have had to be left for a while in full sun to cook it)
I’m guessing, therefore, that the burning is because you shorted it, or put a shorted dead battery in.
What’s throwing me off is the size. Assuming the board is vaguely related to its background, it’s probably from a boat or car, or maybe a hot tub. Maybe a mobile home too. Thing is, all those have plenty of space for electronics, so why make a thumb-sized board?
It also has RU 94V-O printed, which seems to be a flame retardant certification.
How’s about a high-power water-resistant LED flashlight? This board would be the driver / power electronics. Hmm, I don’t know why it would have the LEDs on it (D702 above the switch; perhaps two more to the right in the center of the board.) If the unit is also rechargeable, the LEDs could be there for indicating charge / battery status.
Or perhaps other special purpose lighting (e.g. bicycle light).
The guts from an electric toothbrush of uncertain manufacture.
rechargeable electric razor or toothbrush? the epoxy on the board would be for water resistance, and it looks like it has terminals to be placed in a charging dock while not in use.
yer, toothbrush battary gose under it
looks like the board from such a braun toothbrush, I destroyed so many of them yet. maybe there was a shortage because some water got under the epoxy.
Looks to me like the guts of an electric shaver, possibly a Philips – One of my old ones had a very similar looking circuit coated in epoxy resin and the same type terminals. Not sure about the failure though – maybe a water short or you own a similar charger/mains cable and plugged that in by mistake.
Sorry to hear about your electric toothbrush!
a think bunnie took it from this guy
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/GAto.jpg
by the way i think he wants it back
Reghargable razor/shaver or toothbrush were top of my list as well. it looks like dual AA or AAA batteries? i’m used to seeing electric toothbrushes not put them side by side but I haven’t really looked at all the models out there.
oh, failure modes.. whatever it is, what happens if the button is inadvertently held down too long while the assumed moving parts attached are unable to move? (stall)
It does indeed look very much like an electric toothbrush – mainly going by size, single button, and looking inside other ones.
This one doesn’t look like it is inductively charged. It also doesn’t appear to have any fuses on board – the Braun ones I have seen inside have several small fuses.
The failure mode – you replaced the battery when the old one died with a similar but not quite the same type, and that blew it.
Or you tried converting it into a electric pick gun for locks and it couldn’t take it.
We don’t think it is part of a toothbrush or electric razor as the button would be placed in a very awkward position compared to the charging connector.
Could it be the PCB from for example a hand blender? The failure mode could be severe overloading of the motor.
We have to assume, from the amount of overseas travel Mr Bunnie does, that whatever it is succumbed to an over-voltage.
And given that most seasoned travelers carry the least they can, we can probably suppose that this is NOT an electric toothbrush, depilator etc.
And that thing hidden on the backside could be a big heatsink…
So, I’m going to say it’s a portable voltage converter that got slightly, er, “mis-configured”.
This might be a mobile phone “emergency” charger, like this one:
http://www.reichelt.de/bilder//web/artikel/G700/48364_01.jpg
These devices usually recharge the mobile using AA batteries, and some include support for recharging the battery while in the device. The connector on the right hand side looks like a battery connector to me, it would be a very weird charger connector IMO. It has probably been bent and is meant to connect to one or more (probably non-standard, the contacts are far too close for AA) batteries on the back. The button might be for a flashlight using a white LED mounted on the back of the PCB; the LEDs which are visible on the photo probably are charge and/or battery indicators.
These devices don’t HAVE to be water-resistant, but it certainly doesn’t hurt, and it’s something marketing will advertise as absolutely necessary.
As for the reason for failure, I’d suspect the usual “output short circuit”, or attempting to supply some too-power-hungry device.
It’s a vibrator, and friction caused the demise…
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Very durable, When i droped it incidentally various times, but no desire to fix.