We use the Hydra for our systems processor platform, and we bought over 50 boards already. Every system has to have a real time clock feature, and in the prototype it worked fine. In our production model we could not get the RTC to keep time, and it was drawing a lot of current, about 15mA. We finally traced back the problem to the Hydra board itself. Diode D1 was populated with a 0 ohm resistor. Now, on top of having to modify the boards to add a crystal, we have to go and correct this as well. If the Hydra came standard with a clock crystal, GHI would catch this in production. But instead they wanted to save a few cents.
I have sent multiple emails to GHI with no response. We’re definitely designing their products out of our system in the next release.
@ LukeG - Did you send them to someone specific or use the contact page on the website? What are the dates of the last 3 emails? What email address did you send from? You can private message me the details if needed.
I used the contact page because when I called the phone number the woman told me to do so. Last year I used it and I think you were the one who actually responded, 8/26/13 about large commercial orders. Since then I submitted questions about the discount email I received, the microSD accessory board going obsolete without any EOL notification, if the Hydra board will be obsolete in the near future. No response to any of them.
I can’t tell you the dates, because the web form does not send you an email to confirm submission. I just submitted a test to check again. The only feedback you get is on the website “Your message has been sent.”.
Here is a picture. Even a visual inspection would have shown that the wrong part is installed as the part in D1 is clearly a resistor with a big zero on it.
I have a Hydra board I purchased in June 2013 and it has a diode in the D1 position.
Seems strange your boards have the 0 ohm resistor but this certainly warrants a reply from GHI for this as to why this was fitted.
It would certainly be bad for the battery as this would mean it would be feeding back out to the VCCINT line which means that it would be connected to some of the CPUpins and not just the VDDBU input.
Hope you get this sorted. GHI are pretty good for support so hope you get what you need on this.
I purchased units around the same time with no issue. However, we ordered 50 of them earlier this year, and all of them seem to have D1 populated with 0 ohm resistor. They all have to be modified by hand.
@ LukeG @ Everyone - The diode being replaced with a resistor was a special order run for a customer that unfortunately also ended up in distribution. This particular customer ran into some issues because of the voltage, it was just at or below the minimum requirements for RTC so in some situations the RTC failed. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused.