I bought a broken 2.5w Laserbee that wouldn't connect to a computer from JLM. It was a good deal, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
Right out the box, I noticed the USB cable was absolutely terrible. Worst Chinese cable I've seen in a while. I broke out the continuity tester, and sure enough, it's broken on 3 out of 4 conductors. As a test, I could easily split the conductors with a pinch.
There were some really bad solder joints on the boards I ignored, but they looked functional enough. I didn't want to risk it without my good gear.
I cut an good unused donor cable and soldered it in. Connection to the Prolific USB-Serial device was immediately successful.
I've read about how these don't work with Windows 8 and 10 drivers, and I'm interested to see how I can get around it for myself. Still working on it at the moment since I can't quite get Peregrine to even start on my laptop yet. I also can't decide if I should replace the hardware or just work around the driver. Stay tuned for updates and photos.
Edit: Got it working and connected to Peregrine. :D
There's an issue in the TEC cable as well though. Readings are all over and noisy. I'm thinking it's the solder joint between the tec leads and cable.
Edit 2: Another very poor quality cable. There's high resistance on both conductors, and continuity is lost with bending. I'll have to replace it, but I think I've got some that'll suit it just fine. That's a project for tomorrow.
Right out the box, I noticed the USB cable was absolutely terrible. Worst Chinese cable I've seen in a while. I broke out the continuity tester, and sure enough, it's broken on 3 out of 4 conductors. As a test, I could easily split the conductors with a pinch.
There were some really bad solder joints on the boards I ignored, but they looked functional enough. I didn't want to risk it without my good gear.
I cut an good unused donor cable and soldered it in. Connection to the Prolific USB-Serial device was immediately successful.
I've read about how these don't work with Windows 8 and 10 drivers, and I'm interested to see how I can get around it for myself. Still working on it at the moment since I can't quite get Peregrine to even start on my laptop yet. I also can't decide if I should replace the hardware or just work around the driver. Stay tuned for updates and photos.
Edit: Got it working and connected to Peregrine. :D
There's an issue in the TEC cable as well though. Readings are all over and noisy. I'm thinking it's the solder joint between the tec leads and cable.
Edit 2: Another very poor quality cable. There's high resistance on both conductors, and continuity is lost with bending. I'll have to replace it, but I think I've got some that'll suit it just fine. That's a project for tomorrow.