Hacking CycloDS Evolution V3: Missing PCB component

[c2ironfist]

Hi

I have a very interesting question for TeamCyclops or any other forum members here regarding the new V3 chip.

I own two Black CycloDS Evolutions, I've opened both of them up due to curiosity and to my surprise one of them has a missing component or piece of chip of whatever you wanna call it gone, while the other looks like everything is in place.

This is where the missing piece of the PCB is. The circled out blue spot is what is missing in one of my CycloDS's.














The circled out blue spot is what is missing in one of my CycloDS's.

Description: The area where the piece rests, is empty but you can see that there is suppose to be a piece there indicated by the two little squares that are on the PCB.

However, this CycloDS (with missing component) works fine and I haven't experienced any problems "yet". Leaving me to wonder, alright is there something wrong with my card or is it fine?

Questions:

- What does this missing component do?
- Will I run into problems in the future because this part of the chip is missing?
- Was there just a mess up during production for this chip and it accidentally passed through quality control? (if any quality control lol)
- Was this design intentional? (leaving out the extra component for the chip)

If someone from TC or users here can let me know that would be greatly appreciated

Thank you
Jimmy


Edit:

Okay so here are both my CycloDS Evolutions.
Don't mind all the flux build ups, It was from
modifying the microSD slot so they would both be flush.
I noticed the missing component when I opened up my new CycloDS
when I modified the MicroSD slot and then I thought hey
my old CycloDS never had this and so I opened the old one up again
and what yhaa know... there wasn't one. The component was missing.
If your wondering if I accidently removed it, I highly doubt it
because I was extremely careful when moving the microSD slot.

Hope some one can explain this to me.

 

[masamunecyrus]

I'd recommend asking this on the CycloDS forums, if you haven't, yet. Team Cyclops regularly responds to posts there.

 

[c2ironfist]

I already did.. this is just a copy to see if anyone knows about it here

 

[Cryton]

I'll try answering this to the best of my abilities. These are all my opinions. I'm not affiliated with CycloDS and not having a schematic/PCB layout it's hard to answer these questions 100% accurate.

The missing part is a capacitor. Appears to be a standard 0805 size. I'd guesstimate it to be a 0.01 or 0.1µF in value.

This part was probably intentionally left like this. Many times when the company I work for designs new PCBs we add many extra pads/parts "just in case". Many times we find that we need certain parts to add reliability (filtering caps, higher gain for amps, etc..) and other times we find that these parts (and other parts we thought were necessary) just aren't needed and discard them in future revisions to save both time and money. Most likely this capacitor will have no adverse effects on the product.

To reiterate tho, I can't answer 100% without a schematic or in-depth knowledge of this particular products circuit. I can just make observations from what I see. Hope this helps a bit.

 

[c2ironfist]

Cryton

You are the man... honestly I wasn't really worried too much but a bit concerned. Both my cards work great at the moment so really though I was just curious.

I thought well.. if I didn't break it modding the thing in the first place, I should feel lucky that its still working lol.

Many thanks for your post really appreciate the time :-)
As for TC's response there isn't any yet lol.

Thanks again
Jimmy