Skytrack disassembly and teardown

[awisnia]

Update: I did it - much easier than an iPhone. Removed the two screws on the bottom and the non laser side cover slides towards the front and off.

Photos below - pretty impressive design work. (Save for the battery that could have so easily been larger.)

i didn't find any obvious defects in mine - so it's off the repair guys.

Has anyone ever done it?
Mine got hit by a ball and will not read or stay connected.
Before I ship it off for repair I figured I'd have one of the techs at work have a peek inside for an obvious mechanical failure.

[aeroburner]

I personally would never split my case, as I would hate to justify the reasoning of it to the manufacturer when he tries to tell me what the heck I was thinking and now the repairing of my skytrak is compromised. Yes that does sound like I got my hand caught in the cookie jar in the past but not with a skytrak system.... haha

[awisnia]

Understood! No greater Adrenalin rush than cracking a case - MacGyver thrills.

[Point280]

I hear that! There's a YouTube video of a guy digging into his GC2! 😳 Very cool to see what makes these things tick!

[Thinman]

good stuff, thanks for the pics. i do not see anything that looks easily damaged by contact. did you inspect for cold and/or broken solder links? are the cameras firmly in place? Did you give it a test after reassembly?

[awisnia]

Unfortunately..the take it apart and put it back together theory did not work. Couldn't find any cold joints, but didn't have a scope to inspect. may open the case once more before shipping it off.

Pretty impressed with what they're doing with some low cost stuff - a micro controller, an FPGA, cmos sensors and some ram. I'm an EE but haven't done design in 25 years..nonetheless, I don't think that any of the chips are more than $10 - probably less.

hats off to the Rapsodo engineers.

[Ironstrokes]

Very cool seeing those pictures. Didnt think Id get to see the guts of was actually in there. Nice post

[Joko]

Thanks very much for posting! Always was curious at the internals.

[FaultyClubs]

Can you tell what accelerometer and image sensor they use? What lenses are they using?

[awisnia]

didn't notice the accelerometer - I assume for leveling? The image sensor is a qfp mounted to the board - reluctant to open in a dirty environment. lens looks pretty generic.

[Jtangm04]

Really interesting stuff. I would be sweating bullets trying to take apart a 2K machine. Don't know if I feel better knowing the electrical components can be cheaply made =)
There were past posts on the usb port getting loose. Did you get a sense if that it easily fixable as a DIY?

[awisnia]

The usb port looks like a common surface mount micro-usb. DIY with the right tools.

[awisnia]

Judging by my photos being removed - you're not the only one not feeling good about knowing the components...

[GSF_Admin]

Sorry guys we have removed the pictures. Please do not post any copyright material. Thanks for understanding!

[awisnia]

I do not understand. I own the device - it's just photos of the same. Then again I don't know copyright law. if it was a painting or photo, I would understand that posting photos would be un-cool. If it was a book, I would similarly understand. Music or video, don't copy, understood as well.

But pictures of something I own, that broke when being used for its intended purpose, while in its "protective" case, for the purpose of getting some community help in fixing it??

I do not understand.

I've seen and used hundreds of videos and photos of the insides of stuff while trying to fix it - cars, appliances, electronics, iPhones...

YouTube would know, wouldn't they?

[TorchRedRob]

Yeah, that's not copyright. The IP protection is already in place with the patent. That said, historically it seems this forum is all about censoring at will (which is their right, it's their forum after all). Perhaps someone asked them to remove the photos and they obliged.

[awisnia]

Pretty much. Indeed within mod's right. While my congrats to the Rapsodo guys is absolutely sincere - it's because they've done so much with so little $$ in hardware. For them, I 'spose it's better to leave the inner magic a mystery. I was tempted to re-post at least the non close-up photos, to help others in efforts to protect their ST's (or just to get them working again) but understand the positions of the hardware manufacturers and enjoy the privilege of using this forum.

[aeroburner]

sorry awisnia, but I remember saying something like hand caught in the cookie jar..... its all cool I am sure your not the first or will be the last

[p3eps]

Upload the images to Photobucket, and just put a link to them. That way they're not stored on the forum, and no one can complain?

[simonwu]

Hello All, my skytrak is 4 years old, warranty gone. I would like to dissemble is and replace the battery. Can someone send me instruction or photos? Email simonwu63 @ hotmail. Com. Thanks a lot

[Architex]

Very cool. I did this with an IPhone years ago to change the battery myself. I was very impressed with how small and well designed a smart phone is. Pretty incredible.

[Vakev12]

Update: I did it - much easier than an iPhone. Removed the two screws on the bottom and the non laser side cover slides towards the front and off.

Photos below - pretty impressive design work. (Save for the battery that could have so easily been larger.)

i didn't find any obvious defects in mine - so it's off the repair guys.

Has anyone ever done it?
Mine got hit by a ball and will not read or stay connected.
Before I ship it off for repair I figured I'd have one of the techs at work have a peek inside for an obvious mechanical failure.

Did you ever find out what was wrong with it? Just happened to me yesterday.