castlephelps
USA
Asked
— Edited
Resolved by Morbeious!
The power plug you included in the Developer Kit does not fit into the power base. Reading on your forums this is a common problem? Pretty poor quality control... Leaving me wanting on Christmas Day really sucks...
Please send me either the correct plug or the correct power base - I am dead in the water with my brand new Developer Kit as I can't plug in power.
Overnight Fedex would be great...
Castle Phelps
168 Elm Avenue
Imperial Beach, CA 91932
619-846-3675
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Problem solved, I picked up Part #274-1568 Size L Coaxial DC Power Plug at Radio Shack.. Barrel sized was 5.0mm O.D. x 2.5mm solder-type terminal they didn't carrier the screw type.. But it works fine.. for those that end up in the same situation.. cost $3.49
Several customers recently have come right to the forum over using Contact Us to contact the EZ-Robot staff directly. Why is that? Why did you use the forum vs. Contact Us? I'm just wondering if the "Contact Us" is buried on the site perhaps?
If you need assistance straight from EZ Robot about a manufacture problem like the hardware not working properly or having something replaced that arrived broken or missing, in the Contact Us section click on the blue panel that says Product Warranty and you'll find an email form that will be sent straight to the company. It a holiday weekend so give them a little time to respond. IN the meantime take a trip to Radio Shack if you have one close and pick up the part that was suggested by Morbeious for a few bucks.
Tech support questions are directed to the forum because the community here can answer most questions and there are users all over the world, so you get faster response then asking just EZ-Robot staff, but we can't order replacement parts for you.
Alan
Before someone posts that the forum is for technical issues and to use the Contact Us page. I have already used the contact page and at the same consider this to be a technical issue.
Had I seen a post about this issue earlier this week I would have had a chance to go to my local RadioShack already and not had been caught off guard. Thank @castlephelps for your post. At least I am no alone in this.
So how do I verify that I didn't get the wrong controller?
I was not telling Castlephelps not to post the question here - nor would I imply you should not. I was explaining why he was re-directed here when he tried to use the Contact Us page and then selected tech support instead of warranty replacement as the contact reason. Posting here will get you community support like quick workarounds. Contact Us will get replacement parts shipped to you.
There have been several posts about this problem in the last couple of days which is why @Morbeious was able to recommend an inexpensive replacement part. EZ-Robots has acknowledged that this most recent batch of developer kits has the wrong size jack installed in the power base and are contacting the contract manufacturer to resolve it.
http://www.ez-robot.com/Community/Forum/Thread?threadId=6946
http://www.ez-robot.com/Community/Forum/Thread?threadId=6993
http://www.ez-robot.com/Community/Forum/Thread?threadId=6972
In the mean time, you can use the contact-us page and they'll send you a replacement part, or you can do what @Morbeious did, and get a suitable replacement at Radioshack. Going the Radioshack route would certainly be faster, but the part they have requires soldering since they son't sell a screw on plug in the right size.
Alan
I have provided customer/technical service for over 20 years and at some point I hope to see a company be proactive about an issue like this. After all, the email addresses of all those who ordered these kits are on record. How hard would it have been to send a 'warning' email advising us of the issue?
Just saying...
Well off to Radio Shack a robot is begging to be built!
I don't disagree, and in fact, that is exactly what was done when the first Roli's shipped out with the wrong kind of servo bits for the shoulders once it was brought to their attention.
I also agree with Dave that a bit better explanation on the Contact Us page may be useful. It has been covered in forum posts, but to expect all new users to read everything on the forum is not realistic.
EZ-Robots is a new and small company, and are learning some of these kinds of things as they go. I am sure by this time next year they will be through their growing pains and things will go much smoother.
Alan
The truth of this matter is that EZ Robot is a small company that has a small staff that is able to respond this type of problem that comes from people around the world. Sadly they cant be available around the clock to us. I'm sure that's why they rely on the people in the forums to take some of that load off them.
Good luck on your trip to Radio Shack. The replacement part requires the wires to be soldered. I hope you can get that part of it done.
Amazon Adapter with screw lugs
As for the connector, we are unable to send out an email because we are unsure who is affected by it. The issue with the incorrect connector was on a certain number of random units and we are only able to address those who Contact Us directly through the warranty Contact Us - as you have found. Of course, it was broken. I am fixing it now.
As for the forum being used for technical support - that is correct. I am a firm believer in sharing knowledge and not keeping it private. I have implemented a system which pays our community in ezcredit (robot dollars) to help each other. This is a replacement for a technical support salary and in turn, puts the knowledge freely available on our community forum.
For example, if you were to use the search feature then there would have been results to help you with the power adapter. I will also update the Contact Us page to instruct users on how to use the search feature.
If a search does not help the user, then posting on the forum is the next best thing - because it also provides our community the ability to earn robot dollars at the same time
Thanks for your feedback, it is helpful and provides insight toward improvements.
It's very exciting to recognize that we have thousands of robots out there, and only a few technical issues per day :). I continue to modify the website to make information easily accessible. There are less and less posts per day with issues. Not many recognize this, but there are website updates daily. Sometimes two or three times a day. Little tweaks here and there to tutorials, textual information, search algorithms, and a lot more
Try the Contact Us again tomorrow and it'll be working