Wio Terminal Hardware : Power Fail

A WIO Terminal seems to have failed on me… blank screen, no LEDs lit, case warm. It had been running quite happily for several days, monitoring two I2C grove sensors (ATH20 and Miltichannel Gas) and reporting via WiFi + Mqtt; powered from a standard USB wall-wart.

Disconnect sensors: no change.
Different power supply: no change.
Plug Wio terminal into computer USB reports “Power surge on USB port.”

I assume something in the Wio’s USB-5V power has failed. Any ideas for how to investigate / fix please?

Dave.

Hi @dave624,

What were the specifications (V and A) of the power adapter that you used to power the Wio Terminal at first ?

Best Regards,
Lakshantha

Hi @lakshan,

It’s a ‘TurboPower’ UK-AC (110-240V) USB supply, 5Vdc at 3A. I just checked that it works ok, first by charging a Huawei phone and then by powering a different Wio Terminal. Problem seems to be in the Wio Terminal itself.

Thank you, Dave.

I see. should be no issue with the adapter then.

Could you try to power the Wio Terminal using the 5V pin on the 40-pin GPIO header and check?

  • Pin 2 or 4 for VCC
  • Pin 6 for GND

Regards,
Lakshantha

Yes, I will try this but it will take me a couple of days to get a suitable 5V supply with current limit. I will post as soon as I have a result.

Thank you, Dave.

Great!

Thank you,
Lakshantha

OK, we’ve now been able to try supplying the Wio Terminal with +5V via pins 2/4 (and 6-gnd) from a bench supply with current-limit set as follows: -

  • At 750mA : current limit activated.
  • At 1A : current limit activated.
  • At 1.3A : the initial current draw was 1.25A, which reduced to ~1.13A over 10-20 sec. There was a ‘warm’ smell so we disconnected at this point.

The screen remained blank throughout, no LED activity and the unit did not boot.

Thank you, Dave.

Hi @dave624,

Thank you for testing. This seems like an internal hardware issue. Possibly power circuit failure.

Could you please send an email to order@seeed.cc or techsupport@seeed.cc explaining your issue? Seeed team will be able to help you with a possible fix for your hardware issue.

Best Regards,
Lakshantha

Thanks @lakshan, I’ve eMailed as you suggest.

Best regards, Dave.

1 Like