Audio Plug FRAGILE!

I love this new Rock Pi. Very powerful for such a small computer with 4gig ram. It is really fun to set up and learn more about Debian. My problem with is the audio jack. This unit is just soldered on 4 small pads on the board and a little bit of hot glue. Mine came right off after two uses and I was being careful with it. Every board of any device using such a plug has two or even four metal lugs from the housing that go right through the board and are bent over and soldered in place: they don’t come off. This audio jack must have been and afterthought by the designers and they just plopped it on top probably because of interference of traces in the lower layers of the circuit board. I hope the new version has rectified this problem. I contacted the company about it and the rep was very helpful. She asked me to send it back and show some photos which I did. She said they would send me another one when they got proof of my shipping which I also sent. I also asked her if she would send (email) me a shipping label for return postage. She did not know what that was. My shipping cost for this little 6 oz package was $23.50 USD.! We in the US cannot send packages or envelopes that are than 9.5" long most likely due to the large customs label that has to be attached to it. I costs CN about 35 cents to send it here… That’s because China postage is subsidized by the US and China. The folks at the manufacturer were very nice and helpful. I hope it dosen’t take another month to get this little gem back to me. I have high hopes and plans for this!

Yeah I think they know its bad and returns are a pain.

https://wiki.radxa.com/News/2019/6/rockpi-summer-updates-2019

ROCK PI V1.4

Wow…I still have no idea what kind of force you use to do this with Audio plug…

It wouldn’t take much force to pop that plug off. The issue is that the plug they selected initially was quite unsuitable, since one corner of it near the working end had absolutely no support, so it would take very little LIFTING force to break it off.

The newer revision has a ground ring over that end of the plug, securing it much more firmly to the board.

I mean… Why would you try to apply “lifting” force to something that you need to unplug? I do use this plug, but… I guess i don’t apply that “much force” when i try to unplug audio jack

Unless you have a robotic arm and everything is clamped, and its all very precisely controlled, forces will end up being applied in every direction. Normally you don’t go about your life treating everything like its super fragile and bound to break.

And evidently, radxa thinks the same way, since they have updated the design and are offering warranty replacements for this issue.

No, I just don’t go full bers on audio port. No so hard for some.

Well… You know, if your buyers try to break your stuff and require refund for this - you do make your stuff tougher.

I don’t know what “bers” is, but from a mechanical point of view, the older version is undeniably fragile. This is a fact, and just because you haven’t yet broken yours off, does not change this fact.

That from word Berserker. Like “Go full Berserker when you try to unplug”.

Maybe. Just maybe. It’s not yet, but still. When you use items without going full bers on them they tends to survive more

I just got the replacement board and this one has a much better audio output jack. It works great but I am still going to treat it gently!