Hello:
Due to a mistake one of my friends connected an external 6V source to a Pro mini board with the plug in inverted position, i.e. 6V to GND and GND to VCC. It was only on for 3 or 4 seconds and I noticed something very hot around the voltage controller. After this the board doesn't seem to work well (I can't upload sketches). My question is: Could it be possible to fix it? Nothing seems to be burnt and I thought the voltage regulator could be fried, but when I power the board again the power led works, so I think the problem could be on the ATmega then.
Could anyone confirm me this?
Thank you very much for your help.
Rafael
Isolate where the heat is coming from and that will indicate the failed component.
Keep in mind that damaged components don't always fail immediately.
Hello:
But to do that I must connect the power again the wrong way, and that could damage other components. Am I right?
Regards
Rafael
Why would you connect power the wrong way?
Maybe I did not understand you well.
I noticed the hot component when the power plug was wrong. After that I disconnected it. Now, when connecting the power plug well or FTDI-USB, nothing gets hot but I can't upload sketches.
Around the voltage regulator on my board I can only see some smd components that seem to be capacitors, resistors or LEDs. I do not know if any of these are causing the malcfunctioning or it is the Atmega. I'm not an electronics expert but I reviewed the Arduino Pro diagram and there are very few components that can be broken.
Regards
Rafael