All well and good for the feedback here.... it stimulates further ponderances
But that's just it: I don't believe there is an actual metal plate under the gold plate. It looks to me that the gold plate is "painted" directly onto the circuit board. Why do this? It would eliminate any chance of an actual metal contact slipping out of place and shorting the unit or worse. One less piece that could come loose and lodge itself anywhere besides where it is supposed to be, and potentially be a danger. The downside of this method is the relatively quick wear of that spot.
Believe it or not, I've seen with mine own eyes that my failed unit had almost none of the gold plate contact left, and the new one had almost all of it intact. Also the components around what was left of the contact in my failed unit were dark: dark circuit board, dark circuits, dark solder blobs etc. It is my theory that when the gold plate area wears the unit struggles to get power from the battery to the correct place, and given the close tolerance to the circuits, a short forms, and then the hopper goes into "safe mode" to (usually) prevent catastrophe.
First of all, it would be great if we KNEW what the inside circuit board contact pad is in fact made from; that would end speculations... Granted this is your hypothesis on how that circuit board is constructed....
Secondly, I am assuming that the designers of the Grasshopper are also
users of the Grasshopper. Which implies (doesn't guarantee, but implies with a fair degree of certainty) that once in a while the guy who designed this thing looks inside at that center contact and says, in effect, "this sucks, gotta change from using shitty stuff to better stuff". Or he says, "Yep, it's fine even though it looks like it isn't".
But as an engineer who has made and designed ccircuitt boards, I can tell you without exception that there is no such thing as "gold paint"
as used in circuit board design. There is gold
plating of course... but, bear with me...
All of the general electronics industry starts with substrates ranging from ceramic to cheaper composites. These "boards" are supplied with a layer of copper, or gold that is applied by a process "molecular sputtering".
The circuit board is then acid-etched to remove the unwanted metal, leaving what we know as "the circuit board", as in, traces of metal lines and squiggles that have remained on the board after acid-etching the unwanted metal away.
The plating process happens afterwards; metal or metals (nickel, gold, silver) are added - through molecular plating - chiefly to prevent corrosion of the underlying copper trace (if a general circuit board), with an added benefit of conductivity. But the conductivity of the deposited metals is
secondary to corrosion
and oxidation resistance. In any case, plating does not "flake" (unless the process itself was inferior, in which case should be corrected).
I do not believe the "dark spots" are non-conductive. I have nothing to back that up other than that I have to give some credit to the engineering mind that developed the electronic design (It would be like a surgeon who never heard of sterilizing a scalpal before using it. I have to start with
that hypothesis. So I don't know the answer to the Dark Spots. I just cannot fathom a designer putting gold plate on a non-conductive piece of shit. It just makes no sense.
Finally, on the matter of that center contact; my hypothesis is that that center contact is a pedestal; a metal cylinder that protrudes from behind the rest of the real estate down there, and that the other side of that cylinder is directly in contact with and AS the voltage input of the heater.
Joe, I'm retracting my statement about the spinning contact. (went back and edited) I scrutinized and see that you are correct and it is fixed to the rotation of the temp ring.
As you also know, Scientific Method further involves testing the hypothesis, compiling and analyzing data, etc. Without those steps the observations can lead to an earth-is-flat kinda thinking. This was the intended gist of my previous post.
I will agree that the Fixes are more like suggestions that might work, might not. This seems to be the un-consensus. More track record would ease my thinking on their individual worthiness. I have no problem with folks describing what 'worked for them'.
And to take it really far afield, I think superstition and religion are of the same nature, in that neither has basis in replicable fact and both are based on unproven hypotheses.
Now, if my battery contact all of a suddenly took on the visage of jesus, that might be different...I'd better go check...
Good deal, Vap... There
are some items on the Fix thread that may be conjecture, and you're right; they're more like suggestions that have worked for enough users to want others to know about. But the most important reason the thread was created is that
finding these informative experiences in this forum is like a looking for a needle in a haystack.
If I'm having trouble with my hopper and I'm a newbie to it, I'm like, WTF can I do but come on here and ask what possible solutions are. And then someone goes, "Uh, it was talked about but good luck finding the posts". And thus the Resource was born.
Perhaps a disclaimer should be added that this Fix Resource is intended to offer possible remedies for troublesome operation and should not be considered a guarantee of resolution.
Personally, I think Jesus would like the thread. Because I KNOW he'd have had a hopper if he could have. Then again, he would never need to fix it since he was always touching it. 'Course.
)
