HD100 power supply repair

[Apap]

Originally Posted by Stuntman

Just double checking, though I think I know the answer.. one of my HD100's just began giving off a very high pitched sound.. whether off or on. The unit still works, but that sound is calling dogs from several blocks away into my yard (yeah, not really.. but it is very dog whistle-like).. Does this sound like capacitors that are near failure?

Thanks in advance!

Yes, that is one of the symptoms.

[toricred]

I replaced the capacitors and the remote works perfectly now. The front panel still doesn't work, but at least it can be controlled with a remote. The funny thing is that the old capacitors look picture perfect so I never would have guessed there was anything wrong if it weren't for this thread. I've still got two more HD100s to go, but now that I've got all the supplies I'll just wait for them to go bad before replacing their capacitors.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by Stuntman

Just double checking, though I think I know the answer.. one of my HD100's just began giving off a very high pitched sound.. whether off or on. The unit still works, but that sound is calling dogs from several blocks away into my yard (yeah, not really.. but it is very dog whistle-like).. Does this sound like capacitors that are near failure?

Thanks in advance!

Yes. Bring out the soldering iron and heat it up.

Gerry

[KarylFStein]

Originally Posted by toricred

I was looking at a desoldering iron from Radio Shack (pn 64-2060). It is a 45 watt iron. Would that be too much to use on this board?

That's what I used and had no problems. I bought mine 15+ years ago, but it's exactly same including the part #--must not be a product that gets refreshed . If I didn't have this in the basement, I'd probably try the desoldering braid since it's only $4. I'm no soldering expert, but it looks pretty easy to use, (found some tutorials I think on YouTube).

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by Stuntman

Just double checking, though I think I know the answer.. one of my HD100's just began giving off a very high pitched sound.. whether off or on. The unit still works, but that sound is calling dogs from several blocks away into my yard (yeah, not really.. but it is very dog whistle-like).. Does this sound like capacitors that are near failure?

Thanks in advance!

Yup. Time for a trip to RadioShack.

[dgeezer]

I just succesfully repaired my HD100 and thought I would share my method.
This is the first time I have ever done any soldering on a circuit board so maybe I was just lucky....

I bought these capacitors on ebay. I was thinking about going to radio shack and buying a proper soldering iron and some solder wick for removing the solder when I found this web page. It describes using a Weller soldering gun, which I already had and just heating up the solder for a couple seconds and pulling out the parts.

Well, I figured I've got nothing to lose so here's how I made the repair.
I bent each capacitor over to one side and wedged a small screwdriver under it. Then with the board upside down I applied the soldering gun to each lead for a few seconds while applying pressure with the screwdriver. A helper would have been great, but it really wasn't too hard. I could feel the solder let go on each lead and the capacitors popped out.

Four out of six holes were clear enough to insert the new capacitors. The other two I cleaned out by inserting a sewing needle from the top side with the board held upside down and applied a little heat to the solder blocking the hole. This allowed the needle to push through. After a few seconds the solder rehardened and I pulled the needle out leaving a nice round hole.

I inserted all 3 caps and heated the joints again for a few seconds and applied a bit of new solder. I trimmed off the leads with my fingernail clippers and I was done. I reinstalled the board and surprise. It Works!!!!

Again, I'm not recommending such a redneck soldering method to anyone else, but it did work for me.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by dgeezer

Again, I'm not recommending such a redneck soldering method to anyone else, but it did work for me.

It's funny you should say that, as the whole time I was reading your post I was thinking "Red Green Show"....

[Doubletop]

For the fatality records one of my HD100's failed yesterday so I replaced all the caps in both of my HD100's.

Apart from the lack of tolerance margin in the original capacitors the build quality of the HD100 makes the job pretty painless. There is plenty of copper on the pads so the risk of lifting them is relatively slight compared to most PCB's around these days (thankfully they aren't on the motherboard)

[goatboy22382]

Add another HD-100 to the death list, bought in june of 2008.

Goodbye sage, hello win7mce.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by goatboy22382

Goodbye sage, hello win7mce.

Is buying an XBox cheaper than fixing the HD-100?

[David G]

Well if he already has an xbox...

But that wouldn't be a replacement for me. I want a dedicated dvr-style interface right away, not have to wade through the horrid xna-or-whatever-it's-called that they call an interface.

[Skiier__Dude]

Add another dead soldier to the list.

[pez]

Count one more down and then back up after a 3 cap fix.

I may do a preemptive strike on the other HD100 before it goes.

-pez

...and thank all of you who posted here helping with the cheap fix.

[jreichen]

Add another one. Mine went out Jan 1 during the Rose Bowl Talk about bad timing. It lasted almost two years (2/27/08). It was behaving very strangely - turning off, not responding to the remote, etc - for a short time until it finally quit.

I might try to fix it at some point but decided it was time to break down and get the HD200.

[Skiier__Dude]

Originally Posted by Skiier__Dude

Add another dead soldier to the list.

Mine is now repaired but I fixed it with a spare power brick I had laying around:
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...54&postcount=7

[unkyjoe]

Fortunatly my unit failed a few months back and Sage repaired it for me and my only cost was the shipping.

The units PS failed again the other night, the same three caps, and it appears as rather than repairing it the first time they installed a new PS.

I have ordered the correct caps, but with a higher temp rating, I got them off of Amazon via Parts Express, in the meantime no TV We have an MVP in the bedroom but Mama wants her Charlies Angles DVD's to be viewed in the Living Room!

So I took a spare PC power supply I had laying around and hooked the 5V connection up to the PCB inside the HD100 and then put a HD on the other side so it has a load. Working fine so far and boy will Mama be happy tonight

[Qusix]

My second HD100 died today. I'll get the parts and see and if I can fix it this weekend.

[Tomahawk51]

FYI: My HD100 died 1 week ago. I was looking to do the DC Power Transformer bypass, but couldn't find a compatible "wall wart" in the house.

I then looked more carefully at the capacitor replacement instructions and decided to do that. It was super easy, cheap, and my HD 100 is working great now. I recommend it to anyone who has basic soldering skills.

Thanks to all of your posts. I feel very satisfied in fixing it myself and saving some dough.

[davefred99]

I just finished repairing my HD100 today. Same problems as everyone else 3 bad caps. I found some 1000uf /10v caps in my spare parts bin. they were a little bigger in overall size but just fit were the old ones were. Not sure if the size means anything or not. I would have used some higher voltage ones if I had them but didn't so I hope these last awhile.
Dave.

[Zippster]

Add another one to the list, I've been noticing the laggy remote issues for a little while now and was just blowing it off as weak batterys, my youngest walked by the entertainment center tonight and said "Dad the sage is giving off a really high pitched whine"

Off to rat shack this week for me too.