HD100 power supply repair

[rnewman]

In my case it was just swollen electrolytic caps.
Replaced them and all was fine.
Easy for me because I was a TV repairman back in the 60’s and been designing electronic products since then.
I believe the link someone gave me shows how to replace.
IF that is your problem and you can’t repair or get someone to repair, I can replace for you, for free, if you pay for shipping both ways. I live in Buffalo NY

[bastafidli]

It happened to me as well. Sage repaired HD100 broke again. I didn't have time to send it back again so I repaired it just myself. Got the tools/parts in Fry's/Radioshack for about $30 total and even though I didnt solder for 25 years it took me less than hour to have it all working and left me with great satisfaction.

The repair is so simple with all the instructions available here you should be able to easily do it yourself. Also the problem is so easily fixable, you should not have problem selling the HD100 e.g. on eBay if you dont want to do it.

[stuckless]

I repaired mine using a 5V dc power adapter that I had lying around the house... and while the unit boots up ok... networking no longer works. I've tested the network cable, etc, and it's all fine. Has anyone else had issues with the network AFTER a fix like this??

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by bastafidli

I
The repair is so simple with all the instructions available here you should be able to easily do it yourself. Also the problem is so easily fixable, you should not have problem selling the HD100 e.g. on eBay if you dont want to do it.

Before I decide which way to go, I'd like a little more clarification on what tools I need (mainly, for desoldering), and how to desolder. The CocoonTech guide was a little vague on those two items.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by reggie14

Before I decide which way to go, I'd like a little more clarification on what tools I need (mainly, for desoldering), and how to desolder. The CocoonTech guide was a little vague on those two items.

I've never had any training on desoldering. I've never really grasped the use of desoldering braid, possibly because my iron isn't high enough wattage (i.e. get hot enough).

Basically my method was to grab the capacitor with needle-nose plyers and heat up the solder until it is liquid and pull the leads out. Make sure you note the polarity of the capacitors as you're taking them out. Then I used desoldering braid to clean things up so that the hole is exposed enough to get the new leads through. Use flux core solder to connect the new leads and a nail clipper to trim them.

[sic0048]

To be honest, I didn't even desolder any of the units I've fixed (4 at this time). I simply used the "pin" trick where you heat up the solder enough to pull the old caps off. Then heat up the solder again and take a straight pin and stick it through the solder. Take the heat off the solder and move the pin up and down (staying in the hole) until the solder hardens. The solder will not stick to the pin and you can pull it out. This leaves you with a nice round hole to stick the new caps into. Then simply reheat the solder and it will flow around the new caps and make a good connection. You can always add a tiny bit of new solder as well.

Works just fine for me and it is much easier than trying to suck up the old solder and adding new.

Perhaps this method could eventually lead to failure, but it has been working just fine for months now. Plus I can always "fix" it again if I need to.

[rnewman]

You can heat up the each lead and rock out.
But be VERY careful to keep heat on pin that is being pulled out.
I often add solder first to keep it molten.

You NEVER want to pull off trace on top side of pc board under cap.
Then it is almost impossible to fix. But there are ways. :-)

[paulbeers]

Had my First Dead HD100 last night. Chirping from the unit with a flashing red light. I bought two back in March of 2008 and one in August of 2008. The one that died was the August 2008 one (although I did replace the capacitors in on of my HD100's just to see if I could do it). Guess I know what I am doing tonight!

[sic0048]

Originally Posted by rnewman

You can heat up the each lead and rock out.
But be VERY careful to keep heat on pin that is being pulled out.
I often add solder first to keep it molten.

That is exactly how I do it. Sorry if I wasn't more clear. I keep the heat on the pin until it pulls out completely. It does take a rocking motion as you generally cannot get enough leverage to pull it out at once. Remember, you are trying not to burn yourself with the soldering iron either.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by sic0048

That is exactly how I do it. Sorry if I wasn't more clear. I keep the heat on the pin until it pulls out completely. It does take a rocking motion as you generally cannot get enough leverage to pull it out at once. Remember, you are trying not to burn yourself with the soldering iron either.

This is the exact process I use (and just used). Only took me 20 minutes to replace the caps....

[merneric]

This is what I use to desolder:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...LAID=107592455

1. Let the desolder iron heat up
2. Squeeze bulb
3. Apply to circuit for a second or two, let go of bulb, and voila!

[reggie14]

Well, I tried the repair. This was my first time trying to solder/desolder anything. I found desoldering much harder than I expected, and I think I damaged the board a little bit during the repair. I found someone at work that used to do solder stuff years and years ago in the national guard, and was told that it would be easy just suck the solder with the desoldering braid. I'm not entirely sure what I was doing wrong, but I had an awfully hard time actually melting the solder with the braid and the iron, and it frequently got stuck to the board.

But my HD100 seems to work fine now. If it dies on me again I might try the external power supply method.

[Clift]

Reggie why don;t you do the external power adapter mod? It's solderless.

Nevermind. I hadn't checked this thread in a while and I thought your previous post on the previous page was the last one. My bad.

[Mark57]

One more HD100 with two blown caps. I'm off to get parts and fix it myself thanks to the great info on this board.

Update: 30 minutes + $4.77 for 3 caps from Radio Shack and it's fixed! Sweet!!

[jerryb33]

Originally Posted by jerryb33

One of my HD100 bit the dust. Was prepared with the Caps. No issue replacing them.
All I can remember it was the second batch of units that came out.

The second one died 7/19/2010. Change caps (5 min.) and all is well.
First one died 1/27/2010

[spence]

G-kid's fired SageTV's HD100 (my only one, everything else are 200's) up last night in the family room and there was the smell of smoke! Opened it up and the caps had popped open to let the smoke out and blacken the inside.

I'm retired from this stuff and looking things over decided to just put in a new power supply from

MPJA, Inc. 17635PS 5V, 2A MINI ASTRODYNE BOARD SUPPLY ~$6 plus shipping

Hay its overkill but it will likely out live me ;(

Spence

[jmv]

ordered on 5/17/2008...died 7/15/2010. Daughter heard the buzzing ahead of time but didn't mention it Used the radio shack repair method and maybe 30 min all told from time of getting thing unplugged to time getting it back to the SageTV menu...

[dadof4]

One of mine took a dump today. All the caps look fine but I replaced them anyways. Problem rectified. This forum can be, and is very helpful.

[rnewman]

About 2-4 years ago there was a rash of bad electrolytic capacitor from one or more suppliers in SE Asia. It affected some of the most trusted suppliers.
Not sure if they got from same manufacture.
BUT
It affected many LCD monitors and HDTV even today as well as other electronics. Put some companies out of business (was told 2nd hand).
Ray

[bcjenkins]

The guy at Radio Shack thought I was trying to fix a Samsung TV.

Thanks for the pointers here and Cocoon Tech for the write up, I fixed 2 HD100s yest for under $20 including the soldering iron.

B