HD100 power supply repair

[MeInMaui]

I thought I was going to be spared, but I guess you can add me to the list. I'll have to pick up some capacitors this week.

Aloha,
Mike

[srcurtis]

I have had 3 HD-100's die in the past 6 weeks, all around 20 months old.

Steve

[Deacon Crusher]

Just had my 2nd (of 3) 100s die. Sage repaired first free of charge. I just did the 2nd myself and it was smooth, easy, fast and cheap all the info around here has been really helpful.

Figure my 3rd will go one of these days.

[thatdude90210]

You know the old saying "if it ain't broke..." That's for other people. I grabbed a few Panasonic low ESR capacitors (thanks to JDK Ents for the tip) off of ebay, just in case. Having them gave me the itch to do this fix even though my HD100 is still working.

Didn't take long, the only issue was removing solder using the braids. I found it much easier to tilt the cap from the other side while melting the solder and then cleaning up the solder after the cap is gone.

One of the caps did have some bulging at the top so it could have been going, maybe. It's done and still working. And even if I did break it, I would have had an excuse to upgrade.

[Stuntman]

Just lost the 1st of my 3 HD-100's.. blinking red light.. bummer.. I'm hoping these are as easy to fix as everybody says.. I think I'll do all 3 at the same time, even though just the one has died.. so far...

[electron]

While my HD100 hasn't died yet, I'd like to have them just in case, so I am considering getting these, do you see anything wrong with them? They are pretty cheap, and were made in 2009.

Originally Posted by JDK Ents

The 2 failed electrolytic caps are part of the main filter in a switching power supply. A large amount of surge current passes thru them. This surge current raises the internal temperature of the capacitor, which causes the failure. The failure is a boiling of the electrolyte, raising the internal pressure, which is finally relieved by the capacitor "venting" - i.e., the seams along the top open up, some of the electrolyte is lost (look at the cover of your box for the brown residue), and the capacitor loses capacitance and filtering ability.

The correct fix is to replace the failed caps with ones specifically designed for switching power supplies. They could be called low ESR caps, or surge tolerant caps. Radio Shack caps will work for awhile but may fail again, so keep a stock on hand. If you want your fix to be bulletproof, use the correct parts. I haven't researched purchasing them (since I had a few in stock at home) but they are likely to be available at Mouser Electronics.

[Qusix]

Originally Posted by Qusix

Count me in also. Purchased on 6/2/08 dead on 9/28/2009.

I bought another on 6/24/08. I guess that one will be going soon too.

Repaired Mine Today. Took about an Hour. Cost about $10 for the the parts.

[electron]

Originally Posted by electron

While my HD100 hasn't died yet, I'd like to have them just in case, so I am considering getting these, do you see anything wrong with them? They are pretty cheap, and were made in 2009.

I ended up going with these, they are shipped from within the US, and you can't beat that price.

[crl]

I woke up this morning with the blinking red light on my HD100. It had also been exhibiting poor IR reception for the last few days but I chalked it up to a cheap (3rd pty) remote and didn't investigate until today. Ordered August 2009, this had been in operation for about 13 months. While we only "watch" it for an hour or so per day, we leave it powered up at all times.

For those of us in Canada, sending back to the US for repair is more hassle than it's worth. We also don't have Radio Shack here anymore so I decided to make a trip to my local electronics surplus (Sayal) and pick up generic 1000uf capacitors. I had to make two trips because the 35V ones were just way too big for the board, but the 25V ones I picked up are 13x20 and fit okay. While I didn't have the patience to order the recommended capacitors online, these did the trick and will hopefully last.

While many posts indicate this can be done in 10 minutes, I haven't soldered since high school. Including time researching online and two trips to the store I invested about 2 hours. I followed the tutorial and employed patience, especially while desoldering. Don't rush it, it's worth the satisfaction when it powers up again!

[stroths]

I have a HD100 in my guest room and it had the flashing light. Couldn't get it to work and found this thread and the walk through.

I am in no way an expert at soldering, but I have done my share soldering different things. One hint I can suggest is to buy the thin solder to make the job much easier and limit the amount of time you need to melt the solder. I personally use .022 dia that I picked up from radio shack a while back.

I would also suggest a low wattage soldering iron if possible. I use a 23w Weller myself which works well with the solder mentioned above. These combined lessen the likelihood of me burning the circuit board.

[hopper27]

Hello All,
I was in panic mode when the red light started to blink and then nothing. Man, am I glad to see a solution here. Gonna give capacitor thing a shot. Thanks for the info.

[popechild]

I had my HD100 "die" w/ the blinking red light also a few months back, and was grateful to find this thread. Did the repair myself, everything seemed to go smoothly, and it fired back up like a champ when I was done.

*However*, it quit working again now, and this time I'm wondering if it's something different. None of the capacitors are bulging or leaking like they were last time, and this time the red light doesn't even blink. The *only* thing I get when I power it on is a very faint "click" sound that seems to be coming from the same general area as the board the capacitors are on - I can't narrow it down any more than that.

I hear the "click" about once every 5 seconds on the dot. When I flip the power switch off, it will click 2 or 3 more times, each time getting fainter, and each time further apart. (So after I flip the power switch off, the next "click" happens about 7 seconds later, then the next one very faint maybe 10 seconds later. Kind of like the power is draining out of whatever is causing the clicking noise.

My question is, should I attempt to get new capacitors and try again, even those these don't appear visibly to have a problem, and the symptoms are different (ie. no blinking red light at all).

Do I still have the option of sending it in to have Sage fix for $39 or whatever it is, even though I've previously opened it up and "fixed" it myself, or does this void my ability to have them fix it?

Thanks!

[MrD]

I heard the click noise too. Interestingly it was only when the cable to the motherboard was disconnected. While it was disconnected from the motherboard and after the repair was done, I used my multi-meter too check the voltage.

While it was "clicking" the voltage went from 5.20 volts down to 4.79 volts. I have no idea what it was... I've never repaired an A/C power supply before, it was almost like something was discharging. The frequency was about 2 seconds peak to peak.

Once I plugged into the motherboard the cycling noise went away.

I did not use low esr capacitors, but I don't believe that would cause something like that.

[popechild]

If no one else knows what to make of my "no blinking lights, no bulging caps" problem, does anyone know about whether my having replaced the caps myself previously would void my ability to have sage repair the unit this time around?

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by popechild

If no one else knows what to make of my "no blinking lights, no bulging caps" problem, does anyone know about whether my having replaced the caps myself previously would void my ability to have sage repair the unit this time around?

1. No idea, did you maybe damage the power supply board when you replaced the caps?
2. No idea, this is a user board there fore we would have no idea if Sage would still repair the unit. I would contact Sage.

[popechild]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

1. No idea, did you maybe damage the power supply board when you replaced the caps?

If I did, I damaged it in a way that it started working again for a few months, then suddenly failed again, so it doesn't seem like it would be related, but then again I'm not all that familiar with these kinds of things.

2. No idea, this is a user board there fore we would have no idea if Sage would still repair the unit. I would contact Sage.

I know, just thought maybe someone would know from previous experience.

[Rob]

My olderst unit (but not the most used unit) failed over the weekend. I went and bought the 9 caps I need for my three units and did the repair on the one that failed. I've never soldered before, but it seems to have worked.

The unit is working again, but after soldering the new caps on and tuning the board over, I saw that I had left a gap between the new caps and the board. The gap is about an eight of an inch. Does anyone know if it is ok to leave it this way? Is there any electrical danger from this?

[jlmdxtv]

Originally Posted by Rob

The unit is working again, but after soldering the new caps on and tuning the board over, I saw that I had left a gap between the new caps and the board. The gap is about an eight of an inch. Does anyone know if it is ok to leave it this way? Is there any electrical danger from this?

Rob, I've seen capacitors not firmly seated on circuit boards plenty of times. I wouldn't worry about it.

john

[chiledog]

Originally Posted by popechild

If no one else knows what to make of my "no blinking lights, no bulging caps" problem, does anyone know about whether my having replaced the caps myself previously would void my ability to have sage repair the unit this time around?

Try unplugging the power board from the main. I believe the output should be 5V. If you are not getting 5V, then your power board is probably bad.

This post explains how to by-pass the power board.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...54&postcount=7

[ybrew]

Originally Posted by matterw

Early in the morning I heard beeps every five seconds coming from my stereo. It turns out it was my HD100. I was pleasantly surprised to find this thread and the step-by-step instructions by CocoonTech (see http://www.cocoontech.com/portal/art...hd100-extender). His instructions not only worked flawlessly, but only cost me a mere $7 in parts and tools. Total time to fix it was 15 minutes.

If there is anything I would add to his instructions it would be a short tutorial on desoldering to remove the bad parts from the circuit board. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcbezX8TrOU for a simple example.

Again, thanks for the great help!!

Regards,
Matt

Finally got around to fixing my dead hd100. I've got 2 of them and only one was dead.
Radio shack only had 2 caps, but only 2 of my caps were blown, so I just replaced 2.
Very easy, other than the desoldering. (i'll watch that video tonight).

I ended up just twisting/pulling the old caps off and heating the solder to make a small hole for the new leads.

Spent about 20 minutes and $8 total.