Anyone any good at soldering? - Help required!

[Mr Incredible]

I have a poorly sick Pinnacle Showcenter which is showing symptoms as described in this PDF of how to effect a repair.

http://www.sewwhat.gb.com/paul/Showcenter_not_responding_to_remote.pdf

I neither have the tools nor the skills to remove the capacitors and replace, particularly seeing there appears to be some creamy/whitish gunk spread between the capacitors and the board.

Is there anyone here who would like to help me out with a little project to repair it?

 

[Kieron]

Bob,

Pop it into Ricardo at CTC just off the Crescent. He's a whizz at stuff like this.

 

[RBZ5416]

If you can't find anyone local, I can do it for you if you don't mind dropping it in the post.

 

[nheather]

Where are you based.

Happy to do it for you.

Home - Horsham, West Sussex
Work - New Malden or Frimley, Surrey

The gunk is just a glue to provide physical support to large components - just cut it away (or slice it) with a scapel or modelling knife.

Have you got a source for replacement capacitors - it can often be a challenge finding replacements of the same voltage rating, temperature rating, capacitance and dimensions. The first three are usually okay but finding something the right physical size can be a problem.

When electroytic capacitors go (which is a very common cause of many equipment faults) there is often signs of bulging of the scored metal on the top, or in extreme cases leakage at the bottom.

Cheers,

Nigel

 

[Mr Incredible]

Thanks Nigel.

TBH I hadn't looked further than the PDF I linked to in my first post. Sure, it appears the larger capacitor's replacement is a bit bigger, but the guy appears to have squeezed it in.


After on the left, before on the right.

New caps on the left.

Apparently these were used.

2 x 1000uF 10V (both lower capacitors - these seem to be the worst culprits for failure) , and mine have a bulging top to them!
1 x 22uF 400V (top left)
1 x 1uF 50V (top right)

Kieron, I look into CTC! Wasn't sure what was local. May be an easier route than posting the damn thing off!

Let me look into this before availing myself of the other offers! Cheers guys!

 

[pandemic]

The manufacturers of capacitors hugely vary in quality. Those green ones look like they are manufactured by Rifeking (and/or CapXon) - they don't have a good reputation for quality. The black ones look like similar Rubycon caps, but I don't think the ones in the picture are. Rubycon have a good rep. and a lot of brands try to 'imitate' them.

 

[8ace]

yup capXons are rubbish had a thomsom sky Hd psu fail had to replace the caps on that as 30% of them had either burst or had bulging tops, it made a squealing noise too.

 

[nheather]

Yep, physically bigger capacitor will work just as well (better in fact) as long as you can fit them in.

In fact over-small capacitors is often a problem - especially on things like computer motherboards.

The manufacturer often contracts the capacitor manufacturer to make high value capacitors smaller than they would normally be so they can be squeezed into a smaller area. Trouble is making them smaller is compromising other qualities such as the ability to withstand heat - they last beyond the warranty period though.

Cheers,

Nigel

 

[Mr Incredible]

Update: I took Kieron's advice (he lives just a couple of minutes from me) and took it to the local computer repair place. Sure it cost me £15, but I've put it back and all is well. So thanks for the offers of help. I may take you up on it on another occasion!

 

[Mr.D]

I'm quite keen on the whole idea of diy upgrading consumer electronics . Replace all the large components (caps , resistors, opamps , valves, sockets, pots, transformers ...hell even swap out the lcds for your preferred colour choice).

Got a musical fidelity headphone amp with pretty much the only original parts being the case and the breadboard and it sounds much better than stock.

Panasonic dvd player with additional caps soldered in to stabilise the sync on the rgb output.

Regularly have to open up and resolder broken battery connections and IR leds on remote controls.

Hate the way that manufacturers issue stern warnings about "user-servicability" when they deliberately manufacture equipment with a limited lifespan for the sake os saving a fraction of a penny on a capacitor.

Then you get charged 100quid for some guy with a soldering iron to replace a 5p component in a bit of kit he doesn't even have to fault find as its well known what the design problems are on the kit.

This is one reason I've moved to HTPC for most of my sources , if that breaks I can easily fix it myself.