Yesterday evening is was working with Remy Stroomer in my studio on our upcoming collaboration album. When we done and still talking about all kinds of stuff suddenly a loud bang occurred in the studio, followed by another one and it smelled very burned. So something broke down, but I could see right away what. Then suddenly I saw that all the lights on my RME Fireface 800 started flickering and it went dark. I immediately cut the power from it and unscrewed it from the rack. It was very hot to start with, which wasn't a good sign. When we opened it up. The first thing I noticed was an capacitor that seem to have exploded.
It was already late so I called it a night and started looking further this morning. Since we heard two bangs I suspected there must have been another capacitor that exploded. The first thing to look at was the power supply. And I found it quickly. I expect that the first capacitor that blew was in the 48 Volt circuit of the microphone input I used last week, since that input was already acting funny. Probably after that one blew it also took one out on the power supply that feeds the 48 Volt to the input. And my suspicions were correct.
After this I de-soldered these two broken capacitor and some other ones that looked suspicious and drove to the local electronics store. Unfortunately they didn't have two of the capacitors that I wanted to replace as a precaution, but they did have the rest and most important the replacements for the exploded ones. After carefully screwing the main board and power supply back in place I first put power on the power supply without the main board attached to it. I could measure some stable voltages on the connector so I reapplied them and everything seemed to work based on the led sequence that I'm used to when it powers on.
I left it running on the bench for a while and nothing got abnormally hot or anything so I decided to put it back in place. And guess what :) It worked perfectly again. It is always nice when you can repair something like this yourself. Feels very satisfying and of course saves an expensive repair from RME. If they would actually repair it in the first place. My experiences with them are not that good actually in that sense. OK I guess I can take a cup of coffee now to reward myself :) Back to music!
Posts
17 comments:
Which of the capacitors on yours blew? I think the two black ones near the front right of my PSU are bulging. I'm wondering if they're the same ones as yours. I need a replacement but am having a hard time IDing them.
Normally if they are bulged replace them. If you are not sure replace them all. They are nothing special. Just electrolytic capacitors. Look for the right capacity and any voltage higher than what is in the PSU is good. Do watch the polarity or you will have a nice bang :) If not sure find a local electronics guru. Good luck with the repair! Michel, Synth.nl
Yeah, I took a closer look. They're the 2200uF 16V ones at c16 and c17. I've seen someone else on the RME forums with damage to these. I'm hoping replacing these fixes it; otherwise, it's a $100 replacement PSU
9 out of 10 times recapping works on a PSU. So give it a try :)
Hi
I have the exact same capacitor blown on my power supply. What type of capacitor did you use?
Nothing special. Just what I could get that fitted in from the local electronics company with a bit higher voltage.
Thanks for the reply! I just realize I forgot to say that my capacitor was on the power supply (c26). I was wondering what the specs of this capacitor were, but I found the cover(it was blown right off)- it is 22uF-63 volts. Now I am trying to figure out which side is the positive, and which side is the negative. It looks to me like the side that is closest to the front is the positive side, as the positive side of another capacitor is connected to the same circuit. Would you know if this is correct?
I really appreciate your time.
I'm sorry I don't remember. Can't you tell from this picture?
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BjMASwA6OR4/T-Wgmd7Eq_I/AAAAAAAAD-8/oR1tng7cpKY/s1600/DSC_0063.JPG
And isn't it on the PCB itself when you desolder the Capacitor?
Michel
Thanks a lot!
I can't tell from your picture, cause the capacitor on your power supply also has its cover blown off. I'll check when I desolder it to see what it says on the base!
Yep, the negative side is marked on the circuit board. Thanks for your help- Next step is a trip to the electronics store...
Michel, repareer je incidenteel ook wel eens voor anderen? (uiteraard tegen een passende vergoeding). Ik heb ook een probleem met de PSU op mijn Fireface 800. Ik heb zelf echter compleet geen electrotechnische kennis en vrees meer kwaad dan goed te doen met een reparatiepoging.
Het spijt me, maar daar heb ik niet echt tijd voor. Je kan eens proberen via I4 Muzique in Eindhoven. Of www.reparatiewinkel.nl
Michel
Hh
Thanks for the useful blog post! It was good to find out that others had the same problem. I've referenced your post in my solution here:
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/11224770-post14.html
I'd appreciate if you add a link to the solution in your post or at least a list of all those capacitors, so that people can save an hour or so of painstakingly identifying each capacitor. ;-)
I'm very sorry. I didn't make a list at all. I just went to my local electronics shop and got new ones based on the voltages.
I mean that *I* made a list of them. It took me like an hour so I decided to share it with other people that need this info. Click the link I gave you to see it, I've listed all capacities there and you're free to copy them to your blog post if you want. :-) It cost me $14 to replace *every* capacitor (even the expensive, big 400 volt one) with Low ESR (that's a very good thing for power supplies) Rubycon and Panasonic ones. I don't recommend just replacing 1 or 2 blown ones, because those PSU boards have about 4-5 caps that like to blow and even all of them have a risk of blowing, so best to just cheaply everything (since your unit is open anyway) with high quality ones before more damage happens. :-)
Thanks for your blog post again. It was the 1st result I found when my Fireface had the stupid "blinking lights" issue. I was just listening to music when suddenly the sound froze (it went "BRRRZT") and the lights started blinking. Freaky shit, but your post calmed me down and put me in the right direction. ;)
Ah cool! Sorry I didn't read it good enough apparently :) Thanks for your contribution!
Post a Comment