Is my FortecStar Passion dead or just asleep?

[carlos65]

Replaced capacitor, booted up on the table but by the time I plugged it into the tv it was dead again, except for the blue light. Could be my dodgy soldering or I've damaged something else. Debating whether to have another go or just buy a Foxsat unit.

 

[paul_hants]

Many thanks Llew and everyone else who posted in this thread.

I came back from holiday, switched the power on and the Passion+ wouldn't work. Same symptoms, blue light on but no boot up. A quick google found this thread and C201 (3300uF 10V in my case) was indeed bulging. I do some electronics construction so I didn't have to even go to Maplin, a trip down the shed and furtle through the junk box found a 2200uF 10V (near enough). Five minutes later and normal service is restored. Much appreciated. Paul

The capacitor C201 in the power supply sometimes fails in these receivers after a time, leading to this problem.

It's a 2200uF 10V electrolytic, which you can either replace yourself or take to a TV repair shop (an expensive option).

 

[Lazarus]

And there was I listening to a Radio 2 rant about the general lack of craft that people have today!

Very well done.

Beats me why there are so many Satellite related bits of kit that use poor quality Electrolytics in the first place- I mean, they are cheap as chips (Well, condensers, anyway).

 

[paul_hants]

It wouldn't have been such a quick fix without Llew's post :-)

I have to confess to having another Passion in the loft (not the +) which also died. I was too busy at work at the time to do anything with it so went and bought another one... Must dig it out and give it some TLC too :-) If it is the same problem then it's quick to fix. At least the power supply in the Fortec is on a separate board and very easy to get at to repair (once the lid is off, the cables unplug and five screws including the one on the rear panel fix the PC.

Electrolytics in satellite receiver power supplies are notorius for failing. I guess the spec looks OK on paper but the designers don't take into account the local heat. C201 is indeed sandwiched between a couple of heat sinks..

Regards

Paul

 

[Llew]

It wouldn't have been such a quick fix without Llew's post :-)

I have to confess to having another Passion in the loft (not the +) which also died. I was too busy at work at the time to do anything with it so went and bought another one... Must dig it out and give it some TLC too :-) If it is the same problem then it's quick to fix. At least the power supply in the Fortec is on a separate board and very easy to get at to repair (once the lid is off, the cables unplug and five screws including the one on the rear panel fix the PC.

Electrolytics in satellite receiver power supplies are notorius for failing. I guess the spec looks OK on paper but the designers don't take into account the local heat. C201 is indeed sandwiched between a couple of heat sinks..

Regards

Paul

Good to hear you've got it working again Paul. Junk box to the rescue

Got to raid mine sometime to repair a couple of Echostar AD3000 power supplies - tying for first place with the Passion for nasty PS faults 'O'

 

[foxoseven]

My box died last night at 18:31 after it had worked fine if a little quirky for over 2 years. This thread identified the problem within minutes so I opened up the box and sure enough the capacitor C201 had a bulging top. I popped out to the local vendor this morning and bought 2 (so I'm ready for when it blows the new one) at 69p each and replaced it, even with my limited electronics experience the system was up and running again by lunchtime.

Thanks to all who posted advice on this thread (my capacitor was 3300uF 10v 105 deg C variant)

 

[Lazarus]

Excellent: an awful lot of electronic kit could probably be "lifetime-enhanced" easily and cheaply. Shame so many just bin stuff and replace with new at the first sign of trouble.

 

[PaulH66]

Looks like I may have the same problem - blue light on but no display (well very faint first 3 asterisks).
Will take a look.

 

[Llew]

That's a typical symptom of the aforementioned problem. Off with the cover and check the electrolytics for any bulging cases.

 

[PaulH66]

Yes, its the C201 cap that is bulging. Mine is a 3300uF 10V. I popped into Maplin but they didn't have one, but they had a 2200uF 16V.
Does anyone know if its the same PSU (my PSU PCB is labelled F101 and T2AL 250V) as those that work with a 2200uF 10V and they just upped it to 3300uF or whether this is a new design and I need a 3300uF?
Frustrating, I could try the 2200uF now or mail order a 3300uF and wait a week without HD broadcasts... :-(

 

[Llew]

No, they're different power supplies. You could do a temporary fix by adding a 1000uF in parallel with the 2000uF one, but you would have to extend the leads to both to allow them to sit above the existing components - if you have enough room for them. Use sleeving on the leads to prevent them touching any other components.

 

[paul_hants]

Hi Paul, Llew and everyone else

Maplin have reduced their component stocks a lot in recent years. So much so that I don't usually bother any more even though there is a store only three miles away. Over the years I've spent a lot at Maplin. But no more unless I really have to. Add in their very high prices, long waits at the component counter and disinterested staff who stand around talking to each other and ignore you. To top it all a couple of the staff at the local store are clearly very reluctant to go near a bar of soap and have serious BO. It's a sad state of affairs and I wouldn't be at all surprised if they were a retailer that went under in the current economic climate.

I now buy components from small independents who attend amateur radio rallies (ham fests) but also a lot from ebay. I just did a ebay search for 3300uF and quickly found Panasonic branded 10V, 3300uF, 105C rated electrolytics, two for £1.80 including postage. But there are several choices.

Good luck with the fix Paul.

Regards

Paul

 

[Llew]

Hi Paul

I echo your comments about Maplins' overpriced goods, but at least the customer service in our two stores is reasonably fast and most of the staff are quite helpful..

Luckily we have an excellent little components shop that has been trading for many years a couple of streets from where I live. H Gee started there just after the War, and it has been a magnet since then to students and locals for anything and everything electrical.

It's a tiny shop, but stuffed full of boxes of gear, some of which seemed to have been there for decades. It's where I first bought my diodes etc. to make a crystal set back in the 50's.

Sadly Harry Gee died a couple of years back, but happily his extremely helpful and knowledgeable wife and sons still keep the shop going.

_http://www.cambridgeonline.co.uk/reviews/21938/

 

[PaulH66]

Well I have done a bit of a Heath Robinson temporary fix with a 1000uF in parallel with the 2200uF and my Passion+ is back in action.
Thanks Llew and Paul for your comments and I'll investigate that in future, but would love a local store that did actually have stock when you turn up!

 

[Llew]

Good to hear you're back in action PaulH. Sometimes a little lateral (parallel?) thinking does the business ;)

 

[paul_hants]

Hi Llew. Fascinating. I hadn't heard of H Gee before. It sounds great. More power to his family for keeping the shop going. I guess you must know Birketts in Lincoln? That's a great place but too far away to get to visit very often.

Strangely, although I don't know H Gee's, I do know Sim Lim Tower which is mentioned in the article. I had a period of about 8 years where I used to travel several times a year in Asia for work. Component shopping was always high on my list during time off and I'd come back with bags of generic components like connectors that I knew I'd need at some point. Yonsang Electronics Market and Electroland near Seoul in Korea was another amazing place. A whole district of specialist component shops. In Electroland the ground floor had small units, packed floor to ceiling and selling just a single type of component like resistors or capacitors. Then as you went up the floors there was domestic stuff, Hi Fi etc and at the top you could buy a whole broadcast TV studio! Hong Kong was also very good for component shopping. Component prices were far lower than here, and the parts were identical, I do mean identical, to the ones in Maplin. I guess having tasted that, Maplin would never be the same again!

This gives you some idea:


_http://dangerousprototypes.com/2012/03/13/global-geek-tour-yongsan-electronic-component-stores/


Regards

Paul

 

[Lazarus]

Wow, Birkett's still going?

I used to go there regularly whilst still a schoolboy in Grantham (Errm forty odd years ago!) and the Proprietor was getting on a bit then - must have either kept the business in the family or else sold the name.

Could get anything at all form a true Aladdin's Cave - but my word that hill was steep.


PS: I've disabled the live external link above - we don't allow them on the Forum

 

[Llew]

Never got as far as Birkitts, most of my trips were to the Smoke for browsing around Tottenham court road etc.

Several of the trips I made to the Far East in the 80's gave me a chance to check out some of the shopping areas in HK, Singapore and Japan. I can't recall going to Sim Lim Tower in Singapore, perhaps it wasn't there when I was there. The Orchard area was mostly large stores if I remember, nothing particularly cheap, as was Nathan Road in HK, but I did pick up up some interesting bits and pieces from one or two shops off the main road.

Akihabara in Tokyo was great for window shopping, too pricey though because of the exchange rate when I was there. It was an eye-opener to see some of the computer displays; they were far in advance of anything I had seen back home, I was still playing with my BBC B computer!

 

[plumbman51]

Hi My passion plus has just stopped wotking completely no deisplay or blue light. Looking at the power supply and measuring out put voltages shows they are all down.

About 328 volts dc measured across the large electrolytic so that looks ok

Any ideas

 

[stickerlee]

I have the same problem as described with only blue power light coming on. Power supply had 3 slightly domed caps 2 of them were C204 & C206 (1000 10v) and 1 C201 (2200 10v)
I have a capacitor meter and the 3 of them were faulty. You can get these on line at Bitsbox.co.uk for £2.30 including postage. I am waiting for them to arrive and will keep you informed if these caps when replaced solve the problem.