IWE1100A, IWE1100-A8S17XME, AE1100-A3S13XME
These access points have a heat problem and low quality caps which leads to early death. Because the units often have no visible bulged caps or damage they are likely to be thrown away without servicing. The unit might power from the 5v 2A input but power is dim or non functional through POE. Units that still function may lock up and require constant power cycling to keep functional.
The first problem was power through the 5v 2A port but no power through Power Over Ethernet. Since the 5v port and the POE board WL-POE01-04 are powering the same thing the POE board should be outputting 5v. Input voltage was good but the output voltage of the red POE board was as low as 2.1v and the power LED was dim or dark.
None of the POE output caps bulged. The drill holes and clearances are too small on these boards making the capacitors hard to remove and insert so I solved the problem by hand placing a good capacitor across the solder mounds of C8 and C9 which immediately made the power come on full.
C8 and C9 are a low profile 470uf cap and none of my standard size 470uf 16v caps would fit under the POE board. I improvised on site with a reasonable value cap that I had long leads on, a 2200uf 10v Rubycon MCZ and bent the leads around to the solder lands. The big cap fits where the two little capacitors were. POE C10 470uf 16v is the cap on the other side of the PI filter and should be replaced too. I didn't because I didn't notice it and the units are working fine. Rubycon 2200uf MCZ covers a lot of mistakes.
Noting that C3, C6, and C8 on the main board were the same brand (HY, Tracon) and size I decided to replace those too. C3 runs at 5.1v, C6 runs at 3.3v, and C8 runs at 1.8v. These capacitors going bad must be responsible for the lockups. Fortunately there is room to get any height cap in there so my standard 470uf 16v caps work fine. With the low voltages smaller caps work fine too. Caps less than 5v would be damaged if the 3.3v and 1.8v regulator circuits failed.
In this installation there were two revisions of InterEpoch units. Many of the earlier revisions failed and none of the later revisions failed. I replaced the 5 caps in all the earlier revisions and left the later revisions alone. With POE C8, C9 and main board C3, C6, C8 replaced these units went back into service and no longer locked up.
After a year two more units failed. An earlier revision unit failed when C3 220uf 63v Tracon on the POE board bulged and a later revision failed when the C8 and C9 POE output caps went bad without bulging. I had to order 63v caps so I did not fix these on site so I was able to get pictures. Both units are shown in the pictures but are indistinguishable. The manufacture dates are the same. The only difference is the product label. This means that both revisions have bad caps. The later revisions only fail later because they were put in service later. I replaced POE C10 in these two and unlike C8 and C9 a standard height 470uf cap can be slipped in if the solder holes are clear.
C3 220uf on the POE board is a heavily stressed cap because the resistor right next to it generates a lot of heat. C2 10uf 100v at the input side of the POE board runs at about 25 volts and is near that heat but I don't know what it does and I don't have any capacitors with that high of voltage so I haven't replaced any.
POE board failures
C3: 220uf 63v, failed by bulging, runs at 48 volts
C8, C9: 470uf 16v, failed without bulging, runs at 5v
C10: 470uf 16v, probably failed should be replaced, runs at 5v
Main board failures
C3: 470uf 16v, replaced because same as other failed caps, runs at 5v
C6: 470uf 16v, replaced because same as other failed caps, runs at 3.3v
C6: 470uf 16v, replaced because same as other failed caps, runs at 1.8v
I like these InterEpoch access points much better than any of the other brands in the installation: D-Link DWL-700AP and Xterasys wap257. I'd like to get rid of all the rest and use only these but I can't get them any more. They are probably all in the trash.
These access points have a heat problem and low quality caps which leads to early death. Because the units often have no visible bulged caps or damage they are likely to be thrown away without servicing. The unit might power from the 5v 2A input but power is dim or non functional through POE. Units that still function may lock up and require constant power cycling to keep functional.
The first problem was power through the 5v 2A port but no power through Power Over Ethernet. Since the 5v port and the POE board WL-POE01-04 are powering the same thing the POE board should be outputting 5v. Input voltage was good but the output voltage of the red POE board was as low as 2.1v and the power LED was dim or dark.
None of the POE output caps bulged. The drill holes and clearances are too small on these boards making the capacitors hard to remove and insert so I solved the problem by hand placing a good capacitor across the solder mounds of C8 and C9 which immediately made the power come on full.
C8 and C9 are a low profile 470uf cap and none of my standard size 470uf 16v caps would fit under the POE board. I improvised on site with a reasonable value cap that I had long leads on, a 2200uf 10v Rubycon MCZ and bent the leads around to the solder lands. The big cap fits where the two little capacitors were. POE C10 470uf 16v is the cap on the other side of the PI filter and should be replaced too. I didn't because I didn't notice it and the units are working fine. Rubycon 2200uf MCZ covers a lot of mistakes.
Noting that C3, C6, and C8 on the main board were the same brand (HY, Tracon) and size I decided to replace those too. C3 runs at 5.1v, C6 runs at 3.3v, and C8 runs at 1.8v. These capacitors going bad must be responsible for the lockups. Fortunately there is room to get any height cap in there so my standard 470uf 16v caps work fine. With the low voltages smaller caps work fine too. Caps less than 5v would be damaged if the 3.3v and 1.8v regulator circuits failed.
In this installation there were two revisions of InterEpoch units. Many of the earlier revisions failed and none of the later revisions failed. I replaced the 5 caps in all the earlier revisions and left the later revisions alone. With POE C8, C9 and main board C3, C6, C8 replaced these units went back into service and no longer locked up.
After a year two more units failed. An earlier revision unit failed when C3 220uf 63v Tracon on the POE board bulged and a later revision failed when the C8 and C9 POE output caps went bad without bulging. I had to order 63v caps so I did not fix these on site so I was able to get pictures. Both units are shown in the pictures but are indistinguishable. The manufacture dates are the same. The only difference is the product label. This means that both revisions have bad caps. The later revisions only fail later because they were put in service later. I replaced POE C10 in these two and unlike C8 and C9 a standard height 470uf cap can be slipped in if the solder holes are clear.
C3 220uf on the POE board is a heavily stressed cap because the resistor right next to it generates a lot of heat. C2 10uf 100v at the input side of the POE board runs at about 25 volts and is near that heat but I don't know what it does and I don't have any capacitors with that high of voltage so I haven't replaced any.
POE board failures
C3: 220uf 63v, failed by bulging, runs at 48 volts
C8, C9: 470uf 16v, failed without bulging, runs at 5v
C10: 470uf 16v, probably failed should be replaced, runs at 5v
Main board failures
C3: 470uf 16v, replaced because same as other failed caps, runs at 5v
C6: 470uf 16v, replaced because same as other failed caps, runs at 3.3v
C6: 470uf 16v, replaced because same as other failed caps, runs at 1.8v
I like these InterEpoch access points much better than any of the other brands in the installation: D-Link DWL-700AP and Xterasys wap257. I'd like to get rid of all the rest and use only these but I can't get them any more. They are probably all in the trash.
Attached Files