TP-Link TL-PA211

[sebr]

Four of these powerline adapters failed within about a year - just totally dead from one day to the other. As they were cheap I decided to crack them open (there's a screw behind the label!) and do some troubleshooting as I expected bad caps. And as you can see I wasn't wrong at all: the whole device is equipped with evil Ltec caps and ALL of the failed units had the 1500uF / 6.3V one bulged. Also on two units I located a brownish area on the case right above the primary cap, which indicates its running very hot too. So I highly recommend to change the primary cap too besides the three others. I used Panasonic FM + FR Series for them and Rubycon BXF for the primary cap. All units are back to life!
Also the soldering on the boards should be inspected: I found on small SMD cap of a filter stage near the input only soldered on one side, the other pad wasn't even tinned. On the other unit there was a cold solder joint on the transformer.

PS: watch the dimensions of the replacements you get as there isn't much room to fit other caps!

[momaka]

Re: TP-Link TL-PA211

Congrats on the fixes! Keeping more junk out of the trash is always good .

[drklaw]

Re: TP-Link TL-PA211

How do you to lift up the PCB from to replace the CAP? Thanks in advance.

[sebr]

Re: TP-Link TL-PA211

Just pull with a certain amount of force on one of the yellow caps near the two connectors at the top of the PCB. You can also try squeezin together the black isolation material and pull it straight out with the PCB.
For reinstallation you have to desolder the two metal contacts, clean of the solder from them and PCB, put them back in place (watch the small plastic tabs), insert the isolation material + PCB and resolder them with lots of solder.

[BorisTheSpider]

Re: TP-Link TL-PA211

I realise this post was a while back, but any chance you can remember the sizing and/or model numbers for the replacements you used? I just brought a pair of these TL-PA211s and might change the caps out as a precaution.

thanks

[momaka]

Re: TP-Link TL-PA211

The 6.3V 1500uF caps and the high voltage cap look like 10 mm diameter while the 16V 470uF are likely 8 mm. As for height - if it fits in the case, it's fine. Just make sure to measure the case height first.

[sebr]

Re: TP-Link TL-PA211

I replaced them with PANASONIC EEUFR1A152.
They have the same diameter, a bit taller and higher voltage rating. Perfect replacement

[alkaril]

Re: TP-Link TL-PA211

In my model Ver. 1.2 power leads are soldered to board. So, to extract it, I have to unsolder leads, then solder again after capacitors replacement.
I have both capacitors hot:
-Primary 10x400V(10x16mm). It is really small. I have 10x400V 12x22mm. It will be mounted parallel to PCB, oeer U4 chip and glued. It my be hot from HF magnetic field of transformer, as it have aluminium body. Putting it far from transformer will lower transformer energy losses as well.
-Secondary 1500x6.3V will be mounted parallel to PCB as well, over Atheros chips, and glued. This will free space for 470x16V and 220x16V capacitors when both of them replaced for capacitors with biggest size. Hope this will fix adapters overheat problem.

[Uranium-235]

Re: TP-Link TL-PA211

check the fet temps make sure its not the transformer

[sebr]

Re: TP-Link TL-PA211

In my model Ver. 1.2 power leads are soldered to board. So, to extract it, I have to unsolder leads, then solder again after capacitors replacement.

All versions (1.0, 1.1 and 1.2) have metal tabs soldered to the board. But i found it easier if you go that way: bend both sides of the black plastic insulation towards the center of the device. Then take some pliers, grab the black plastic insulation (first on one side then the other) and pull out whole plastic with the board and the metal tabs. Then you can desolder the metal tabs, re-insert them in the case and then, after you changed the caps, put the board back in and solder them back to the board.
Thats how I fix these adaptors. It's tricky to solder the metal tabs without burning some components or the case so be careful.