1820m Bad Caps - G-Luxon, Jamicon

[filterpunk]

Hi, folks. New to the boards, but been reading for awhile. I'm no stranger to bad caps themselves either, having had two PSU's and an AOPen motherboard crap out as a result of them.

I thought I'd bring to attention that the E-Mu 1820m audio interface is no stranger to them either. Mine was working well for almost 2 years, then out of the blue, started suffering from unusual amounts of humming and buzzing on every channel. The breakout box was losing sync with the PCI card as well, and eventually, I uninstalled it and set it aside.

More recently, I decided to look inside and surprise - two G-Luxon caps have are exhibiting bulging tops and have noticeably popped up from the PCB, and two Jamicon's don't bulge, but look unusually raised from the board. Despite this, I had one last go at getting it to run properly, but ran into the same issues. I opened it today to try and identify the components inside, and the affected caps look even more raised and awkardly bent to the side than before.

The caps used in this "pro" piece are:
G-Luxon LL85°C
G-Luxon LU105°C
G-Luxon LZ105°C
Jamicon SK85°C
Jamicon SS85°C
Jamicon SS105°C

Should I even try recapping it, despite having no soldering experience, or just cut my losses?

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: 1820m Bad Caps - G-Luxon, Jamicon

Definitely recap it, all you really need apart from new caps is a cheap $8 soldering iron from Radio Shack, some solder ($1.50) and some desoldering braid ($2). It's really easy.

Got any pics of the 1820m?

[filterpunk]

Re: 1820m Bad Caps - G-Luxon, Jamicon

Definitely recap it, all you really need apart from new caps is a cheap $8 soldering iron from Radio Shack, some solder ($1.50) and some desoldering braid ($2). It's really easy.

Got any pics of the 1820m?

Sheesh, only $8? I kept thinking it'd be more like $150 or something. I can take on the 1820m this weekend. I've got some oooold computer parts I could try practicing on, too.

As for pics, our digital camera also recently started acting up and I get nothing but a pink haze whenever I try to take pics. Maybe got dropped by accident during a trip, I suppose. I'll see if I can take some decent shots with the cellphone later tonight.

From the tutorials here, I assume I should try to find replacement caps with identical voltage/uF specs, correct?

[filterpunk]

Re: 1820m Bad Caps - G-Luxon, Jamicon

Thought I'd update my initial post for anyone who might be following along. Turns out there are other cheap crap caps used on the board, including 5 Teapo caps near the analog outputs. None of those show any noticeable issues, but I ran across several mini Jamicon and G-Luxon caps in that same area that look a little odd, like the casing is pulling away and warping towards the top.

The worst of the bunch is a G-Luxon LZ cap rated at 680uF 10v. I pulled it aside a bit to double check the voltage and the cap has popped up about 1mm, the casing is warped around the bottom edge, and there's a bit of electrolytic gunk spilled onto the board.

I'm looking into suitable replacements (Panasonic FC's seem to be a good match) right now, but I'm really hoping I can salvage it and that there's been no permanent damage.

As mentioned before, I'll see about getting some decent pics taken so I can better illustrate what I'm talking about.

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: 1820m Bad Caps - G-Luxon, Jamicon

Camera sounds like a bad CMOS sensor... is it a Sony by any chance?

Pana FC sounds good, and most stuff affected by crapcaps comes back after recapping.

Make sure you get the replacement caps in the right sizes, hopefully someone else on here can elaborate more on that since I'm not too good when it comes to dealing with that.

[filterpunk]

Re: 1820m Bad Caps - G-Luxon, Jamicon

Camera sounds like a bad CMOS sensor... is it a Sony by any chance?

No, Fuji. I may try opening it up at some point, just to see if the problem is something simple and obvious, but I won't hold my breath. My girlfriend wants a new camera, anyway :p

Pana FC sounds good, and most stuff affected by crapcaps comes back after recapping.

How do you mean that it comes back? As in, because the caps caused audible distortion, etc. that it'll still be an issue, or...?

Make sure you get the replacement caps in the right sizes, hopefully someone else on here can elaborate more on that since I'm not too good when it comes to dealing with that.

Yeah, I've been careful about that when searching. The width of the caps is the most important aspect, since there's a fair bit of room above the caps, so I should be OK as long as I don't go from like a 10 x 12.5mm cap to an 10 x 20mm or something crazy :p

[Krankshaft]

Re: 1820m Bad Caps - G-Luxon, Jamicon

I use a cheap 15 dollar micrometer to measure caps and set it to mm since thats all Panasonic uses on their datasheets.

I printed out and bound the FC series datasheet so that all I have to do is measure the caps in question and compare it to ones available from Panasonic.

Digikey has all of the FC series caps in all their standard sizes.

The Ratshacks disposable irons are good for starters.

I use a 20 watt Hakko Dash iron I know its not temperature controlled but its 30 bucks and is the lightest, smallest, and most reliable iron I've used yet.

For an extra 20 bucks you have a smaller more versatile iron with many tips to choose from (including ones for SMT soldering) and replacement parts should the need arise.

If you continue to solder check them out.

Speaking of cameras I had to replace the battery compartment on my Sony DSC-W1 since it wasn't staying closed. I thought loosen the single screw under the battery cover slide the old assembly out and the new one in. WRONG!

What a royal pain I had to disassemble the ENTIRE camera to remove it lens assembly, flash / high voltage assembly, main board assembly, selector switch assembly and all of those fragile ribbon cables that go along with those components.

Luckily I have experience from disassembling laptops. The point is if you've never worked with compact electronics like this then go slow.

One torn ribbon cable and you're looking at a new assembly on whatever its connected to.

Also if you go slow you won't have any BONUS PARTS left over when everythings back together .

[filterpunk]

Re: 1820m Bad Caps - G-Luxon, Jamicon

I use a cheap 15 dollar micrometer to measure caps and set it to mm since thats all Panasonic uses on their datasheets.

I printed out and bound the FC series datasheet so that all I have to do is measure the caps in question and compare it to ones available from Panasonic.

Digikey has all of the FC series caps in all their standard sizes.

The Ratshacks disposable irons are good for starters.

I use a 20 watt Hakko Dash iron I know its not temperature controlled but its 30 bucks and is the lightest, smallest, and most reliable iron I've used yet.

For an extra 20 bucks you have a smaller more versatile iron with many tips to choose from (including ones for SMT soldering) and replacement parts should the need arise.

If you continue to solder check them out.

Thanks for the tips, they'll probably come in handy. I'm still a little torn on whether to try repairing it myself or not, mostly due to the sheer number of caps on the thing, but it'll probably come down to cost. I emailed Jim Williams over at Audio Upgrades to see what he'd quote me to repair it and upgrade it. If it's too much, I'll spring for the stuff I need and give it my best shot.

I've got *some* experience with compact electronics, mostly mucking with laptop components and the like, but only a little. I build my own PCs, but that's a bit different than going at a tiny radial lead with a soldering iron :p

Either way, if I do nothing, i've got an expensive paperweight and if I try and fail, I'm no worse off than where I started.

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: 1820m Bad Caps - G-Luxon, Jamicon

I'd go for it, it's not very hard and it's immensely rewarding.

When I said they usually come back, I meant most electronics usually start working correctly again after recapping. In fact, you might say they're better than new... literally.

Also, some Fuji cameras suffered from a bad Sony-manufactured CMOS sensor, and I think Fuji will replace it for free. Call them up, it's worth a shot.

EDIT: Oh, also, some pics would be great if you can get them. A lot of the smaller caps (the ones without an X or a T, called a vent, imprinted on the bit of exposed metal at the top) don't usually need to be replaced, just the bigger ones.

[filterpunk]

Re: 1820m Bad Caps - G-Luxon, Jamicon

I'd go for it, it's not very hard and it's immensely rewarding.

When I said they usually come back, I meant most electronics usually start working correctly again after recapping. In fact, you might say they're better than new... literally.

That's what I'm hoping for. I've always been a hands-on, DIY sort of person. In fact, I started building my own PCs when I was 12 because my computer was acting weird. It was intimidating at first, but once I opened up the case, I realized that it wasn't quite the voodoo I'd once believed. I've yet to buy a pre-built system :p

As far as the recapping goes, I'm hoping I get comfortable enough with it to maybe replace the opamps, too. It uses JRC 2068's, which only have a 6V/μs slew rate. Wouldn't mind something a bit more responsive and would really prefer to not pay someone else to do it :p

Also, some Fuji cameras suffered from a bad Sony-manufactured CMOS sensor, and I think Fuji will replace it for free. Call them up, it's worth a shot.

Really? Sheesh, maybe I'll give them a call later today, thanks for the info.

EDIT: Oh, also, some pics would be great if you can get them. A lot of the smaller caps (the ones without an X or a T, called a vent, imprinted on the bit of exposed metal at the top) don't usually need to be replaced, just the bigger ones.

Yeah, I'd seen that about the smaller caps. I was thinking I'd at least do the larger G-Luxon and Jamicon caps. Most of the small ones are packed so tight that I lose my place just trying to write down the capacitance/voltage ratings.

I tried taking some pics with the cellphone, but it was a total crapshoot. Even with a bit of tweaking in Photoshop, they all came out a blurry, grainy mess. If I can get some time over the next week or so, I'm hoping I can borrow someone elses camera to snap some decent shots. The leakage isn't as noticeable as the old Tagan PSU's I have that went bad, but even a casual observer would be able to tell what happened.

Interestingly enough, I tried calling E-Mu's support line, which informed me that they only offer email support now. So, I tossed them an email and surprise, it's been a week with no response :p

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: 1820m Bad Caps - G-Luxon, Jamicon

So... any progress with the 1820m?

[filterpunk]

Re: 1820m Bad Caps - G-Luxon, Jamicon

So... any progress with the 1820m?

Sad to say, I haven't moved ahead with much quite yet. Our bills have been unusually high this month, and a family member just went through triple bypass surgery.

Hopefully, things will balance out again soon. I don't want to see another $103 electric bill :/

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: 1820m Bad Caps - G-Luxon, Jamicon

I see. I hope your family member gets better!

Just post back here whenever you make any progress.