3COM OfficeConnect Dual Speed Switch 5 plus

[Per Hansson]

A simple 5 port switch from 3COM, has these cap brands in it:

Rifeking
R.K
Gloria
Canicon

There is only one Glora cap in it and guess what; it is bulging... (Good thing the rest is of so good-name brand )

As can be seen on the pic it's a 6,3v 1500uF part

[willawake]

Re: 3COM OfficeConnect Dual Speed Switch 5 plus

you got 4 majors there, one bulging, one near the bulger, 2 near the coils and what is that near the power cable socket? if they are 1000uf and above best replace them all. 3com was using crap in their officeconnect.

is the unit making a fizzing sound?

[Per Hansson]

Re: 3COM OfficeConnect Dual Speed Switch 5 plus

The one right behind the bulging cap is a Rifeking, the two near the coil are also Rifeking, all are 1000uF 6,3v

The one at the very back is a Axial Canicon 470uF 35v cap

Since these are of different brands than the one that actualy is bulging I'm gonna hold off swapping them out, I'm also gonna check if this bugger has more than 1 year warranty before mocking with it

The unit was making a high-pitched noise but it was the coil that was making it, they did not put any glue on it so that was the reason...

[Chris1992]

Re: 3COM OfficeConnect Dual Speed Switch 5 plus

rifeking and canicon are also crap. if the unit's warranty is out, I'd suggest you recap it, willawake has done so successfully. Don't bother replacing anything under 470uF.

[willawake]

Re: 3COM OfficeConnect Dual Speed Switch 5 plus

yeh i did 4 switches. very easy to do, something nice to learn on.

even if the units were still in warranty i would have recapped them. i would not expect 3com to provide a new board with great caps on and avoids the same problem down the road.

if you want lifetime warranty : HP Procurve

[Per Hansson]

Re: 3COM OfficeConnect Dual Speed Switch 5 plus

Yea, we have serveral dozen HP Procurve 2524 switches at the place I used to work for... They just kept on running and the price is very nice for the management features you get...

Saw that there is a small 8-port switch made by HP for only ca 50$ (HP Procurve 408)

Does anyone know what make of capacitors HP uses in these switches?

[willawake]

Re: 3COM OfficeConnect Dual Speed Switch 5 plus

if it is lifetime warranty then its hardly gonna be crap caps. probably nichicon like the lower end cisco units i have seen.

[willawake]

Re: 3COM OfficeConnect Dual Speed Switch 5 plus

at home i am using a Zyxel GS-1008 8 port unmanaged rackmount gigabit switch, it is a great switch but full of potential badcaps. i dont mind really, easy to recap switches http://www.techmati.com/reviews/gs1008/index.htm
works great with intel pro1000mt cards

at work we have a cisco 2950t 24port 10/100 with 2 gigabit ports another great switch, full of nichicon caps and a fan made by sunon.

[Per Hansson]

Re: 3COM OfficeConnect Dual Speed Switch 5 plus

Thought I'd update this thread with how the Switch works now 8 months later...

Still no more bulging caps... Added a heatsink to the ADM6606 chip because it became burning hot...

Put hot glue on coil to silence the coil-noise it produced...



All in all I am very satisfied with the switch, I wished I had bought the 8-port version though...

EDIT; hmm, looking at those empty solderpads makes me wanna do a fun project; add the 3 missing RJ45 ports... I want to see a picture from the inside of a 3com OfficeConnect Dual Speed Switch 8 plus first though; it might use a different firmware and/or different ADMtek switch chip...

It would be fun to do some SMD component soldering...