Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

[goontron]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

Good to hear. Nice to see one fixed instead of scrapped and a new one picked up from Murdochs or Tractor Supply.

[stormy1777]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

Over a month passed, no failures, and fence zaps just right so the farmer reports. Thanks again!!

[stormy1777]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

Thanks, yeah, stopped it right away when it was in my possession, the first time it was in the farm, but then the second resistor burnt to the ground, so i guess it took all the "hear" so to speak. back side of board is clean/very good soldering for all parts..

may report back in a month either way given the apparent "popularity" of this thread

Stormy.

[stj]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

i'v seen those type of resistors smoking like a vape-pipe and still work fine when the fault is fixed.
you just have to check the solder joints werent effected by the heat.

[stormy1777]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

BTW, when we say that capacitor is leaky, we mean EPR or effective parallel resistance, not ESR. Simply use a regular ohmmeter (DC ohmmeter, not AC ohmmeter which is used for ESR) with the probes in the right direction and wait for the capacitor to charge up, the/all capacitor/capacitors should eventually show up as infinite resistance.

Dear eccerr0r,

I was curious, so powered it up with open case, hopefully for the last time in a while the Ohm reading one side shows as 10M, flipping the leads shows it as OL (infinity) and when the TICK/neon light comes on, it goes to ZERO, so about every one second tick tick tick, it goes to zero, zero, other times it is OL/infinity..

I think that is OK..

Only thing now if it breaks it might be the resistors b/c some smoke did come out before diodes were replaced.. but they still seem OK, 360Ohm both.

Signing off for now all'ya'all.

Stormy.

[stormy1777]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

My experience exactly. Even just a nearby strike will kill these things.

In this particular case, starting to think the WIRING is not 100% right, he was mumbling something about that, so now read up on how it should be done, may pay a visit to make sure enough grounding and no obvious (periodic??) shorts going on there

It nice to see that you have it back up and running again

Would not have been possible w/o the great support and spirit of folks on this board, keep up.. this is definitely not my day job, but I'll be sure to turn in future for help

Lets hope this holds, and if not, I'll report just for the record, and will keep replacing the parts one by one

Cheers.

Stormy.

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

It nice to see that you have it back up and running again

[goontron]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

lightning may well be the root cause, it's outside after all...

I've seen diodes get blown out on these things often, so check those.

My experience exactly. Even just a nearby strike will kill these things.

[eccerr0r]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

lightning may well be the root cause, it's outside after all...

[redwire]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

The two series-rectifiers are good to 2kV PIV, so I think mains transients damaged that one. With +340V on the big cap, you have -1.6kV left

Lightning, or line switching transients, a reverse-voltage spike can avalanche a diode and kill it. The 2x360R resistance limits any current through them but diodes don't take much avalanche current.

I think an outlet could see 1,500V-2,500V spikes depending on the electrical system and nearby loads etc.

[eccerr0r]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

don't need to match if in series, just like LEDs. However if dealing with reverse voltage they may need to be treated like capacitors and deal with the leak caused by the balancing...

[petehall347]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

i dont know if its those series diodes ..if its parallel i match the vf . not sure when in series if it matters .. thinking it might do .. be good to know if anyone knows .

[goontron]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

And y'all were second guessin' the guy who lives in the cowboy state

This ain't my first rodeo, padner!

[eccerr0r]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

BTW, when we say that capacitor is leaky, we mean EPR or effective parallel resistance, not ESR. Simply use a regular ohmmeter (DC ohmmeter, not AC ohmmeter which is used for ESR) with the probes in the right direction and wait for the capacitor to charge up, the/all capacitor/capacitors should eventually show up as infinite resistance.

[stormy1777]

[RE-RESOLVED]: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

Hi there!!
Maybe we can say Miracles do happen!!? Looking in pile of unopened parts, found these new diode strip, within 3 minutes the unit is back working, now ticking every second or so, and giving very good ZAPS, more sparky than before!

Left it running for 20 min, and resistors were COLD...

Lets see what the farm animals will think up this time around

This was a joyful and fun learning experience!

Thanks for the absolutely AMAZING encouragement ("dark humor"??) and thorough knowledge.. it came in very handy!!

If the big capacitor is leaky? Not sure how to test for that, time will tell maybe..

See photos of proof the unit is working, you can see the new diodes, new resistors as well as NEON lighting up.

Maybe lessons learned, when one resistor burns change the other, and when diode is "weak" change both I'll try to remember that

Thanks again.

Stormy

[eccerr0r]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

yeah, diodes seem like they've seen better days. Even vacuum tube diodes have near infinite reverse resistance.

Now what caused the diodes to go bad... Better make sure the big cap didn't go leaky...

[stormy1777]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

OK, took some time to test/measure, all tests were done without Load/COIL as follows:

Test1: Pull 400v/16uF large capacitor OFF circuit (pull cable) and energize the board. that came OK, no heat even after 3 minutes.

Test2: Connect 400v/16uF to board, energize the board within 5 seconds the resistors become super HOT to touch, Immediately cut power!!

Test3: pull both diodes out of circuit, energize board, resistors do not get hot


Measured components as follows:

Measure1: on-circuit both resistors show exactly as 360 Ohm. when board energized both resistors get 230VAC to them.

Measure2: Off-circuit large capacitor shows as 16uF (see photo) also, ESR 0.01 (very low).

Measure3: 1N5408 diodes show resistance of 70K Ohm vs 10M Ohm (other direction) and 80K Ohm vs 360K Ohm. Testing other diodes from other boards, it seems the other direction should be infinity so, maybe both diodes are (partly?) bad after all???

The 1N5408 described here:
have 1000V/700V RMS/3.0A.

I'll try to energize with the spare 2A diodes and see if resistors get hot, either way I'll find new 1000V/3A diodes soon.

Thanks for any tips, looks like the big guy gets to stay for now since diodes are suspects

Stormy.

[R_J]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

With the transformer disconnected, the only way to heat those resistors is with a short across the large capacitor, nothing else will do it. except maybe 2 leaky/shorted diodes but they would both need to be bad at the same time.
It's the cap.

[stormy1777]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

Guardian angles, I may have time tomorrow, I'm so scared of that big guy, but will deal with it.. question, assuming I PULL the 2 diodes OFF circuit , to test them. now energize the board with no load/coil connected, the resistors should NOT heat up, and if they do, then they are BAD/low quality? I'm trying to find ways to debug why they over heat, but definitely i need more time to work and report back.. so far i'm not seeing any cows or horses running loose, so i got a bit time. Farmer says that once they see it working, for a week or so they'll not touch the fence

[redwire]

Re: Repair Fence Energizer SS-1000E Fi-Shock

Posting the updated schematic.

You could test this with a series light-bulb, to limit current and give some indication of current draw. With the transformer disconnected, the only load that could heat up the power resistors is that big motor starting cap. It might be breaking down at high voltages.