Replacement cap advice needed for Panamax Max 1000+ Surge Protector/Line Conditioner

[dchang0]

Re: Replacement cap advice needed for Panamax Max 1000+ Surge Protector/Line Conditio

Concur.


Yeah, I've had that problem before with resistor color bands looking a little off (either from heat or just from age) and making me think they had a different value.

The thing is, when resistors go bad, they almost never go lower in value. Rather, their resistance increases. So if that resistor measured 99 Ohms out of circuit, there's no way it could have been a 10K originally. So that's how you can check if the colors of the bands are messing with you.

Thanks!

[dchang0]

Re: Replacement cap advice needed for Panamax Max 1000+ Surge Protector/Line Conditio

I've replaced R6 with 100 ohm 3W, ZD1 with a 1N4749A, and R1 with a 15K 2W, and every single electrolytic capacitor has been replaced, and this problem still persists:

The main power switch does absolutely nothing. It's not broken--I desoldered it and tested it; it's latching on or off (not momentary on or off).

The unit basically acts as if it is turned on all the time. Basically it is the same problem as in https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...5&postcount=10 but worse.

I do not see any other burnt components.

Has anyone encountered this problem or something like post #10 and fixed it?

[momaka]

Re: Replacement cap advice needed for Panamax Max 1000+ Surge Protector/Line Conditio

Has anyone encountered this problem or something like post #10 and fixed it?

Well, unfortunately this doesn't seem like a super-popular electronic item. So the chances of someone who's found a fix and also looking up one of these now to add info to the thread seems pretty small to me.

That said, I looked up all the ICs from the pictures you provided, and basically there is nothing that is programmed externally (i.e. no EEPROM or flash chip with firmware.) It's all hardware logic, which is neat, as these tend to be a lot more reliable. (Yet here we are troubleshooting. )

So that means either the design was marginally stable to begin with and something drifted out of spec slightly (but enough) to cause trouble, or there is a bad component somewhere that isn't really obvious to stand out when troubleshooting. Generally, this is usually the case with diodes, transistors, and ICs. Thus, my recommendation is to carefully test these again.

Also, could we have some bottom(solder)-side pictures? I'm curious what is driving the relays in this thing. If nothing else, perhaps start there. Check what's powering the relays and is that component actually sent signal to power then, or is it defective and "stuck"? If the former, keep moving downstream from there to determine why whatever driver is powering that relay, then perhaps the signal before the driver is erroneous.

[dchang0]

Re: Replacement cap advice needed for Panamax Max 1000+ Surge Protector/Line Conditio

Well, unfortunately this doesn't seem like a super-popular electronic item. So the chances of someone who's found a fix and also looking up one of these now to add info to the thread seems pretty small to me.

That said, I looked up all the ICs from the pictures you provided, and basically there is nothing that is programmed externally (i.e. no EEPROM or flash chip with firmware.) It's all hardware logic, which is neat, as these tend to be a lot more reliable. (Yet here we are troubleshooting. )

So that means either the design was marginally stable to begin with and something drifted out of spec slightly (but enough) to cause trouble, or there is a bad component somewhere that isn't really obvious to stand out when troubleshooting. Generally, this is usually the case with diodes, transistors, and ICs. Thus, my recommendation is to carefully test these again.

Also, could we have some bottom(solder)-side pictures? I'm curious what is driving the relays in this thing. If nothing else, perhaps start there. Check what's powering the relays and is that component actually sent signal to power then, or is it defective and "stuck"? If the former, keep moving downstream from there to determine why whatever driver is powering that relay, then perhaps the signal before the driver is erroneous.

Thanks for the explanations, especially confirming that there is nothing programmed externally.

BTW, the relays in my unit do work as expected; the delayed relay does start turned off and turn on after the delay. And I was able to confirm that the master-switched relays work when somehow I got the master switch working for a few seconds.

I'll take some photos of the bottom and upload them soon.

[dchang0]

Re: Replacement cap advice needed for Panamax Max 1000+ Surge Protector/Line Conditio

Follow up with photos of the bottom of the PCB.

Hope this helps someone.

I'll be testing the transistors and diodes near ZD1 and will probably just replace them all since they're low-cost.

[dchang0]

Re: Replacement cap advice needed for Panamax Max 1000+ Surge Protector/Line Conditio

More parts lookups.

U1 = MC78L 12ACP (Motorola Logo) 543 = linear voltage regulator 12V output 35V max input. Mine measures just under 12V on output pin #1.

Q2 = H MPS A92 6H (last two digits could be 6A, 6H, GA, GH) = MPSA92 BJT (Bipolar) PNP transistor 0.5A.

Q1 = 2N 6517 EB541 = 2N6517 BJT (Bipolar) NPN transistor 300V 0.5A.

ZD2 = (National Semiconductor logo) G7AD (or 67AD) LM336 Z2.5 = LM336-Z2.5 reference diode, 2.5V. Mine measures 2.42V on the middle pin.

[dchang0]

Re: Replacement cap advice needed for Panamax Max 1000+ Surge Protector/Line Conditio

The six diodes near ZD1 appear to all be TCE brand 1N4007 diodes. Actually, all 13 of the plain ol' diodes on the board appear to be 1N4007 diodes.

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Replacement cap advice needed for Panamax Max 1000+ Surge Protector/Line Conditio

I would recommend that you check to see if the 4N25 optic sensor is working correctly I have found that the functionality of optic sensor in general become flaky with age

I have had to replace some on machines that have some age on them

[vzhq16]

Re: Replacement cap advice needed for Panamax Max 1000+ Surge Protector/Line Conditio

I've replaced R6 with 100 ohm 3W, ZD1 with a 1N4749A, and R1 with a 15K 2W, and every single electrolytic capacitor has been replaced, and this problem still persists:

The main power switch does absolutely nothing. It's not broken--I desoldered it and tested it; it's latching on or off (not momentary on or off).

The unit basically acts as if it is turned on all the time. Basically it is the same problem as in https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...5&postcount=10 but worse.

I do not see any other burnt components.

Has anyone encountered this problem or something like post #10 and fixed it?

I know this is probably gross over-simplification but have you checked the "voltage sense" switch on the back? If voltage sense is disabled, the unit will stay powered on unless the power switch is manually turned off.

I've had good luck repairing my three Panamax 1000+s with the cap, zener and resistor replacements advised above. One of mine started something completely new and just wanted to see if anyone here has any advice. The voltage meter on the front normally goes on and off with the timed outlets. This one does that with the exception of the 120V and 122V diodes. The 120V diode is always full brightness no matter what and the 122V diode is slightly dimmer but also always on. Just started happening a week ago. Can anyone help?

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Replacement cap advice needed for Panamax Max 1000+ Surge Protector/Line Conditio

What is your incoming voltage from the power outlet to the device
It might be that your line voltage might be in between these two values which if this is the case then it would be functioning correctly ( 120 to 122 volts) for insistence 121 volts is in the middle of the two voltage so it would some what light the 122 volt led one note your incoming voltage has a range of plus and minuses 10% of 110 or 120 volts depending on the voltage requirements for what ever device that you are using

Some devices will have a range of what voltage it will work at correctly and anything outside this range might give you issues

I hope this helps you