Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

[Agent24]

... more bad capacitors?? What is this I don't even....


Going to try repairing a Draco HDTV 6300 DVB-T digital tuner.
Symptom: Power on, antenna\tuning(?) LED comes on, nothing else happens.


PSU is full of Teapo (2 of them bloaters)

Logic board is full of .. well, that's the thing!

The outer sleeve says "Secon" (See photos) but after looking at some of the more bloated ones, something 'funny' in the way the tops looked was evident.

What are they hiding???
This looks like a second sleeve...



I cut the outer sleeve off one of the capacitors. Underneath, the first sleeve is much the same as the second, but instead of "Secon" logo - it says "P H"

Good old http://capacitor.web.fc2.com/ gets a hit on the 'P H' - WuXi Puhe Electronic Co.,LTD - http://www.puhe.cn/

Site doesn't work anymore, but that's what Web Archive is for, which gets us: http://web.archive.org/web/200607172...puhe.cn/23.htm (which sadly, doesn't get us much)



But all this is rather unimportant.

The main focus is that we have a crapcap, resleeved as another crapcap.

Folks, I think the crapcap industry just had itself a brain aneurysm

[kc8adu]

Re: Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

Roflol!

[Agent24]

Re: Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

Pulled all 9 of the 1000uF 10v Secons from the main board, all measured around 5 Ohm for ESR (even the non-bloated)

Datasheet doesn't list ESR but it says "Lower impedance" (assuming it's even the right one) so I'm thinking a Low ESR replacement would be OK?

[japlytic]

Re: Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

I can see some inductors for DC-DC converters on the main board.
This can be a bit hard to determine which electrolytics are after the DC-DC converters.

[Agent24]

Re: Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

But those areas would want Low ESR wouldn't they?

[joshnz]

Re: Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

I would say so.
I was going to get a faulty bvb-t receiver off trademe it went for 10.50 but decided I can't be bothered with freeview at the moment i probably won't till they shut off the analogue.
Set up the dishes and receivers.
when I get freeview i will go with the terrestrial.

[Agent24]

Re: Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

Well Low ESR is what I thought would be good, but I'm not 100% sure (I'm sure some of the guys here would know more about it)


joshnz: might be best just to buy a brand new receiver and then do a pre-emptive recap! Then you can also measure ESR while the capacitors are still fresh.


Put some Panasonic FC on the logic board, still doesn't work. Surprise, surprise! Unless anyone has some clever ideas I give up.

[b700029]

Re: Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

CD288 is a "standard" Chinese series of low-ESR capacitor, CD288H is 105C version.

http://www.nantongcapacitors.com/web/CD288.htm
http://www.nantongcapacitors.com/web/CD288H.htm

[Agent24]

Re: Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

Yes, it's a similar datasheet to the other one I found... which is why I figured Panasonic FC would be OK, and it probably is... but the thing doesn't work - I guess there are other problems.

Not sure what else to try, sadly.

[lti]

Re: Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

CD288 is a "standard" Chinese series of low-ESR capacitor, CD288H is 105C version.

http://www.nantongcapacitors.com/web/CD288.htm

85°C low ESR caps?

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

If all voltages come up but it doesn't output any signal, probably the ripple caused by the bad caps has eaten one of the mission-critical chips. Time to chuck it in the parts bin.

[Maxcats]

Re: Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has succeeded in saving their Draco. So any updates on long term stability after the caps are replaced welcome! Thanks.

[Agent24]

Re: Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has succeeded in saving their Draco. So any updates on long term stability after the caps are replaced welcome! Thanks.

With high quality capacitors of the appropriate series chosen and installed properly, the long term-stability of anything will be good.

Assuming of course that the device in question has a decent design to start with, and that the software is free of bugs etc. If the thing was never stable to begin with, new capacitors will likely not save it.

[Maxcats]

Re: Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

Thanks I am looking to do this with my Draco 6300. Is your Draco still in daily use?

[Agent24]

Re: Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

No, I bought it faulty and never got it working. Ended up with a Sommet one instead.

[Maxcats]

Re: Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

Agent can you confirm the Sommet does 1080 on its component outputs? I've had Yes/No from owners and from Sommet. I suspect it is no but...can you confirm/deny hands on?

The 1080 on component is why the Draco is so precious. It's feeding a Slingbox direct on component. Do you still have the Draco by any chance?

[Agent24]

Re: Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

I'd have to test it on a TV which supported component input, as I'm not sure. It's an SHDNZ1 by the way.

I've still got the Draco.. in pieces. Why?

[Maxcats]

Re: Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

I'm sending my Draco away for recaps, the picture freeze is only once a week or so, but I figure fix it now!

When it arrived (via Trademe) the front fascia was cracked and broken in transit. I'd really like to salvage this and get it back to good condition.

If you're willing to sell, I'd take it going or not! Max

[Agent24]

Re: Draco HDTV 6300 STB with badcaps, resleeved as...

You have a PM