Anybody know an 'Astro' electrician?

[russ.will]

Without going into too much detail to save me the embarrassment, the main board of my Flextube 300p is dead.

Does anybody know an electrical repairer that might know his way around such items?

Thanks in advance,

Russell

[Starlight 1]

I take it as the Flextube 300p is a goto.

Les

[russ.will]

It's actually an Auto, but it's the same board in both, so yes.

Russell

[Tinker1947]

Do you have any idea why its dead or how it might have died....

[JamesM]

C'mon Russ you're going to have to spill the beans on this one - you're amongst friends here and it is unlikely to be something that we haven't all done at some time or other, or keep doing! :o

James

[russ.will]

Okay, you know when the instructions say 'Don't plug anything into port A, other than cable X? I plugged in cable Y....

I was fitting the SkyFi box to the Dob base and all was going well. Except the friction nuts were displaying typical Skywatchers QC in terms of one was too tight, whilst the other is too slack. Thus, when in GOTO mode the Dob undershoots in Azimuth, but overshoots in Altitude. I was fine tuning these when, as I plugged everything back in to test the adjustment, I plugged the SkyFi RJ12 into the mount, rather than the Synscan Handset. Duh! I thought and plugged the correct cable in, only now, the handset says 'Mount not detected standalone mode'.

Power is getting through to the handset, but I've fried something that interfaces with the mounts motors and encoders. I took the motherboard out and one of the two ICs at the top of the board gets hot real quick and one of the capacitors, that I presume is associated with it's power supply looks ropy too.

OVL say there is a new batch of motherboards that has already shipped from China - Due to arrive in 6 weeks, so I guess I'll remove the motors and use it as a push to in the mean time. At least this is the best time of the year for it to happen...

Russell

Sent from my iPad

[UnderTheRain]

Can hyou post a photo of the board?

UTR

[russ.will]

How about these?

[Reggie]

It would be much more useful if you took a completely flat image with the whole board in focus for each side That way we can see what IC's are on the board and try and get an idea of the signal path. Could you also tell us which of the connectors you plugged the wrong cable into?

The cap on teh right looks a bit iffy. As for the pic chips, if one of those is blown then you're probably out of luck on a repair, unless you can get an IC with the application already burnt on it (I suspect they write protect their chips with internal fuses so that you can't read the contents out).

[russ.will]

I'll see what I can do tomorrow. I had to use flash tonight and if you take a picture square on, then that's about all you will see!

Russell

[Starlight 1]

A better look at photo 2 top right, Right hand side next to L1 you have a - + a photo of this part please.

[russ.will]

If L1 is just above PWR_SW (the power switch connector), then the + - refers to D1, which can be seen just above the dodgy looking cap in photo 5.

Regarding the caps; I know they look shot, but close inspection shows it's just the wrappers that look dodgy. The top of the caps 'locate' into a couple of small recesses within the housing to which the board mounts. The pressure from this recess appears to 'mash' the cap's wrapper somewhat. The cap itself is free from bulges and does not get hot.

Russell

[leelee970]

Things may not be too good I'm afraid. I've worked 28 years in electronics repair (RF Comms). Today most circuits are built as a throw away item. Finding the parts could be difficult, getting IC's flashed just as hard. Personally I'd try and either get a second hand board/controller or buy new. A local T.V. / HiFi repair centre may be able to help and give a cost - ask for a diagnostic report/cost before committing to a repair. It could be something really simple, but in my experience it probably isn't.

[JamesF]

I'm guessing you plugged the RJ11 plug into the RJ45 socket?

Not really a smart move on Synta's part putting those right next to each other, or really even using connectors that are compatible with each other, if the result of connecting the wrong one will fry the board

I know the "never connect anything up with the power on" rule should apply, but sometimes these things happen.

[Starlight 1]

If L1 is just above PWR_SW (the power switch connector), then the + - refers to D1, which can be seen just above the dodgy looking cap in photo 5.

Regarding the caps; I know they look shot, but close inspection shows it's just the wrappers that look dodgy. The top of the caps 'locate' into a couple of small recesses within the housing to which the board mounts. The pressure from this recess appears to 'mash' the cap's wrapper somewhat. The cap itself is free from bulges and does not get hot.

Russell

Did not see photo 5 Russ , I go with your text on this part.

[russ.will]

No, I plugged the RJ11 plug from the SkyFi into the RJ11 socket for the Synscan handset. Entirely my, fault and I had no intention of actually doing so, but it serves me right for reaching round, rather than walking round and looking properly.

Russell

[russ.will]

Things may not be too good I'm afraid. I've worked 28 years in electronics repair (RF Comms). Today most circuits are built as a throw away item. Finding the parts could be difficult, getting IC's flashed just as hard. Personally I'd try and either get a second hand board/controller or buy new. A local T.V. / HiFi repair centre may be able to help and give a cost - ask for a diagnostic report/cost before committing to a repair. It could be something really simple, but in my experience it probably isn't.

I concur - I suspect I may well have to wait the six weeks for a new one, but for the pence of a couple of caps, and a voltage regulator, I may just spend the five minutes necessary to solder it all up.

Russell

[leelee970]

Just looked through the circuit, most if not all can be bought from RS components. the only problem will be the PIC microprocessor. you'll certainly be able to check most components if you've a multimeter.