EQ6 Pro Fried - Circuit Board Fuse Replacement

[SniffTheGlove]

Something really strange happened this afternoon. I have my EQ6 plugged into 2 cigar 3 way extension socket that is connected to a 110Ah leisure battery.

I have just brought a Maplin 12v DC-DC laptop travel converter to power my laptop. The adaptor transforms the 12vdc to a range of selectable voltages between 15-22vdc. I had it selected at 20V which is what my laptop requires.

I plugged the travel adaptor into the 3 way cigar socket and then plug the other end into my laptop which at that point something went pop and there was a smell of "oh dear" burning. That's when I noticed the red led on my EQ6 had gone out.

I unplugged everything and then looked at the EQ6, then just plugged in the EQ6 and not a thing which I flicked the switch on.

I checked the fuse in the cigar connector, it is a 3a fuse and it was OK.

I checked the voltage coming out of the lead and it was 12.52vdc

So the cable and supply are OK.

I unscrewed the fascia board to expose the circuit board and slowly went over the board and then I noticed that the circuit fuse on the board is blown. See photo. bottom fuse near the L1 marker

Does anyone know what the rating is for this fuse so I can try and replace?

Also, anyone know why this fuse would of blown (obviously a power surge) when I plugged my laptop into the travel adaptor?

thanks

[SniffTheGlove]

Further investigation appears they are not fuses but EMI suppression inductors. Anyone know the value of the inductors

[meastempo]

Hello!

I have also had this L1 burnt out 1 year ago, with no particular reason the EQ6 died when powering up all gear, and a burned smell came out the mount.

I'm using an external waterproof 230V to 12V DC (8A) converter (bought on ebay) powering all gear, having an 3A fuse to the EQ6.

There was an discussion on the EQ6 yahoo group about this, and it looks like those inductors only acts as an EMI filter.

I removed both L1 and L2 and only replaced them with and wire (soldering), and attached a bigger "clip on ferrite filter" on the power cable to the EQ6.

The mount have worked flawlessly 1year since this

Anders

[SniffTheGlove]

Thanks for that info (also joined Yahoo EQ6 as well). I will try the wire soldering a little later on today.

Additional Info:

Having tried a little bit of testing this morning I have noticed that what caused the problem appears to be the Maplin adaptor ( http://www.maplin.co.uk/120w-laptop-car-adaptor-44736 ). I just plugged the device straight into my 3 way cigar socket and then connected it up to my laptop power socket and the fuse in the 3way socket blew. This is rated at 8A so I need to check this out further but I need to buy some spare 8A fuses first. The laptop mains supply output states it is 20V @ 3.25A so this is what I expect the maplin device to provide.

[SniffTheGlove]

Well my fix currently works.

I soldered a piece of 5A fuse wire across the old inducter pcb connection. I went with fuse wire instead of a normal piece wire as this would carry less current and blow again if the current exceeds %a. I know the cigar has a 3A fuse but %a fuse wire was the smallest I had.

Anyway it is working fine. Now to sort out the maplins adaptor.

[meastempo]

Ahh good news, you got the board working again!

I nowadays power up the equipment one at a time, not all simultaneously, i think it can cause a quite a powerpeak at some microsecond, and maybe blow fuses.

You saved some money today then!

Anders

[SniffTheGlove]

I sure did though it does not feel like it.

Anyway, I think it is all down to the maplins adaptor pulling high amps.

The 3 way cigar extension I was using was protected with 8A fuse which blew, upon testing a bit more this after noon it also blew a 10A fuse. From looking at the specs it pulls a max of 11.24A so in theory if it pull the 11.25A through upon connection that this explains the 8 and 10 fuse blowing. I am going to put a 15A in the extension and see how that goes which I expect will be ok as there is already a 15A in the maplin cigar connector.

It only blows when under load. With no load and with my multimeter in series then it only pulls 40ma but plugging it into the lappy blows. I tried using the multimeter with load but the fuse 10A blew (or had already blown a few months back so can not be sure) so a bit more checking and I might put a smile on my face.