wrj0 Posted August 21, 2015 Posted August 21, 2015 Another 2+ year PLM failure to report. My PLM #2412S V1.B failed after running for 2 years and 3 months. Fortunately, I still had the pre-dual band version in the spares box and was back in operation quickly, thanks to the wiki procedure. Replacement parts listed above have been ordered from Mouser to attempt to resurrect the failed PLM. It's rather amazing how frequently these PLMs seem to fail just after operating for two years.
wrj0 Posted August 28, 2015 Posted August 28, 2015 New capacitors from Mouser arrived and were installed today. The failed PLM has been restored and is now back in full operation. Whu hoo! Thanks to all who provided details on the cause of the failure and the fix - much appreciated! 1
BCreekDave Posted September 2, 2015 Posted September 2, 2015 Chalk up another success at recapping. My specifics: PLM Rev V1.65 1214 Date of install ~ 03/2013 Died on 08/26/2015 It will be interesting to see how long the life span is with the new caps, once everybody gets some time on theirs. It is also interesting that testing the removed Caps with a MM seems to show them all OK. No smoking gun, it seems. Thanks to everyone for the thread. For $12.00 and about an hours time, it saved ~$90.00 for a new PLM. Still a shame that they only last 2 years.
Brian H Posted September 2, 2015 Posted September 2, 2015 C7 and C13 are the most likely failures. They are on the low voltage side of the small switching power supply. Running at 200 kHz. Their ESR may have gone way up and not show on a MultiMeter.
Jay Posted September 20, 2015 Posted September 20, 2015 Great thread, thanks for sharing. You can add my 2413S V1.A 1239 to the group of failed PLMs. A couple Canadian users here mentioned they ordered some extra caps for their fellow Canadians with the same PLM problem. If any of you who did have 2 extra sets available for sale to pop into an envelope and mail to BC, please get in touch. Please PM me info and price and I can PayPal payment and address info to you. Thanks, Jay
avwuff Posted September 24, 2015 Posted September 24, 2015 Thanks to everyone who posted information. My PLM has been acting up for months, and I didn't really think much of it. The other day I was linking a new device and the PLM refused to go into Link mode. I manually pressed the LINK button and heard a high-pitch whine noise come out of the PLM, so I knew it had to be something with the power supply. Googling found this thread! I ordered similar parts from Digi-key.ca, for all you Canadians, this is the site to use. Any order placed before 8pm will arrive before 11am the next day, for a shipping cost of $8 and no import duties or fees. Here's what you want to order:1x399-6538-NDESG106M400AH4AACAP ALUM 10UF 20% 400V RADIAL$0.951x493-3276-NDUTT1E101MPDCAP ALUM 100UF 20% 25V RADIAL$0.992x399-6599-NDESK106M050AC3AACAP ALUM 10UF 20% 50V RADIAL$0.231x399-6597-NDESK106M016AC3AACAP ALUM 10UF 20% 16V RADIAL$0.20 Here's my V1.0 board with the finished repair: http://www.avbrand.com/personal/2413S-Repair.jpg Note that the v1.0 board seems to have an extra inductor wired in with the two 35V caps, where the board clearly specified only one. There's also an extra wire running to the rear of the board. I didn't add this wire, it came like this when I bought this module in 2011. It works great now! Thanks to everyone for their posts!
Brian H Posted September 24, 2015 Posted September 24, 2015 (edited) The V1.0 hardware needed the jumper wire, coil and capacitors hanging off the PCB. For better power supply operation. The revised art work PCB has the same components now mounted on the PCB with no fly wires or hanging parts. Check the specifications of the 2x 10uf 50 volt caps. I did not see them rated as having a low ESR to be used in a switching power supply. I did get the specification sheet for the cap and will give it a better look. Repair looks good in your photo. Not as easy to repair one with the rework from the factory as the PCB with all the components soldered onto the board. Edited September 24, 2015 by Brian H
tome Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 Thought I'd add one to the statistics. My 2413S v1.5 put into service 8/2011, died 8/2015. Guess I should feel lucky to get 4 years from it. I replaced the caps (got from DigiKey) and it appears to be working fine. Will be keeping it as a backup. Thanks for the info. -Tom
chelmite Posted October 4, 2015 Posted October 4, 2015 Mine failed 2 months after the warranty period expired. When I went to replace the capacitors, I noticed that all 5 of them had already been replaced (before I bought it)! I bought it new from Amazon. It must have been a refurbished unit. After replacing the capacitors, (all the same values, but higher voltage ratings), the 2413S comes on, communicates with the 994i, but... I get LOTS of messages "Cannot Communicate With [Device] ([Address]). Please check connection."
jakekooser Posted October 10, 2015 Posted October 10, 2015 (edited) Woke up to no response to any devices. Found this thread and ordered enough to repair the PLM I have installed, plus the old V1.4 2413S that I didn't toss out when it failed. I ordered extras, because they were cheap. Here's a link to a Digi-Key cart with the parts for convenience: http://www.digikey.com/short/t919z2 Nice, just found a third PLM, V1.0 2413S while searching my bins for capacitors because I'm impatient. No wonder this is such an expensive undertaking! Edited October 10, 2015 by jakekooser
Brian H Posted October 11, 2015 Posted October 11, 2015 (edited) Two of the capacitors from DigiKey may not last as long as the ones Smartlabs used or the replacements from Mouser. All of the originals and Mouser ones are 105C capacitors. Some of the DigiKey ones are 85C and will not last as long as a 105C one in the same circuit. As life is exponentially longer for each 10C below its maximum rating.The 10uf/50V and 10uf/16V are 85C capacitors. The two 10uf/50V [C7&C13] are in the 12 volt switching power supply and should be a Low Impedance or Low ESR rated capacitor. For use in switching power supplies. The original 10uf/35V ones used by Smartlabs where the not low impedance or ESR ones. The Fujucon RK is a general purpose cap.In the V2.1 I have C7 and C13 are now Fujicon RK 100uf/35V. The other three are still 100uf/25V,6.8uf/250V and 10uf/16V. Edited October 11, 2015 by Brian H
jumon Posted October 16, 2015 Posted October 16, 2015 (edited) Thanks for these instructions!! My caps did not "look" bad at all but thanks to the guidance here, I decided to try this. I replaced C3 and C11 and, since I'm a little hesitant to work on the smaller capacitors due to the other components near them, partially assembled and tested the modem. Works great now. If this is all it takes, I'm glad I ordered a few spares for those two. Had some initial concern since the replacement for C3 was a little larger/taller and the leads were a bigger diameter, too. It fit just fine, though. As other stated, cost with shipping was high compared to what just what these two caps cost but at least its not $80 for a new modem. Thanks again!! I took some before/after pictures of my 1.B modem if anyone needs them. ---update--- Two days later the modem died again. Has this happened to anyone who just replaced the two caps? ---update--- Ok, got motivated tonight and replaced the other 3 caps. PLM works again. I guess the safe bet is to plan on replacing them all or suffer from another failure later. Edited October 22, 2015 by jumon 1
jackman Posted October 31, 2015 Posted October 31, 2015 Many thanks to the OP and all those that replied to this thread. I successfully repaired my 2413U PLM using the replacement parts mentioned in this thread. Hopefully it will survive long enough for the next Insteon sale at Smarthome.
jerlands Posted November 1, 2015 Posted November 1, 2015 Many thanks to the OP and all those that replied to this thread. I successfully repaired my 2413U PLM using the replacement parts mentioned in this thread. Hopefully it will survive long enough for the next Insteon sale at Smarthome. Better yet.. hopefully it'll last till when UDI gets Smarthome to supply them the chips for their PLM. Jon... 1
2112 Posted November 4, 2015 Posted November 4, 2015 FYI: Please add another INSTEON 2413S PLM failure (at around 2 1/2 years) to the list of failures. I also purchased replacement capacitors... In the meantime, I also contacted my Credit Card issuer for extended warranty protection benefits (YMMV depending on if you purchased with a Credit Card or not, Credit Card type used, Credit Card issuer's benefits / policies, etc.). In my case, I was reimbursed for the amount of purchase due to failure within the defined constraints of the extended warranty protection benefit. Although it's sometimes (and quite often) a bit of effort contacting Credit Card issuers, it may provide some of you with reimbursement of the purchase cost. I hope this helps out... Still... I really wish that UDI could obtain the necessary / required Smartlabs ICs (from Smartlabs) so that they could manufacture their own PLMs for us to be able to purchase... 2
benderdave Posted November 24, 2015 Posted November 24, 2015 Found this thread after a second PLM failure in ~6 years. Thanks for the clear instructions! Replacing caps working great so far. For the record, my PLM is a 2413S, V1.B 1326 and I didn't see any obvious board damage during the repair.
Brian H Posted November 24, 2015 Posted November 24, 2015 C7 and C13 are the two that are the common problems. They are in the unregulated 12 volt power supply and should have been rated for switching power supply use. If you look at them real carefully. You may see the tops bulging slightly or the rubber bottom seals starting to pop out. The others are changed for good measure.
dlorenzo Posted December 5, 2015 Posted December 5, 2015 Yesterday I got to it and I was able to resuscitate two 2413S v1.6 PLMs and also a 2443 Access Point which turns out is built with the same 2413 pcb. Thanks for sharing this solution OP!
Brian H Posted December 5, 2015 Posted December 5, 2015 Some of the Simplehomenet modules are also built on the base 2413 PLM board. With their custom Daughter Boards
i814u2 Posted December 14, 2015 Posted December 14, 2015 (edited) I just repaired my 2413S v1.6 using the info in this thread. Glad I found it in my searching, so I thought I'd add my success info to the thread. Also, mine lasted about 3 years, maybe a couple months over. I had replacements on hand for everything except the 6.8 250V (suggested replacement of 10uf 400V). I measured the ESR on that one and it seemed well within operating range so I left it and hoped for the best. I did see a lot of ,what I assume was, leaked electrolytic fluid on the main and daughter boards. I replaced the 4 caps on the main board as well as the larger one on the daughter board (I can't remember the value but there were a number of 1uf 50V and then a single additional cap which was a larger uf. That is the cap that I replaced). I did that because there was a residue on that board as well and I had extras which matched (other than being a higher voltage rating but still fitting in the case). I just wanted to post that if your unit has a daughter board, and replacing the caps on the main board didn't completely fix things, consider replacing the larger cap on the daughter board as well. I have no real proof that this was an issue for me, and I didn't bother to test it since I had a replacement on hand. However, the cost certainly wouldn't be prohibitive, and so it couldn't hurt. Sadly, it may be a good idea to have this thread pinned so that it is more obvious to folks in the future. Thanks, again. Edited December 14, 2015 by i814u2
Brian H Posted December 14, 2015 Posted December 14, 2015 The 6.8uF 250 Volt. Is on the Line Powered DC feed to the switching supply. It will probably be fine.
Harold Posted December 17, 2015 Posted December 17, 2015 (edited) Brian, I am going to replace the 100 uF 6.8V cap on the daughter board. Could you possibly suggest a replacement? I am intending to use Mouser. But I find myself going around in circles with their web site and cap "series". And a Mouser available replacement for the UTS1C100MDD 10uF 16 volt. Then all we need is a way to copy newer firmware from one device to one with an older version. Edited December 17, 2015 by Harold
Brian H Posted December 18, 2015 Posted December 18, 2015 (edited) Serial PLM Daughter Board. Parts list says 100uF/6.3 volts. This is the older 2412S Developers Manual but the Daughter Board is similar . Serial daughter Board Page 57 & 58. U3 EEPROM is now a 24FC64. No F1 0.4A fuse. Position not occupied. http://cache.insteon.com/developer/2413dev-042007-en.pdf The capacitor is on the 5 volt side of a 5 volt regulator. I measured one and I believe it has the 2.5MM pin spacing. http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Nichicon/UTT0J101MDD/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMtZ1n0r9vR22awqI6nzE%2fsTpqgrp1y9nV0%3d Edited December 18, 2015 by Brian H
Harold Posted December 19, 2015 Posted December 19, 2015 (edited) Looking at the PLM duaghter board, there is a place for a largish capacitor C1. Is there any point to trying to find what that was and put one in? Oops - a no longer used fuse. Yet another question: any suggestions for getting the main board out of the case to access the solder side. Mine has the LED under a large glob of glue. Edited December 19, 2015 by Harold
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