drinkwater Posted March 28, 2016 Posted March 28, 2016 My spare plm just died - so now I have two dead PLM's ... Going to attempt the capacitor fix. Do you guys have any tips on how to remove the caps ? I tried one cap and got it off after a great deal of effort with the soldering iron but now the holes are still filled with solder. There has to be an easy way to do this ?
Brian H Posted March 28, 2016 Posted March 28, 2016 If you don't have a solder sucker to clean out the holes. Many times heating the pad and then using a sewing needle to clear the hole works.
jumon Posted March 28, 2016 Posted March 28, 2016 (edited) Do you guys have any tips on how to remove the caps ? I tried one cap and got it off after a great deal of effort with the soldering iron but now the holes are still filled with solder. There has to be an easy way to do this ? It was difficult for me too and that was with a desoldering pump and even a dedicated desoldering iron I bought. The only thing I didn't have handy was desoldering braid. That would finish up your issue I think and it's pretty cheap. I have some now and will know next repair how well it works. Edited March 28, 2016 by jumon
drinkwater Posted April 1, 2016 Posted April 1, 2016 Thanks for the help guys. I got a solder pump was able to fix one of my two dead plm's. The one I couldn't fix is the first one I tried to fix without the pump and I think I screwed up the pcb with all the fiddling I did... The one I managed to fix is a usb interface and the other is serial. Do you guys think swapping the interface board from the serial plm to the usb plm would work ? I heard the main board is same in both versions.
mwester Posted April 1, 2016 Posted April 1, 2016 Alas, no you cannot just swap the daughterboards -- different firmware on the base board.
drinkwater Posted April 2, 2016 Posted April 2, 2016 Alas, no you cannot just swap the daughterboards -- different firmware on the base board. Ok - thx. Guess will have to order a new serial PLM...
Brian H Posted April 2, 2016 Posted April 2, 2016 (edited) I don't think the main boards firmware is to different between the USB and Serial Versions. It will report it has the USB Subcategory ID and not the Serial Port ID. The ISY994i may balk at the different ID. You may want to try it and see if it works. Smarthome is still showing 04/22/2016 as the expected in stock date. As it is on back order right now. One of the Amazon vendors is showing 04/05/2016 but there is no guarantee it will be the latest firmware and hardware. Edited April 2, 2016 by Brian H
mwester Posted April 2, 2016 Posted April 2, 2016 I tried swapping the daughterboard, and the PLM didn't start up correctly - but perhaps there was another problem. Regarding the Subcategory ID -- it turns out the the ISY (5.0.2) doesn't care. While waiting for my 2413S to ship, I pressed my USB PLM into service using a Raspberry Pi as a serial-to-USB bridge. It's working fine (although it's not robust enough to be a permanent solution by any means!).
Brian H Posted April 2, 2016 Posted April 2, 2016 I suspect you are correct. The FCC Database photos of the 2413U only show a FTDI USB Interface chip on it along with the Link Database EEPROM and small 5 volt regulator. So the firmware may have to do a different data format for the USB controller to work correctly.
plm.repair Posted April 14, 2016 Posted April 14, 2016 (edited) - REPAIR KIT- I recently re-capped my 4 year old 2413S Dual-band Powerlinc. On the suggestion of another user I put together a kit that contains the necessary components, instructions, and pictures. If you would like to order a kit and do the repair yourself just email me at plm.repair at gmail dot com The kit is $18.45 Free shipping to the lower 48. Contact me for shipping outside the U.S. PLM Repair.pdf Edited May 9, 2016 by plm.repair 1
smbenson Posted May 11, 2016 Posted May 11, 2016 My 2413S v 1.B just died after 2yrs, 8 months. Seems like a common occurrence here. I was looking at the digikey parts list, on page 6, as they are located a couple of hours away from me and have a question of the electrical experts here. Would their part - 565-1598-ND- EKY-500ELL100ME11D- be equivalent to the EKY-500ETD100ME11D specified in the 1st post? The only difference I can see is height, which I don't think would matter much. This is replacing the 399-6599-ND which is only rated for 2000 hrs at 85C and may be an issue for lifespan. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Brian H Posted May 11, 2016 Posted May 11, 2016 (edited) Both of the Digikey part numbers are for a General Purpose type capacitor. They may not last as long as ones designed for low impedance or low ESR. That are a better choice in the C13 and C7 locations. As it is a switching type power supply. Though the Fujicon RK 10uF/35 volt {hardware 1.?} or the 100uF/35 volt {hardware 2.?} used in the C7 and C13 locations by Smartlabs are general Purpose. Edited May 11, 2016 by Brian H
smbenson Posted May 13, 2016 Posted May 13, 2016 Brian do you have an alternative part number for a low esr cap that will work for C7 & C13 location? Thanks
Brian H Posted May 13, 2016 Posted May 13, 2016 (edited) I was confused by the way Digikey categorizes their capacitors as General Purpose even ones with a low ESR and made for switching supplies. The United-Chemi-Con you linked to is a low ESR made for switching power supplies. http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/united-chemi-con/EKY-500ELL100ME11D/565-1598-ND/756114 So it should be fine and is rated for 5000 Hours. The Nichicon UPM series would also work. Though it is rated for 2000 Hours. http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/nichicon/UPM1H100MDD/UPM1H100MDD-ND/2428082 Both are 105C rated and for each 10C less than 105C the time exponentially gets greater. Edited May 13, 2016 by Brian H
smbenson Posted May 13, 2016 Posted May 13, 2016 Brian, thanks for the quick responses. I will try the original United-Chemi-Con and report back if I get my 2413S back up and running.
apostolakisl Posted May 22, 2016 Posted May 22, 2016 (edited) It seems that two of the original capacitors are no longer available so I made some substitutions. USV1C100MFD instead of UTS1C100MDD and UPW2G100MHD1TO instead of ESX106M400AH4AA Are these good substitutions? Oh yeah, another PLM dead. This time 2 years and 2 months. Edited May 22, 2016 by apostolakisl
Brian H Posted May 22, 2016 Posted May 22, 2016 Your substitutions should work fine. Both are being used in circuits where a good General Purpose capacitor is fine.
apostolakisl Posted May 22, 2016 Posted May 22, 2016 Your substitutions should work fine. Both are being used in circuits where a good General Purpose capacitor is fine. Great. Placed the order. I went for 3 sets this time instead of 1.
gravymaker Posted May 24, 2016 Posted May 24, 2016 My PLM stopped responding today. Ordered the caps today and I'll report back with my results. Thanks for all the fantastic info in this thread.
apostolakisl Posted May 26, 2016 Posted May 26, 2016 It seems that two of the original capacitors are no longer available so I made some substitutions. USV1C100MFD instead of UTS1C100MDD and UPW2G100MHD1TO instead of ESX106M400AH4AA Are these good substitutions? Oh yeah, another PLM dead. This time 2 years and 2 months. This works at least initially. I'll let this burn in a few days on my old isy99i just to make sure.
gravymaker Posted May 26, 2016 Posted May 26, 2016 Success My PLM stopped responding today. Ordered the caps today and I'll report back with my results. Thanks for all the fantastic info in this thread. Canadian fixed! Digikey had the caps to me in a day. Thanks folks. I really strugged with keeping the board steady while i fumbled with the soldering iron and braid. I use an extremely cheap clamp (it has a weight, a magifying glass and two articulating clamps) so it was really frustrating to get a good grip. Took me way longer than it should have. What do you guys use for keeping the PCB steady, but also movable, while you work?
apostolakisl Posted May 26, 2016 Posted May 26, 2016 Success Canadian fixed! Digikey had the caps to me in a day. Thanks folks. I really strugged with keeping the board steady while i fumbled with the soldering iron and braid. I use an extremely cheap clamp (it has a weight, a magifying glass and two articulating clamps) so it was really frustrating to get a good grip. Took me way longer than it should have. What do you guys use for keeping the PCB steady, but also movable, while you work? I carefully put it in my bench vise with the edges of the pcb on each side touching the vise. In other words, the vise was open about 2 inches. My repair has survived the first 12 hours of burn in.
gravymaker Posted May 26, 2016 Posted May 26, 2016 Side repair question - I have an 8-button keypadlinc that has one button that doesn't seem to work/generate events. Not sure if its a mechanical issue with the button itself (seems to "click" just fine) or an electronics issue. Any experience would be appreciated!
LeeG Posted May 26, 2016 Posted May 26, 2016 If the PLM was having capacitor issues some of the PLM link records could have been alerted. Suggest running Restore Modem (PLM) to rebuild PLM link database. Unless the PLM was changed, the Restore Modem (PLM) will only rebuild the PLM link database. If that does not resolve KPL symptom then do a Restore Device on KPL. Does the KPL button LED turn On/Off with button press?
gravymaker Posted May 26, 2016 Posted May 26, 2016 If the PLM was having capacitor issues some of the PLM link records could have been alerted. Suggest running Restore Modem (PLM) to rebuild PLM link database. Unless the PLM was changed, the Restore Modem (PLM) will only rebuild the PLM link database. If that does not resolve KPL symptom then do a Restore Device on KPL. Does the KPL button LED turn On/Off with button press? Thanks LeeG - my KPL button problem started way before the PLM power issue. The button LED on the KPL does come on when pushed, but the light fixture it is controlling does not change.
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