Teken Posted July 23, 2015 Posted July 23, 2015 During the last few months I have been slowly taking a few damaged Insteon units which I have on hand and tried to bring them back to life.While some of the repairs went pretty good others were abandoned due to the fact the root cause were IC chips, surface mounted resistors, or capacitors which had no value to determine a replacement. I thought it would be interesting to provide some inside shots of a few common devices most of us have in our Insteon network.Some items are being presented solely for reference sake to allow others a glimpse into the components used or upgraded from previous generation devices.The first device is a older appliance linc which at one time controlled my Panasonic microwave.A few weeks ago the device would turn on but not off.Later the device simply would not turn on or off but would remain in the on position. The ISY would also show a red (!) next to the device. It would also not accept any queries or accept a restore device.Hard resetting the device many times did absolutely nothing. Upon opening this unit up it was apparent two capacitors blew their guts all over the board.The bulk of it covered a IC chip. While the other oozed its innards all over adjacent components.It was also apparent this unit had some issues with the resistor as can be seen by what looks like a burn hole?Turning over the board revealed a capacitor which has no markings. Which also appears to have exploded all over the back side.Keep a mental note about this specific capacitor / component as you're going to see a consistent theme. Next we have a first generation dual band lamp linc. Please note the hardware and production date of this device.This lamp linc had maybe five hours of use during its lifetime. It's primary role in life was to help bridge / couple my kitchen area.During the XMAS season this device was called to duty simply to activate the the XMAS tree.After only two seasons of extremely light duty it just stopped working and the LED was dark and unlit. Upon opening up this unit guess what part exploded and failed? https://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/23/0472997cc34c879ccf20948c22fa563c.jpgAs can be seen this device has two of these unmarked components. Both of which exploded with great fan fair! https://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/23/fb5511628712af5ab00df0ebb08db740.jpg
Teken Posted July 23, 2015 Author Posted July 23, 2015 Below is a comparisons of the old vs the new units purchased during the 2014 XMAS blow out sale.Keep a mental note of the hardware revision and production date.On the right hand side of the photo opening the latest hardware Rev. 3.6 produced in 3914 shows almost all component are the same minus the different branded green capacitor.On the left C20 on the Rev. 1.23 produced in 2610 are slightly different when compared to the later model.Later (new) model below with the thinner C20 component. Will provide the exact value as soon as I can get a magnifying glass.Below is the latest model of On-Off Module 2635-222 with hardware revision 1.1S produced in 3014.As can be seen below this device introduces the RF modem which has the dual antenna array when compared to the lamp linc's single antenna. This latest generation device reduces the use of various capacitors in its circuit when compared to the earlier Appliance Lincs. I would see this reduced parts count as a positive thing and one less weak point to fail with in these devices. Below is a 2412S PLM Below is the House Linc USB PLM.
Brian H Posted July 23, 2015 Posted July 23, 2015 I have a dead 2456S3 V4.A. It has a dead short on the +30 volt supply. C2 and D3 are in parallel and I feel one or both of them are shorted. Mine has an excessive amount of the potting compound used to fasten C2 horizontally to the PCB. One of thees days I may try and gently get C2 free so I can test it and D3. As D3 is just above and partially under C2. I even bought a few different surface mount 30 volt zener diodes to try and find one that may fit. The 2457D2 uses the same small switching regulator IC as the 2413S PLM. So I would suspect capacitors in the power supply starting to deteriorate.
Teken Posted July 24, 2015 Author Posted July 24, 2015 Below are two brand new 2413S PLM's as part of my back up units. The unit on the left is based on hardware v1.B produced in 1343 and the other on the right is v1.C produced in 1425. As was indicated by others in the UDI forum the v1.C on the right introduces new capacitors in hopes of increasing its service life past the usual and expected two year mark. For those who have the latest hardware 2.X it would be great to know what the brand of capacitor and values are being used. A close up shot of the hardware v1.C PLM.
Brian H Posted July 24, 2015 Posted July 24, 2015 Hardware 2.1, Firmware 9E, 2413S PLM.C3 6.8uF/250V, C11 100uF/25V and C8 10uF/16V. Same as hardware 1 models. C7 and C13. Now 100uF/35V Fujicon RK series capacitor. I believe this is from hardware 1.C and aboveFujicon RK specifications sheet says General Purpose, 105C Wide Temperature.
Brian H Posted July 24, 2015 Posted July 24, 2015 The 2457D2 LampLinc back view. That looks like a round metal cased crystal. The glue to hold it in place has started to discolor from heat. On your older V1.? 2456S3 ApplianceLinc and 2856S Icon On Off modules. C2 the Green Nover 470uf/35 volt capacitors have failed in mine. The Smartlabs favorite 30 volt Surface Mount Zener diode. Is known to cause issues in many different Insteon Modules.
Teken Posted July 24, 2015 Author Posted July 24, 2015 The 2457D2 LampLinc back view. That looks like a round metal cased crystal. The glue to hold it in place has started to discolor from heat. On your older V1.? 2456S3 ApplianceLinc and 2856S Icon On Off modules. C2 the Green Nover 470uf/35 volt capacitors have failed in mine. The Smartlabs favorite 30 volt Surface Mount Zener diode. Is known to cause issues in many different Insteon Modules. Do you believe the round metal case device is a crystal and the stuff around it is simply glue?
Brian H Posted July 24, 2015 Posted July 24, 2015 Yes It looks like the crystal used for the controller chips internal clock. Held on to the PCB by an over generous blob of aging glue. http://citizencrystal.com/mhz.htm I the now public domain developers guide. Says the Citizen's CMR309T series. Is in some of the modules.
Teken Posted July 25, 2015 Author Posted July 25, 2015 Yes It looks like the crystal used for the controller chips internal clock. Held on to the PCB by an over generous blob of aging glue. http://citizencrystal.com/mhz.htm I the now public domain developers guide. Says the Citizen's CMR309T series. Is in some of the modules. Brian H, Much thanks for coming up with the parts and confirming this device is a crystal. On the dual band lamp linc I will remove the cover to four brand new units never powered on. This will confirm if the two crystals are held in place with some kind of adhesive glue etc.
stusviews Posted July 25, 2015 Posted July 25, 2015 I always exercise a new device before taking it apart.
lilyoyo1 Posted July 25, 2015 Posted July 25, 2015 That's glue holding everything. It's not coming from the components exploding.
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