S3 Power Supply Repair

[uw69]

Have an original S3 power supply in need of repair, several domed capacitors. Weaknees isn't interested in just a straight repair. Anyone know of someone or a company that will repair a Tivo power supply? Thanks

[unitron]

Originally Posted by uw69

Have an original S3 power supply in need of repair, several domed capacitors. Weaknees isn't interested in just a straight repair. Anyone know of someone or a company that will repair a Tivo power supply? Thanks

It's only about $10 worth of parts. Can you figure out which end of a soldering iron to hold?

Can you tell red from yellow from black?

[uw69]

No need to be all bunched up, if you can't help, please ignore this post a move on. thanks

[unitron]

Originally Posted by uw69

No need to be all bunched up, if you can't help, please ignore this post a move on. thanks

The point I am making is that you can probably do it yourself.

You've already shown the initiative to learn about the capacitor problem and open up the case and eyeball the thing.

You're halfway there already.

[caddyroger]

You could try a tv repair shop or some other electronic repair service. They may be able to solder the parts for you.

[shwru980r]

I would just buy another S3 and swap out the power supply.

[uw69]

Originally Posted by shwru980r

I would just buy another S3 and swap out the power supply.

I did that, and now I'm trying to repair the one I took out. Ordered the parts, so I guess I will give it a shot.

[farmermac]

I wonder if dvrdude on eBay might do power supplies too

[unitron]

Originally Posted by farmermac

I wonder if dvrdude on eBay might do power supplies too

That's 2 different skill sets, so, while possible, by no means automatic.

I'd start doing it myself except that offering any kind of guarantee would be financial suicide, not to mention the uncertainty of obtaining parts if the problem was something other than the capacitor thing.

And I'd need a spare TiVo of whatever model number in order to test the supply to make sure I'd fixed it.

[SullyND]

Didn't someone post recently that someone on "that other site" was offering a "deal" repairing S3 power supplies?

[uw69]

Originally Posted by unitron

That's 2 different skill sets, so, while possible, by no means automatic.

I'd start doing it myself except that offering any kind of guarantee would be financial suicide, not to mention the uncertainty of obtaining parts if the problem was something other than the capacitor thing.

And I'd need a spare TiVo of whatever model number in order to test the supply to make sure I'd fixed it.

I'm surprised that no one has started a side business repairing power supplies. Especially for the series 3. I can see how having a unit to test the power supply in would be required.

[unitron]

Originally Posted by SullyND

Didn't someone post recently that someone on "that other site" was offering a "deal" repairing S3 power supplies?

The guy who's been doing PROM modifications started doing power supply fixing as well, but apparently has been uncommunicative lately.

[dlfl]

Originally Posted by unitron

That's 2 different skill sets, so, while possible, by no means automatic.

I'd start doing it myself except that offering any kind of guarantee would be financial suicide, not to mention the uncertainty of obtaining parts if the problem was something other than the capacitor thing.

And I'd need a spare TiVo of whatever model number in order to test the supply to make sure I'd fixed it.

Originally Posted by uw69

I'm surprised that no one has started a side business repairing power supplies. Especially for the series 3. I can see how having a unit to test the power supply in would be required.

If you account for all the labor and expense involved, including packing, shipping, insurance, testing, and dealing with customers, you would have a hard time getting under the $100 cost of a new supply, especially if the only way you can test it is installing it into a TiVo of the same model . (I suspect test harnesses with resistor loads would be much preferable.)

[dlfl]

Originally Posted by unitron

The guy who's been doing PROM modifications started doing power supply fixing as well, but apparently has been uncommunicative lately.

He updated his thread 6/29/12 reaffirming he is still doing this. Interesting he does this for only $50 including return shipping. (You pay shipping to him, which adds $8 to $10 to your cost.) Also it isn't clear whether he replaces all elecrolytics or just the ones that look bad, or what his test procedure is.

If he's going to make a reasonable profit in reward for his labor, I don't see how he could be replacing all caps and doing much testing. (Unless he likes to work for minimum wage.) He has to pay the shipping cost back plus the cost of parts, leaving only around $30 to cover his time.

Anyway I'm glad he's doing it. I need to open my 3 yr old THD and take a look at the caps. I will probably do my own soldering but I think (again not perfectly clear) he sells cap kits.

EDIT:
Hmmm... Rereading his thread it says he replaces the caps that look bad. Weaknees.com sells brand new TiVo HD supplies for $100 including shipping. Comparing spending $60 for replacing a few parts to that, I think I would consider the new supply a better choice.

[steve614]

Originally Posted by dlfl

Weaknees.com sells brand new TiVo HD supplies for $100 including shipping. Comparing spending $60 for replacing a few parts to that, I think I would consider the new supply a better choice.

"Brand new" as in "never been installed in a Tivo"? I'll have my doubts until someone proves they got surplus stock of power supplies after the Tivos stopped being manufactured.
I suspect they are all refurbished.
But that's not necessarily a bad word. Weaknees has a good reputation AFAIK. I assume they have the testing equipment to ensure what they sell will actually work.
I know better, but I think the average Joe would probably trust Weaknees over some dude on e-bay, much less some guy on an internet forum...

[unitron]

On the subject of the Weaknees supplies, have a look at this post

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...68#post9159368

[dlfl]

Originally Posted by steve614

"Brand new" as in "never been installed in a Tivo"? I'll have my doubts until someone proves they got surplus stock of power supplies after the Tivos stopped being manufactured.
I suspect they are all refurbished.
But that's not necessarily a bad word. Weaknees has a good reputation AFAIK. I assume they have the testing equipment to ensure what they sell will actually work.
I know better, but I think the average Joe would probably trust Weaknees over some dude on e-bay, much less some guy on an internet forum...

Originally Posted by unitron

On the subject of the Weaknees supplies, have a look at this post

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...68#post9159368

weaknee's descriptions of their power supplies are different for each TiVo model ranging from "brand new" to "working pull". The S3 unit described in the post linked by unitron is called a "replacement", not "brand new". I haven't dealt with weaknees myself but if they are indeed deserving of a good reputation, they would not be labeling refurbished supplies as "brand new".

Any power supply, new, refurbished or just repaired, could suffer a failure at any time, either within 90 days or later. A single experience doesn't carry a lot of weight.

[unitron]

Originally Posted by dlfl

weaknee's descriptions of their power supplies are different for each TiVo model ranging from "brand new" to "working pull". The S3 unit described in the post linked by unitron is called a "replacement", not "brand new". I haven't dealt with weaknees myself but if they are indeed deserving of a good reputation, they would not be labeling refurbished supplies as "brand new".

Any power supply, new, refurbished or just repaired, could suffer a failure at any time, either within 90 days or later. A single experience doesn't carry a lot of weight.

I suppose replacement could mean either refurbished or working pull, so she could have sent them a power supply with the bogus caps that had already gotten bad enough to be visible and gotten back a unit that had bogus caps that hadn't gone bad yet, now that you make me think harder about exact word meanings.

[windracer]

I came home from a holiday weekend trip out of town and found my OLED S3 in a reboot loop. Tried removing the CableCARDs and it booted just fine ... slid the cards back in and it rebooted.

Opened the case and found 6 bulging capacitors on the power supply. I am not that handy with a soldering iron so I'm going the weaknees route to see if that gets my S3 working again (Sep-06 manufacture date).

I don't understand why the S3 power supplies are so expensive compared to the others on their site ... plus, you have to send yours back to get the $50 "rebate" bringing the price back down to $99. I guess it's because so many PSUs are going bad they want to stock up on repairable units as discussed above.

[unitron]

Originally Posted by windracer

I came home from a holiday weekend trip out of town and found my OLED S3 in a reboot loop. Tried removing the CableCARDs and it booted just fine ... slid the cards back in and it rebooted.

Opened the case and found 6 bulging capacitors on the power supply. I am not that handy with a soldering iron so I'm going the weaknees route to see if that gets my S3 working again (Sep-06 manufacture date).

I don't understand why the S3 power supplies are so expensive compared to the others on their site ... plus, you have to send yours back to get the $50 "rebate" bringing the price back down to $99. I guess it's because so many PSUs are going bad they want to stock up on repairable units as discussed above.

There's a guy who fixes them for much cheaper, you know.

[windracer]

New power supply arrived, I installed it, and my S3 is happy again.

[magnus]

Originally Posted by windracer

New power supply arrived, I installed it, and my S3 is happy again.

Good to hear. I guess summer was the best time to have a problem like that. At least was not in the fall.

[uw69]

A quick followup, after figuring out which end of the soldering iron to use , I replaced 4 capacitors that were bulging and the power supply works fine now.

While soldering is something I think anyone can do, to do it well requires a lot of skill and practice. But for those first timers like me, soldering can be accomplished by a novice.

[unitron]

Originally Posted by uw69

A quick followup, after figuring out which end of the soldering iron to use , I replaced 4 capacitors that were bulging and the power supply works fine now.

While soldering is something I think anyone can do, to do it well requires a lot of skill and practice. But for those first timers like me, soldering can be accomplished by a novice.

See, I told you that you could do it.

[dlfl]

Originally Posted by uw69

A quick followup, after figuring out which end of the soldering iron to use , I replaced 4 capacitors that were bulging and the power supply works fine now.

While soldering is something I think anyone can do, to do it well requires a lot of skill and practice. But for those first timers like me, soldering can be accomplished by a novice.

Great! I disagree that soldering well requires a lot of skill and practice. For a person of average skill, doing 10 or 20 joints should be enough practice. You need some knowledge of what good and bad joints look like and common mistakes that result in bad joints, but that can easily be acquired from the web or a friend who knows. IMHO it doesn't begin to require the skill and practice that good golfing does.

[unitron]

Originally Posted by dlfl

Great! I disagree that soldering well requires a lot of skill and practice. For a person of average skill, doing 10 or 20 joints should be enough practice. You need some knowledge of what good and bad joints look like and common mistakes that result in bad joints, but that can easily be acquired from the web or a friend who knows. IMHO it doesn't begin to require the skill and practice that good golfing does.

Allow me to amend your remarks to indicate that we're talking about through-hole, single layer circuit board soldering here.

Surface mount device removal and replacement, like crypto-chip swapping, isn't where one wants to begin learning to solder.