Hi Guys
Well, maybe not a real public service, but I thought I might share my findings for those DIY guys who may benefit from many years of experience.
I do quite a lot of electronic repairs and analysis, after hours, for industrial and commercial clients. My own interests are in hifi and other spheres.
Without doubt, electrolytic caps are by far the most frequent reasons for circuit failure (in my experience). Two recent examples are: a) the purchase of a very clean Behringer mixer here on the forum. Not working. Fault: PSU. The first four caps I suspect are 1000uF (measures 2uF), the second 1000uF (measures 1uF), the third is a 470uF (open circuit) and the fourth is also a 470uF that measures 47uF. (Yes - my meter is working fine thank you.). The second example b): Any SMPS, buck/boost regulator or any form of PSU using high frequency as opposed to the old 50Hz linear PSU we grew up with. Man! These things don't last long. Light fittings are a great example. The box says "xxx" thousand hours life expectancy, but the electronic PSU is a piece of absolute junk!
I have looked into premature failures of light fittings in the commercial space. The PSUs are so cheap! No RFI suppression, no SPD built in, and no EMC consideration. Also SHOCKING Thd (Total Harmonic Distortion) of the current waveform.
Be warned: Cheap light fittings can and will induce a lot of electrical noise in your home, and possibly into your hifi equipment.
Maybe this can be of some benefit to someone.
Well, maybe not a real public service, but I thought I might share my findings for those DIY guys who may benefit from many years of experience.
I do quite a lot of electronic repairs and analysis, after hours, for industrial and commercial clients. My own interests are in hifi and other spheres.
Without doubt, electrolytic caps are by far the most frequent reasons for circuit failure (in my experience). Two recent examples are: a) the purchase of a very clean Behringer mixer here on the forum. Not working. Fault: PSU. The first four caps I suspect are 1000uF (measures 2uF), the second 1000uF (measures 1uF), the third is a 470uF (open circuit) and the fourth is also a 470uF that measures 47uF. (Yes - my meter is working fine thank you.). The second example b): Any SMPS, buck/boost regulator or any form of PSU using high frequency as opposed to the old 50Hz linear PSU we grew up with. Man! These things don't last long. Light fittings are a great example. The box says "xxx" thousand hours life expectancy, but the electronic PSU is a piece of absolute junk!
I have looked into premature failures of light fittings in the commercial space. The PSUs are so cheap! No RFI suppression, no SPD built in, and no EMC consideration. Also SHOCKING Thd (Total Harmonic Distortion) of the current waveform.
Be warned: Cheap light fittings can and will induce a lot of electrical noise in your home, and possibly into your hifi equipment.
Maybe this can be of some benefit to someone.
