[BUILD] CAPI Dual VPR & 51x Floor Box PSU~Official Support Thread

[Toure14]

And 1 more...

 

[kante1603]

O.k.,

someone must chime in now to confirm the mains wiring to be correct.
I'm on holidays and therefore not at home,have only an iPad with me so I can't compare your pics to mine or those in the build manual.
Can you tell us where you've seen the sparkles,and more importantid any fuse blow?I mean the units's mains fuse and rails fuses as well as the house fuse?
Did or does anything light up?

Hard to trace from here,but first we meed to confirm correct wiring (switch is set to 115vac,right?).

If that is good we must do a transformer check as a next step.

Best,

Udo.

 

[Toure14]

No blown fuses, all lights lit up both times I did this, and yes 115Vac...

The sparks initially came from the iec area but I didn't have the panel screwed on tight at first it was loose. I did this because I assumed that I was just checking connections and lights. But when it popped and sparked the first time I shut it off and Tightened all screws and checked connections to IEC and voltage select switch. Then I re-powered it up 10 seconds in it did it again but no sparks this time just a pop....No fuses blown though.

 

[kante1603]

Rob,

Wait until someone can confirm your mains wiring please.Must be done first,sorry.
After that we should "separate" the mains stuff from the rest of the psu meaning lifting the primaries of the transformer to get the rest of the circuit safe.
It might be a faulty mains switch or the voltage selector.
No fuses blown indicates that no high current was there after the mains fuse,so that is kind of a good sign,given the fuses have all the right values and reaction time.
What you can do meanwhile is double check the right fuses being in the right places.Also while on it double check all the parts on board visually,especially the electrolytic capacitors because what confuses me a bit is that "pop" sound.Is any of them becoming round on top or is one even open etc.,does anything smell burnt...........

Best,

Udo

 

[Toure14]

Rob,

Wait until someone can confirm your mains wiring please.Must be done first,sorry.
After that we should "separate" the mains stuff from the rest of the psu meaning lifting the primaries of the transformer to get the rest of the circuit safe.
It might be a faulty mains switch or the voltage selector.
No fuses blown indicates that no high current was there after the mains fuse,so that is kind of a good sign,given the fuses have all the right values and reaction time.
What you can do meanwhile is double check the right fuses being in the right places.Also while on it double check all the parts on board visually,especially the electrolytic capacitors because what confuses me a bit is that "pop" sound.Is any of them becoming round on top or is one even open etc.,does anything smell burnt...........

Best,

Udo

Not sure who ROB is Udo ;-), but If I had to guess it could be a bad IEC or voltage selector switch not sure yet. I am very confident in my soldering and wiring techniques. Nothing smells burnt, all caps and fuses are good upon visual inspection.

How do I perform the transformer check?

How do I check to see if the switches are good?

 

[kante1603]

Pardon me,I swapped names because I'm in contact with other members trying to help at the same time,mea culpa,hahahaha.......

Transformer checking can be done by looking for their dc resistance at least.
You have to disconnect both sides (all wires) from the trafo and measure the primaries and secondaries with your dmm set to ohms.
Each pair will give you a reading although the values will be quite low,but under no circumstances should you get a zero ohms reading.
Same measuring must be done between secondaries and primaries (guess you have a trafo with two primaries,right-otherwise the voltage selector would not work).
Again there shouldn't be any connection between these pairs.

For the switches just ohm them out,either they have a good contact (reading superclose to zero ohms) or are in open condition (superhigh resitance,dmm will go out of range).
If there's anything in between then you must replace this part.

Sorry for swapping names again,

Best,

Udo.

 

[Toure14]

Pardon me,I swapped names because I'm in contact with other members trying to help at the same time,mea culpa,hahahaha.......

Transformer checking can be done by looking for their dc resistance at least.
You have to disconnect both sides (all wires) from the trafo and measure the primaries and secondaries with your dmm set to ohms.
Each pair will give you a reading although the values will be quite low,but under no circumstances should you get a zero ohms reading.
Same measuring must be done between secondaries and primaries (guess you have a trafo with two primaries,right-otherwise the voltage selector would not work).
Again there shouldn't be any connection between these pairs.

For the switches just ohm them out,either they have a good contact (reading superclose to zero ohms) or are in open condition (superhigh resitance,dmm will go out of range).
If there's anything in between then you must replace this part.

Sorry for swapping names again,

Best,

Udo.

Just to clarify Udo,  in order to check the Transformer, remove all transformer leads and connections,  and check for resistance between secondary windings and primary windings?

 

[kante1603]

Just to clarify Udo,  in order to check the Transformer, remove all transformer leads and connections,  and check for resistance between secondary windings and primary windings?

Yes,the windings themselves,then interconnections between the different windings.
All transformer leads removed so it is really out of circuit.

Best,

Udo.

 

[Toure14]

So I took some measurements and this is what I gotfor the transformer:

Brown and Purple wire Primary is    6.3ohms
Gray and Blue wire Primary is        6.3ohms

Red to Red secondary is                  1ohm
Yellow to Yellow secondary is          .8ohms
Orange to Orange secondary is        1ohm
White to White secondary is            3.4ohms
Green to Green secondary is          .8ohms

When I checked the leads to other leads not in the windings, I got 1Mohm which is what I should get correct? This means they aren't shorted to each other anywhere.

The Switches also seem to be good also. I connected my meter across the contacts and got low ohms and high ohms depending on which position it was in.

My connections are also tight and soldered to the FASTON crimp connectors

I'm thinking the problem is either somewhere else or maybe I can retry putting it back together and see what happens?

 

[kante1603]

The readings look correct to me,I compared the wire colours to Jeff's manual some minutes ago.
We have different ones over here in Europe.
All good,pairs match each other,the white/white pair is slightly higher because it is the 48v winding.

I would say give it another try.

When all connections are done plug in the mains at your wall outlet and have the power switch on prior to it.
Please be careful,stand back and see what happens.
Don't want to be responsible to have burnt down your house or you getting hurt or killed!!!

If there's a short in the mains switch or some kind of resistance between the mains contacts your house fuse will blow (given it is working fine of course).

There might have been a residual hair of copper wire from cable stripping,who knows,easy to oversee.

If it still happens then try to locate it again bery carefull,don't tpuch anything!!!

Unplug the mainscord from the wall outlet first then!

Report back please,

good luck,

Udo.

 

[Toure14]

So I'm reporting back with some rather strange news yet again with this PSU of mine. SO I rewired up everything like I mentioned I was going to do Udo, and this time it sparked/popped 1 time from the front of the PSU and not from the back. That confirmed maybe there was a split hair, small fine strand of wire or something caught up in the back upon initial fire up. So I powered it back done took apart the front panel, dusted it clean and the front part of the PSU as well.

Once I fired it back up no sparks or pops but, I lost 48v LED.

This was frustrating because at least when it was sparking here and there I had all 5 LEDs. And on the note of the LEDs they power down slow even after power is completely disconnected I assume thats the caps at work but it takes almost 30 seconds for all the lights to completely die out. Is that normal operation?

Anyways, I decided to check the DC voltages anyway just for the hell of it and of course I got all voltages except 48v. So i commenced to checking the AC voltages with the ground still attached.

I was able to get voltage on both orange terminals but as soon as I put my red lead on the white terminal for 48v it sparked again and low and behold 48v came back????

I am stumped yet again. This tells me the fuses are not blown and something else is wrong but I don't know what?

Nothing is burnt all caps are fine and I reiterate all fuses are in tact....

What now????

 

[kante1603]

Hello,

glad you're still alive
O.k.,leds fading down slowly after powering off is normal since there's no load attached exept of the leds themselves through their resistor.
This will change once modules are connected.

I didn't get what you meant with black and red leads,did you mean the probes?

Anyway,there's something else happening,looks like something is loading down your 48vdc rail.

So what do we have now:
1.A working transformer,you told us the dcr all reading fine,cool because this is the most expensive part.
2.Mains switching and voltage selector seem to work.
3.You have all rails working exept of the +48.

Hard to proceed from here with just my iPad and on vacation in the deepest country.

Did the 48v led come back?

What you can do is further testing by lifting the front wires and look for shorts to sort this out.
And also check the regulators,are they propperly isolated from the chassis.

Running out of ideas here,whished I had my floorbox here to systematic check through the circuit in parallel with you..........

Check also the solder points on the pcb especially in the 48v area.

Udo.

 

[[silent:arts]]

most common failures:
- not properly isolated regulators
- mixed up LM370 and TL783 (make sure the TL783 is IC1 / 48V)

 

[kante1603]

Danke Volker!

 

[Toure14]

most common failures:
- not properly isolated regulators
- mixed up LM370 and TL783 (make sure the TL783 is IC1 / 48V)

Is there anyway to take a reading on the regulators to make sure they are good? if so how?
mines are islotaed but i need to check to see i they are in the right place or if i tightened them to hard

 

[jsteiger]

You can measure resistance between the metal tab of the TL783 and the heatsink side. This should not be a low value. No need for the power to be on for this, just checking for a direct short.

 

[kante1603]

mines are islotaed but i need to check to see i they are in the right place

Only one  TL783 and four LM370 inside,the TL783 must sit in the 48v part of the circuit.

Best,

Udo.

 

[Toure14]

You can measure resistance between the metal tab of the TL783 and the heatsink side. This should not be a low value. No need for the power to be on for this, just checking for a direct short.

Yeah Jeff, all my Regulators are in the right place but 2 are shorted to the heat sinks...does this mean the regs are bad or i pierced/tightened the seal pads too hard?

Coukd that be the cause of the behavior ive been experiencing?

 

[jsteiger]

Both of the 2 negative rails will read a short to the heatsink sides or star ground. This is normal. The 3 positive reg's should not.

Sounds like there is another issue in your 48V circuit somewhere. Dbl check the orientation of the bridge rec for the 48V circuit. You can also post a few good pics of that part of the PCB.

 

[Toure14]

okay Ill post pics of the bottom of my PCB and the top...why are we only allowed to attack 1 picture to a post? or how do i post multiple pics in a post like chunger does?