thermionic
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2004
- Messages
- 1,671
I have a pair of Danish-made motorised desks. One is for my CAD workstation + business PC, the other for my 'scope and general nerding kit.
The one I use for my workbench goes from knee to shoulder height. It's the deluxe model. List price is around £800. The PC one is the standard model, costing around £550. They are pretty similar in construction, except that the deluxe model has an IEC connector for power and the cheapo an SMPS wallwart. The deluxe is more rugged and boasts a 'Bosch motor', but I suspect the cheaper has same but doesn't advertise it.
On Thurs the deluxe one (can lift up to 150KG - weighs well over 100Kg ...) jammed in the furthest upward position. No power and no manual way to bring it down to earth.... I am faced with either fixing it, or forever working standing up.
After an email to the distributor, it becomes apparent the fault is non-trivial.
Lifting 100+KG of desk isn't fun...
So...once I've spent 2-3 hours clanking various pieces of steel apart and figured how to get into the drive circuitry compartment, guess what I find?
The 'deluxe' model has the same wallwart as the other, taped inside, fed by the IEC connector...
I find the motor works when fed with my bench PSU, so establish the SMPS is the culprit.
It's a 30v / 4A WW and feels flimsy for something boasting 120W. There's no way I'm going to buy another and tape it back inside the desk, only for it to fail and me have to repeat the whole disassembly routine... I take my drill and fit a small 2-pin socket above the now defunct IEC connector. I now have one WW, from the cheaper desk, which I have to share between 2 desks.
A whole day of work was lost due to this... a total PITA.
Anyway - if you've read this far without losing the will to live, thanks. I had to share my contempt at the idea of using the same SMPS for 2 products, but taping it inside the more expensive one, thus making servicing a back-breaking task (protecting your back is why you buy these wretched desks!!).
J
The one I use for my workbench goes from knee to shoulder height. It's the deluxe model. List price is around £800. The PC one is the standard model, costing around £550. They are pretty similar in construction, except that the deluxe model has an IEC connector for power and the cheapo an SMPS wallwart. The deluxe is more rugged and boasts a 'Bosch motor', but I suspect the cheaper has same but doesn't advertise it.
On Thurs the deluxe one (can lift up to 150KG - weighs well over 100Kg ...) jammed in the furthest upward position. No power and no manual way to bring it down to earth.... I am faced with either fixing it, or forever working standing up.
After an email to the distributor, it becomes apparent the fault is non-trivial.
Lifting 100+KG of desk isn't fun...
So...once I've spent 2-3 hours clanking various pieces of steel apart and figured how to get into the drive circuitry compartment, guess what I find?
The 'deluxe' model has the same wallwart as the other, taped inside, fed by the IEC connector...
I find the motor works when fed with my bench PSU, so establish the SMPS is the culprit.
It's a 30v / 4A WW and feels flimsy for something boasting 120W. There's no way I'm going to buy another and tape it back inside the desk, only for it to fail and me have to repeat the whole disassembly routine... I take my drill and fit a small 2-pin socket above the now defunct IEC connector. I now have one WW, from the cheaper desk, which I have to share between 2 desks.
A whole day of work was lost due to this... a total PITA.
Anyway - if you've read this far without losing the will to live, thanks. I had to share my contempt at the idea of using the same SMPS for 2 products, but taping it inside the more expensive one, thus making servicing a back-breaking task (protecting your back is why you buy these wretched desks!!).
J
