Pansat 3500s/sd Dead

[milocas]

Hello, I'm new to this forums, But not to the Fta world. I been in this Hobby for a good 7/10 years. But I'm Experiencing a bit of downside of the Pansat 3500. I have two Pansat's that worked wonderful, Till last year that two of mine 3500 decided to leave me. I've jtag the other one to life, But my other one just doesnt want to come back. I check the voltage on it, It's fine, I tried jtag it for atleast 10 times already, Caps are fine except for one cap the seemed to leak but not sure about that. I'll take a picture of the cap im talking about, Number is C5. If anybody out there who's has experiecned this type of problem, Please help me......Thanks in advance!!!

 

[milocas]

He is the C5 Cap.....

 

[skysurfer]

If the power supply and fuse check out fine, then your motherboard is probably "fried" (what supposedly happened to my friend's receiver) and you may be able to get it fixed for free or be SOL and have to pay to fix it depending on if you are in the warranty perior or what Pansat wants to do when you send it back to them.

I believe the motherboard repair is about $200, so you might just declare it a total loss if it is going to be you ponying up the repair money.

My friend sent his back to Pansat as it was under warranty, and they took care of it for free (the work order said "fried motherboard" on it and had the repair price crossed through when the receiver came back from Pansat).

I think the receiver may have a defect since I've heard your and my friend's story posted many times in the forums in the last few months.

 

[milocas]

If the power supply and fuse check out fine, then your motherboard is probably "fried" (what supposedly happened to my friend's receiver) and you may be able to get it fixed for free or be SOL and have to pay to fix it depending on if you are in the warranty perior or what Pansat wants to do when you send it back to them.

I believe the motherboard repair is about $200, so you might just declare it a total loss if it is going to be you ponying up the repair money.

My friend sent his back to Pansat as it was under warranty, and they took care of it for free (the work order said "fried motherboard" on it and had the repair price crossed through when the receiver came back from Pansat).

I think the receiver may have a defect since I've heard your and my friend's story posted many times in the forums in the last few months.

Thanks....How does it get fried? I hook it up to the TV and get this "Thump" sounds.....Plus my Heatsink is warm after a few mins....Soo maybe i'll just sell it cheap

 

[mr.crane]

Thanks....How does it get fried? I hook it up to the TV and get this "Thump" sounds.....Plus my Heatsink is warm after a few mins....Soo maybe i'll just sell it cheap

I do not believe it is the mother board it is capacitor check following
the big cap 68uf -400volts, i had one unit that after replacing 5L0380 R, it looks
a voltage regulator, has 5 legs. it has a heat sink.replaced and unit fired up.

 

[gillham]

Based on the photo that cap is definitely leaking (unless there is one right next to it out of the photo that is leaking) and at a minimum it needs replacement. I don't know if that board's design will toast anything else after the cap failed, or if something failed that toasted the cap. My experience with bad caps has been that replacing them usually fixes the issue, most of the time with no collateral damage.

I would say order a couple caps and the mentioned regulator and swap them out, if you can't get Pansat to fix it for free.

Since you can get a used Coolsat 5k/6k for $30 most of the time, I wouldn't recommend investing too much into a toasted receiver. A few dollars in parts and some time isn't too bad if it works.

How cheap is cheap?

 

[milocas]

Got a new 68uf 450V cap....Will replace with update on what happens!!!

 

[sidha]

Hello, I'm new to this forums, But not to the Fta world. I been in this Hobby for a good 7/10 years. But I'm Experiencing a bit of downside of the Pansat 3500. I have two Pansat's that worked wonderful, Till last year that two of mine 3500 decided to leave me. I've jtag the other one to life, But my other one just doesnt want to come back. I check the voltage on it, It's fine, I tried jtag it for atleast 10 times already, Caps are fine except for one cap the seemed to leak but not sure about that. I'll take a picture of the cap im talking about, Number is C5. If anybody out there who's has experiecned this type of problem, Please help me......Thanks in advance!!!

You say you have two identical units? Why not just remove the power supply board from the working 3500 and place it inside the dead unit? See if it will boot-up with a known to be good power supply. If not, can you successfully J-tag to access the processor / RAM and retrieve identities? If so, then erase & reflash. At least this should end all speculation about a power supply failure. I hope the first step is sufficient and that you still possess a working 3500 for a temporary donor.

FWIW, capacitor C-5, the largest cap, is glued to the PC board on my 2500 power supply. I think what you see is normal. The glue on mine is turning brown, not a good thing, because that is characteristic of an acidic glue with a reputation of dissolving component leads and PC traces as it ages and turns from a dull yellow to a dark brown. Yours looks different, but I doubt it's leakage from a cap gone bad.


-sidha

 

[Inno]

It's really hard to tell from the photo if that cap is leaking or if it's glue sometimes used to hold larger caps in place. Generally when (or before) a cap starts leaking it will look like the top is slightly raised, instead of being flat it's protruding a bit. I know there's a thread on here somewhere about leaking caps, I think in a Pansat receiver.

 

[Inno]

Found it, here it is. Around post 18 there are some pics and some more in 21. Start reading around there for what to look for.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/108266-broken-pansat-3500-a.html

 

[skysurfer]

Thanks....How does it get fried?

I have no idea how it got fried. My friend told me the receiver didn't boot up or work, I just checked out the power supply/fuse for him (in case it was a power supply issue I could fix) and then helped him contact Pansat to get it fixed under warranty. They are the ones who wrote "fried motherboard" on the work order and I don't know if that is their standard for "I don't know why" or if they have some way to determine that.

 

[sidha]

leakage or glue?

One other thing I noticed is that on both of my Pansats, the glue used to secure the SMPS DC primary cap is applied only to the bottom edge of the cap near the edge of the PC board, where there are no components blocking access, like there are on the other side of the cap. Only about 1/3 of the outer bottom edge of the cap is cemented. I've never seen clear cement used on a Pansat, must be a clone.

The dried remains of leaked electrolyte will begin to wash away with a little water on a swab. Which suggests that you could also scrape off a tiny amount and give it a brief taste test. If not glue, it will dissolve in saliva and you will be able to taste it. The glue Pansat uses is not water soluble. I'll still bet on it being a general purpose glue or cement - with no flavour.

-sidha

 

[milocas]

Well it was glue....I changed a few more caps...I got nothing, I give up!!!

 

[Inno]

Have you looked at this thread?
404 - Whoops Page Not Found

Look at capacitors 13 and 14 and read the above thread.

 

[sidha]

Progress

I'm curious if you had 1st stage success with any of the J-tag attempts. By that I mean did it handshake to ID the processor and type of flash? Or were all attempts failures to communicate, no response? Just wondering about any signs of life, because the problem could be with the J-tag procedure -- interconnections, settings, computer. Also, still wondering if you have the other unit with a known good power supply to swap.
My last thoughts, if you have given up.

-sidha

 

[milocas]

I changed the C13,14 caps......I have jatg another pansat 3500s/sd for a buddy of mines, with a success.....But it seems mine wont come back!!