[time-nuts] KS-24361 Power Module Repair

Bob Stewart bob at evoria.net
Fri Apr 10 23:27:13 UTC 2015


This is just a brief report, not a how-to.

I got a KS_24361 with a bad Lucent power module.  Having nothing to lose I thought I'd see if it came apart.  After unsoldering it from the motherboard, I found the usual potting compound.  Fortunately, the compound was only loosely attached to the board in the brick and was easy to pick off.  After that, I used a pair of needle-nose pliers to work the board out of the casing.  In spite of the pic below, I first gently pried up on the corners, in succession, until the corners released.  Then I worked my way toward the middle, until the board came out.  Be aware that there are two small inductors on the top side of the board that have metal covers that will probably stay in the potting compound.  Just leave them there.  When you push it all back together the covers will go back on the inductors.

http://evoria.net/AE6RV/KS/OpenUp.jpg
One corner of the brick was pretty hot while I had it on, so I figured there was a shorted component.  As it turned out, it was a 15uF tantalum cap with a big brown spot on it.

http://evoria.net/AE6RV/KS/BadCap.jpg
Here's the cap removed from the board at the upper left.
http://evoria.net/AE6RV/KS/CapRemoved.jpg

So, ordered the cap, put it on the board, then just pushed the pins into the motherboard for testing.  I didn't even bother soldering it.
http://evoria.net/AE6RV/KS/Testing.jpg
Tests were good, so I stuffed the board back into the casing, and soldered it all back on the motherboard.  I didn't bother repotting the bottom surface of the board.  I attached the repaired KS to my good REF-0, and it's now working.
Bob - AE6RV




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