Duo died today

[Keano]

Guys my Duo which I got the first month it came out 3 years ago has finally packed up. Turned it on picture went off had to reboot and now all I have is a red light.

Nothing at all gets it to boot.

Search on the net tells me it is a common problem with the VU+Duo when it gets over 2 years old. One of the CAPS goes and needs replacing.

Does anyone know anywhere that can fix them ? I not even going to try with my soldering skills.

Cheers

[sonic1]

I got the caps from the bay with mine and had a m8 do the work.

Don't pay over the odds, you know anyone who can solder ?

[dOOds]

Is it a Genuine box or Ferrari??

[Keano]

Its Genuine box mate. Bought it from Norway the week they were released. So I suppose after all these years it was also going to happen.
Don't know anyone who can solder but I'll ask around.

[mdt]

replacing a cap isnt that difficult m8, id never done it before but have managed to fix quite a few cable and sat boxs with bulging caps over the last few years. your looking at £50 probably inc p+p to get it sent away and fixed and thats if its a small part that needs replacing,regards mdt

[dog-man]

Its not difficult. Mine went the same way end of last summer.
I got a replacement cap of a higher spec from M a p l I ns.

A very cheap fix.

I can provide a link to a guide on how to do the repair if there isn't one on this board.

[Roadrunner]

I would also try and do it myself. Youtube is flooded with tips and how to's.
Caps only cost peanuts, and even if you were to buy a soldering kit it would still come a lot cheaper than getting a pro to do it. (and still have the kit for a next project)
I`ve done it myself on couple of boxes (after watching the guides on YT). See under the cover if you can spot a blown cap and how its positioned, if its to close to another cap and you don`t feel too confident you can do it yourself then get a pro, but you wont know until you check. You can also practice on an old board if you have any old equipment (I did)

[dog-man]

The cap in question is not too close to others if I recall correctly.

[Keano]

I've ordered a replacement cap. Not to sure which one has gone though. I'll have another look.
I will try and find someone with a soldering iron.

[dog-man]

I seem to recall that 'C807' is the usual suspect if memory serves me right.

Its all in the guide.

[traveller]

I did my box a couple of weeks ago it was c807 and cost me 58p from ******s. The worse part for me was clearing the solder from the holes, fitting it was easy.

[^^COMPASS^^]

This was taken from the other forum credit goes to user Bluepeter


A couple of nights ago while using the Media Portal Plug-in my Vu+duo froze. My usual course would be to do a hard reset (power off wait 10sec power on) What I was faced with was what now appears to have become know as the "Red Light of Death".......

The repair and what you will need: REMEMBER TO EARTH YOURSELF

1: 25 watt soldering iron.
2: Good quality 60/40 silver solder, eutectic solder 63/37 in an ideal world (do not use plumbers solder eg wickes)
3: Philips screwdriver
4: Cotton Buds... the wife does have her uses.
5: PCB Cleaner (http://www.rapidonline.com/mechanical-fastenings-fixings/flux-remover-and-pcb-cleaner-61602/) not necessary but I am a tad anal.
6: Tin Snips
7: The replacement Electrolytic Capacitor 200uF 16v (Part# (VH41U) £0.49p.

I stripped down my Duo and took the importunity to give it a good clean, especially the fan and now it's almost silent. This RX could be getting on for 3yrs old now and it get heavy/daily use.

One thing I did find, I initially started out using my 15watt iron to remove the old cap, couldn't generate enough heat to melt the old solder, be warned, this is not an environment for blow torches. Take your time and if you don't feel confident in doing the repair use those who have offered their services. I ended up needing to use my 25watt iron to remove the old cap but switched to my 15watt iron to resolder the new one. This leads me to believe the original PCB manufacturer used pretty hard solder (too much tin) in making their boards. 15watt should be sufficient for 99% of electronic soldering.

After you've desoldered the old cap use a cotton bud + pcb cleaner to remove any old flux, crap etc.

On to soldering the new cap in, Tip: do not cut off the legs at this stage. Make sure you get the polarity correct. depending where you source your capacitor from you will see from the attached photos that they are well marked. The have a coloured band running vertically denoting the - (negative) side. This faces the front as you look a the RX (display being the front). I removed the motherboard to do the work as in the long run you'll do a better job and it makes things a whole lot easier.

Once you've soldered the new cap in, snip the unwanted legs off and give the area a quick clean. Job done bar putting the whole thing back together. Tip: take some piccies this will help to remember how the thing came apart (what plugs in where/which way round)

Hope this guide helps.

Regards
Peter



http://www.m a p l i n s.co.uk/p/1f-100v-85c-radial-electrolytic-capacitor-vh16s
price has risen from 49p to 58p since original poster

[Burnham]

Another piece of advice I have seen is not to bother to de-solder the old capacitor. Everyone who has tried says that is the most difficult part of the job.

It is easier just to snip off the old leads just under the old capacitor, then solder the new capacitor to these leads.

[007.4]

That's what I did on my VU+DUO. It made the job much easier and saved removing the whole PCB.

I'm getting quite a little proficient at replacing caps on PSU's. In the last month I've fixed an echolink, a DM7025 and a Vu+DUO. Last year I did an old Thomson digibox.

For desoldering I use "vacuum pump" and/or solder wick.

Why can't the manufacturers put decent quality CAPS in their boxes so that they do not "blow" after just a few years?

[echelon]

thanks for the info people

just fixed this for him using his supplied new cap , it is now a 330 mf 25 volt cap where c807 is on those pics

the old 220 mf 16v c807 didnt look faulty (no bulges or discolouration etc) but the box was stuck with just a red led on beforehand , now it boots up ok and works fine on itv etc

I took heed of the above posts and used the "top down" method to solder in the new one after snipping the legs off just under the old one

this saves stripping down the motherboard and removing it , which you would have to do if soldering it in properly

so the choice is yours for anyone trying it , either correctly solder it in from underneath the mobo after stripping it out of the case, or just snip the legs off and solder onto the stumps from the top, takes 5 minutes to do the latter with a 15 watt iron (I also temporarily moved the sata power lead out of the way too, for better clarity and to prevent any damage)

some people deserve help and the OP is no exception , glad to be of help and good practice for me in case my recent duo ever needs it doing

[dog-man]

When I did mine, there was not enough room for me to snip the cap off so I could solder the new one to the legs.
Perhaps I should invest in a slim pair of snips. Mine was far too large to fit under the cap.

[Keano]

Big thanks to echelon for fixing my receiver. It worked out well I had to visit family who live just a few minutes away from echelon so I dropped it off and picked up a short while later.

Thanks to everyone else for the advice and ideas. The pictures you posted compass were great and a great help for echelon.