Repairing Apex 2016 Eb832

[TORX]

*****Disclaimer****
Taking this unit apart will most likely void any warranty you have and if your not careful or know what your doing you could destroy your Energy Bar 832. If your unit is under warranty be smart and send it back to Neptune for repairs.

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Now that the disclaimer is out of the way...

A member here had sent me an Apex EB832 that had 2 outlets not working.
We had thought it might be the TRIAC that stopped working, a repair that I have done a few times now. As I learned a little through this project, the EB832 does not use TRIAC outlets like the EB8. The EB832 uses relay switches on all 8 outlets.

After opening the EB832 I found 2 blown resistors. They did their job by blowing when some faulty equipment was plugged in, but this is not a repair covered under warranty obviously. I reached out to a friend who helped me figure out the missing piece of the resistor and after some testing and math, it was found to be a Current-Sensing Chip Resistors 0.008Ohms 1W 2512 chip.

I found the Current-Sensing Chip Resistors 0.008Ohms 1W 2512 chips that I plan on ordering to replace. Hopefully this is what fixes it. Pics to follow in a few minutes.

 

[TORX]

So I started with an Apex 2016 EB832

Flipped it over and remo er the 3 screws from the back.

!!!Please not the warning sticker on the back!!!

That is all it took to remove the front cover. It is still connected by a molex connector and a thin ribbon cable. The ribbon cable can be removed by sliding the one part out

That leaves the front cover separate from the rest.

I also unplugged the cooling fan

The outlets and most the hardware is loose and free at that point. I just tilted it to remove the board with all the outlets. That is when I first noticed the 2 burns on the back plastic, and from there the blown resistors.

It was pretty obvious which ones.

Now I just wait on parts...

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

 

[TORX]

Parts ordered, hopefully they will get here quick enough that I can return it on the weekend.

 

[TORX]

Parts were delivered today. Ordered Sunday and delivered by 3:30pm Tuesday. https://www.digikey.ca/ is my new spot to order electronics. Price was next to nothing and so was the FedEx overnight shipping. Total cost was $15.12 with taxes and shipping. I highly recommend them.

Here is what a blown resistor looks like....

This is what it should look like...

I was able to replace both the resistors and reassemble. Luckily the outlets fallback was set to ON so I was able to test the outlets. Something I had not thought of in advance. Outlet 5 worked perfectly, however outlet 4 was still blinking fast. That means the AC outlet is ON and the load on that outlet exceeds 7 Amps; this indicates an overcurrent condition which must be addressed immediately.

I opened it back up and cleaned up the area more to find that it was not an overcurrent, the trace wire under the resistor was also damaged when the resister blew. I cleaned it up even more after the below picture. I scraped the PCB board to reveal the trace and reconnected by soldering a copper strand. I could have probably also bypassed the trace with a small enough gauge wire as well. I covered it with 2 layers of electrical tape and mounted the resister back to the board. You can see the broken trace below.

I tested it repeatedly to make sure everything was secure before closing it and powering it on. Good as new and back to the owner in a few days.

 

[Josh]

Torx Aquarium Electronics Repair Opening soon!

 

[TORX]

Torx Aquarium Electronics Repair Opening soon!

I am just trying to keep myself busy while still off of work. I am looking at a small business, but not related to electronics repair.

Ran the EB832 all night with a light on outlet 5 and a MAG18 on outlet 4. I power cycled it this morning twice more with a load on 4 and 5. I must have done something right.