Some of my previous repairs:
www.reef2reef.com
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FixReef is now also on YouTube!
And as always, uncensored, updated and corrected versions of my repair articles are a quick internet search away.
It's been awhile since I wrote about repairing an AI Hydra light. This time I got a Hydra 26 HD with the claimed problem that it just does not turn on.
No problem, I thought. This will be an easy fix, I thought. If that was the case, there would not have been an article about it.
So buckle up, we are approaching the case of a prior repair attempt!
The first sign of trouble is actually right on the surface. There is no LED indicator and the reset button is missing:
But the real trouble is inside.
Hydra consists of two boards sandwiched together and help in place by several connectors soldered directly to the board with no additional support.
If you don't have experience separating them, there is a good chance you'll end up ripping them off and separating traces on the board. Then, there is no longer an easy fix.
Here's what one of the boards inside this poor Hydra looked like:
As you can see, not only the connector on the left is missing, but also half of the pads on the board that used to hold it in place.
The main board is not in much better shape:
There is quite a bit of corrosion and salt around the board. We'll give it a good ultrasonic clean soon enough.
But first, let's fix the connector and see if it at least tries to turn on.
Here's a close up of what the board looked like prior to the repair:
From this, we can clearly see that two traces are gone and need to be repaired. Let's clean it up and extend the traces:
Now is the time to put on a new connector. This is not a typical female header connector. First, it's shorter. Second, it also allows male pins to go all the way through and to the bottom of the connector. Otherwise, the existing male pins on the other board would not fit properly.
Now, we solder it in and cover exposed traces with some conformal coating to keep everything in place:
Now that the connector is replaced, I attempted to reassemble and test. The light came on, but the red and the blue channels were off. There is more work ahead.
The easy part first, what's wrong with the red channel? Turned out to be a single blown LED:
Replacing LEDs on Hydra's is actually not as easy. The thermal profile is extremely important. LED modules are made of a combination of the aluminum backing and the composite layer on top. If overheated, the composite gets delaminated from the aluminum backing and there is no longer any heat exchange.
But we got the red channel to work after all:
Now to the blue channel. Remember all the corrosion I mentioned before? It was quite bad:
I have a batch of boards to clean anyway, so let's give it a spin:
The board looks much better now, but the damage is already done:
That last one looks especially bad. In fact that's one of the LED drivers, and it is responsible for the blue channel.
When attempted to remove it, this happened:
No option but to replace with a nice brand new and high quality part:
Soldering looks really nice and clean here:
And with this, the blue channel is working again. And so is the entire light:
Trust me, I fully understand that the reaction to a broken item is to try to take it apart to see what happened. But in some cases this leads to further damage that may be more significant than the original problem. That's the case with this light. In addition to replacing the connector and repairing broken traces, I also had to replace the reset button and the LED indicator that were broken off the board.
Radion XR30 shuts off at high intensity on blue channel - repair
Some of my previous repairs: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/radion-xr30-complete-no-light-repair.792711/ https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/radion-xr15-doesnt-power-on-due-to-corrosion-repair.809136/ https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/another-attempt-at-fixing-apex-eb832.804717/ And as always...
www.reef2reef.com
Another attempt at fixing Apex EB832
Some of my previous repairs: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/radion-xr30-complete-no-light-repair.792711/ https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/radion-lights-board-level-repair.774331/ https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ai-hydra-fan-connector-repair-significant-corrosion.793402/ First off, let me...
www.reef2reef.com
Radion XR30 complete no light repair
My previous electronic equipment repairs Radion XR15: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/radion-lights-board-level-repair.774331/#post-8197536 A fellow reefer mailed me their Ecotech Radion for repair service as it's long been out of warranty. The unit turns on briefly before shutting down and...
www.reef2reef.com
FixReef is now also on YouTube!
And as always, uncensored, updated and corrected versions of my repair articles are a quick internet search away.
It's been awhile since I wrote about repairing an AI Hydra light. This time I got a Hydra 26 HD with the claimed problem that it just does not turn on.
No problem, I thought. This will be an easy fix, I thought. If that was the case, there would not have been an article about it.
So buckle up, we are approaching the case of a prior repair attempt!
The first sign of trouble is actually right on the surface. There is no LED indicator and the reset button is missing:
But the real trouble is inside.
Hydra consists of two boards sandwiched together and help in place by several connectors soldered directly to the board with no additional support.
If you don't have experience separating them, there is a good chance you'll end up ripping them off and separating traces on the board. Then, there is no longer an easy fix.
Here's what one of the boards inside this poor Hydra looked like:
As you can see, not only the connector on the left is missing, but also half of the pads on the board that used to hold it in place.
The main board is not in much better shape:
There is quite a bit of corrosion and salt around the board. We'll give it a good ultrasonic clean soon enough.
But first, let's fix the connector and see if it at least tries to turn on.
Here's a close up of what the board looked like prior to the repair:
From this, we can clearly see that two traces are gone and need to be repaired. Let's clean it up and extend the traces:
Now is the time to put on a new connector. This is not a typical female header connector. First, it's shorter. Second, it also allows male pins to go all the way through and to the bottom of the connector. Otherwise, the existing male pins on the other board would not fit properly.
Now, we solder it in and cover exposed traces with some conformal coating to keep everything in place:
Now that the connector is replaced, I attempted to reassemble and test. The light came on, but the red and the blue channels were off. There is more work ahead.
The easy part first, what's wrong with the red channel? Turned out to be a single blown LED:
Replacing LEDs on Hydra's is actually not as easy. The thermal profile is extremely important. LED modules are made of a combination of the aluminum backing and the composite layer on top. If overheated, the composite gets delaminated from the aluminum backing and there is no longer any heat exchange.
But we got the red channel to work after all:
Now to the blue channel. Remember all the corrosion I mentioned before? It was quite bad:
I have a batch of boards to clean anyway, so let's give it a spin:
The board looks much better now, but the damage is already done:
That last one looks especially bad. In fact that's one of the LED drivers, and it is responsible for the blue channel.
When attempted to remove it, this happened:
No option but to replace with a nice brand new and high quality part:
Soldering looks really nice and clean here:
And with this, the blue channel is working again. And so is the entire light:
Trust me, I fully understand that the reaction to a broken item is to try to take it apart to see what happened. But in some cases this leads to further damage that may be more significant than the original problem. That's the case with this light. In addition to replacing the connector and repairing broken traces, I also had to replace the reset button and the LED indicator that were broken off the board.
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