Need help identifying semiconductor inside Apex

[jelazar]

My Apex is broken. I unboxed it last month and started running it on my frag tank to get the hang of Fusion and the new interface. Then one day it went kaput. Since I bought it 18 months ago, Neptune says it's out of warranty.

So I opened it up to see if there are any obvious signs of damage. It looks to me like a surface mount capacitor (C34) overheated.









I've already purchased a replacement controller, but I'd like to try to fix this one myself to have as a backup.

Do you agree that C34 is probably the culprit? And do you know what the capacitance and voltage should be for a replacement part? I have a $30 digital multimeter, and I think I can check capacitance with it. But that won't tell me what the part's capacitance is supposed to be. There are no markings on any of the capacitors. I've asked Neptune for the stats but they won't provide that level of support. I could measure C33 and assume it's the same as C34 because the board architecture looks similar. But I don't know if that's a reasonable assumption.

I realize that once the capacitor failed, other parts may have been damaged too. But I think it's worth trying to replace the part that's obviously failed and see whether it works.

 

[Sleepydoc]

I think it's probably a safe bet that it's the same as C33. The question I have is why did it fail? It's possible the capacitor was just bad, but it could be that the capacitor is the symptom rather than the cause

 

[Salty1962]

Looks like it arched across the resistor and memorial chip. Not good Do you get voltage or continuity across the resistor?

 

[jelazar]

I think it's probably a safe bet that it's the same as C33. The question I have is why did it fail? It's possible the capacitor was just bad, but it could be that the capacitor is the symptom rather than the cause

No idea why it failed. There were no obvious power surges in the house and none of the other electronics in the house were damaged; not even my old school Aquacontroller that runs on the same outlet as the Apex. The Apex wasn't controlling anything so there were no power loads. The Apex controller was very new so there's no trace of corrosion from salt in the air.

I'll give others who might have an old spare board time to chime in on what the capacitance might be for a good C34. If I don't get more info, I could remove both C34 and C33, and test and compare their values.

 

[jelazar]

Looks like it arched across the resistor and memorial chip. Not good Do you get voltage or continuity across the resistor?

I haven't tried to measure the capacitor's values because I don't know what they're supposed to be. If I measure it and it's 0.22 microfarads, is that what it's supposed to be? Or is it supposed to be 0.47 microfarads but it's too damaged to work properly? See what I mean?

 

[jelazar]

Thanks for your inputs, and I'm open to other good ideas. I haven't made any progress this week because I'm holding a bunch of fish for a local reefer while he moves house, and I'm dealing with a brook or velvet outbreak in the holding tank.

 

[Tony Elenbaas]

It looks like C34 was reworked, there is flux from wire solder and the solder joints are more bulbous than the other joints. It looks like there may be a crack in the middle, heat one side of cap, if it is cracked the piece will move. I doubt if this is the problem, those are probably just filter caps for noise. What are the symptoms?

 

[jelazar]

Symptoms:
The Apex lost all external connectivity. It dropped off of Fusion and I couldn't access it through my computer browser either. Fusion started complaining that the firmware was old. But when I tried running the firmware update wizard, the wizard couldn't find the Apex. Probably because of the old firmware, the display remained backlit but wouldn't display data. (I think the display is a symptom of losing connectivity, and not a root problem.) All the status lights on the Apex controller unit indicated correctly, including the ethernet port lights. The connected EB-8 flashed yellow. Neptune scheduled a telephone session to try to get the Apex connected and they exhausted their troubleshooting.

There's so much flux and it appears to have sprayed everywhere that I thought this might be a result from overheating. It's even splattered over the top of the nearby op-amp chip.

 

[Tony Elenbaas]

Sorry for the delay. If the display is blank and no communication, it sounds like the micro is not functioning, could be it lost its firmware or a hardware issue. Although I don't know if the status would be working if that was the case. Does apex offer repair service?

 

[jelazar]

Does apex offer repair service?

They do, but they'll only warranty the repair for 60 days. If they're not confident in their repairs, neither am I. I've already purchased a new Apex control unit.

My interest in exploring whether I can repair the damaged one is to have a backup. I can replace the cap if I can identify it. If that fixes the problem, great. If the problem turns out to be more than that, I'm only out a few bucks for the part and my time. And in the process I've learned a bunch about surface mount components!

 

[Strawberry]

They do, but they'll only warranty the repair for 60 days. If they're not confident in their repairs, neither am I. I've already purchased a new Apex control unit.

My interest in exploring whether I can repair the damaged one is to have a backup. I can replace the cap if I can identify it. If that fixes the problem, great. If the problem turns out to be more than that, I'm only out a few bucks for the part and my time. And in the process I've learned a bunch about surface mount components!

I’m researching Apex components because I’m interested in building my own controller. Is the one that you showed in this thread one that has wireless communication ability (like it could send notifications to your phone)? I’m curious what type of component is used for this.

 

[TheHarold]

I’m researching Apex components because I’m interested in building my own controller. Is the one that you showed in this thread one that has wireless communication ability (like it could send notifications to your phone)? I’m curious what type of component is used for this.

It just needs WiFi communication, then Fusion (there online server) will contact your phone. It does not have cellular connectivity, if that answers your question.

 

[Strawberry]

It just needs WiFi communication, then Fusion (there online server) will contact your phone. It does not have cellular connectivity, if that answers your question.

Well, yes and no. I’m wondering how the controller goes from interpreting the input values, comparing them to the PLC, and determining what fault is associated with the signal that is out of normal operating parameters. I get that this is done through the programming. My question is how it sends that “fault” code from the controller, using your WiFi signal, to send a notification to your phone. What components are used to complete this task?

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

Symptoms:
The Apex lost all external connectivity. It dropped off of Fusion and I couldn't access it through my computer browser either. Fusion started complaining that the firmware was old. But when I tried running the firmware update wizard, the wizard couldn't find the Apex. Probably because of the old firmware, the display remained backlit but wouldn't display data. (I think the display is a symptom of losing connectivity, and not a root problem.) All the status lights on the Apex controller unit indicated correctly, including the ethernet port lights. The connected EB-8 flashed yellow. Neptune scheduled a telephone session to try to get the Apex connected and they exhausted their troubleshooting.

There's so much flux and it appears to have sprayed everywhere that I thought this might be a result from overheating. It's even splattered over the top of the nearby op-amp chip.

These are exactly the same failure modes I experienced in December.

 

[theatrus]

These are exactly the same failure modes I experienced in December.

My flash wore out. Replacement:

Fixing a broken APEX Classic main unit

A few weeks ago my APEX Classic (it wasn't classic when I bought it!) had failed, in a disastrous way: the system had effectively locked up and did not respond to inputs or control any outputs. Upon further debugging, it was even latching up after rebooting, usually a short while into the boot...

www.reef2reef.com

And the yellow stuff is heavy heavy handed poorly cleaned flux from cheap assembly.

 

[laverda]

What model Apex is it?