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LED parcan problem


Jamtastic3

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Ello BR.

I've got a Eurolite Par 64 where the red LED's don't seem to work properly. When you give the can a good knock or two then the red LED's will flicker or come on and then go off after a couple of minutes. So I'm guessing it's a solder issue perhaps...?

Anyone got any ideas as to what to look out for as I haven't got a clue as to what could be the suspect componants.

 

Cheers!

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A dry solder joint is usually visible with a magnifying glass and a bright work light. If you look at Dry solder joint on Google images you will see a ring or moat around the component lead wire. If you gently wiggle the conponent you will see the lead move as there is a small gap between it and the surrounding solder. The solder will usually be discoloured, not bright and shiny. There are a lot of diferent bad joints but I have found that this is the most common.

 

If you search for dry solder joints on Google you will find pictures and articles on how to fix them. You need to reheat the joint and apply fresh, clean solder. You may need to remove excess old solder before you do the repair.

 

As Adam2 says, rework or resolder any joints associated with the red leds.

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The first thing I look for in any repair is a broken wire link...

 

I've repaired so many things from DVD recorders to MAC 250s, and the majority of the time, the fault is just a wire that has broken away. Admittedly, I've not seen inside these units to know if they have one, but my guess would be that there are two PCBs; one for the LEDs and one for power and control...? If that's the case, there's probably a bunch of wires (possibly a ribbon) joining the two boards. That would be first point to check.

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Don, you are a star!

 

Checked out the PCB and there it was: a dry connection on the capacitor for the red LED's. Little bit of a solder and it was fixed. Thanks for the advice.

 

I've got other cans with a few LED's not working in a row, say 3 or four in a row. Could this be another dry solder joint to look into?

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  • 7 months later...

Bumping this thread again.

 

So I've got a few LED cans, still the Eurolite's, with some LED's out. Say 3 or 4 in a row. Sometimes when the intensity changes a 'dodgy' row will flicker at various rates and will either go out or flicker really fast at 100%.

 

Any ideas as to how to fix the LED's?

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if you have leds in a row not working there is almost certainly one led gone open circuit,

 

now I know I am going to get slated for this but this is the quick way to find out which one it is.

 

Identify the row first then in turn short out the leds one by one (breifly) hopefully that will passify the die hards who will probably recomend you short them out with a 1 ohm resistor. when you come across the faulty one the row will light up again.

 

Your next problem is that at some stage you will need to destroy one of your heads to supply parts for the others, because if you start using new leds or even similar ones you will immidiately notice a difference in colour and brightness.

 

so good luck with that.

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if you have leds in a row not working there is almost certainly one led gone open circuit,

 

now I know I am going to get slated for this but this is the quick way to find out which one it is.

 

Identify the row first then in turn short out the leds one by one (breifly) hopefully that will passify the die hards who will probably recomend you short them out with a 1 ohm resistor. when you come across the faulty one the row will light up again.

 

Your next problem is that at some stage you will need to destroy one of your heads to supply parts for the others, because if you start using new leds or even similar ones you will immidiately notice a difference in colour and brightness.

 

so good luck with that.

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Care to explain the term open circuit?

The opposite of short circuit i.e. infinite impedance, neither current nor voltage pass.

 

Thing of a circuit as a loop. Now open one end and there you have it: open circuit. A precise way of saying a gap in a circuit I guess.

 

One of those must make sense to other people.

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