6100 is toast (literally) help!

[RokleM]

I went downstairs this morning for my daily check before running to work and the tank looked a little "calm". I noticed one of the two channels on my multi controller wasn't lit. Upon further investigation I realized one of my 6100's wasn't running.

I tried various swapping of parts to identify exactly what piece was bad. I thought I smelled something funky in the driver, so I investigated.

I didn't feel comfortable poking around in there, so I couldn't really tell if the wires/connectors on the driver themselves are melted. The one going to the transformer has a little brown on it, but I can't physically see any damage (and it tests fine).

I don't have any clue to the cause. It wasn't in salt/splash area, no signs of a leak, no damage to the other unit, it's on an APC smart UPS with the other pump and no surges/outages that I'm aware of, and the actual pump was cleaned about two weeks back.

Please let me know what I need to do. I'm sure this isn't going to be a quick fix, so I'm going to attempt to find a backup quickly (ouuuchhh says the wallet) so I don't loose any SPS or other inhabitants.

 

[rvitko]

It is hard to say but judging from the pictures it looks like some saltwater possibly entered near the power area? I see a small amount of salt on the top of the plug you are holding and the most severe damage is near where the power plug enters. I have never seen anything quite like that before. I have seen damaged transistors, small black spot, bit of smoke but nothing major like this. Send it in and I will test everything and get it repaired. Turnaround is generally 24 hrs after receipt, see if you can just borrow something in the meantime.

Tunze USA
305 Victor St
Austin TX 78753

 

[RokleM]

Thanks Roger as always.

I can't imagine it's salt damage honestly, unless a drop literally hit that spot an no where else. It's lying in an area surrounded by GCFI outlets, UPS's, other electronics, etc. It would have had to have been a 1 in 1000 chance of hitting that exact spot.

I'll get it shipped today. Depending how bad it will be, you will probably have it tomorrow.

 

[RokleM]

Package is on it's way.

I'm lucky enough to have http://phishybusiness.com/ local, so I picked up a spare. Kind of painful, but at least I will have a spare and something better to run in my frag tank. Ouch.

As well, I felt the plug and could not feel any salt. Just as a sanity check, I visually and physically checked the entire area where equipment resides and I couldn't find any salt residue anywhere. Not saying it's not possible, but I'm not seeing it at this point.

All my contact info is inside the package. Thanks a lot for the help. Please let me know what you find. Yet again one of the many reasons to buy Tunze.

 

[RokleM]

Thanks for the help Roger! It's as good as new.

 

[rvitko]

Thanks, Eric.