trying to hack 10V control into Evergrow D120

Sn8kbyt said:
I have rebuilt I bet 20 power supplys for LCD monitors due to blown capacitors. Pretty easy to do.
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Point is .. you shouldn't have to.. I've thrown out plenty of MB's that "maybe" could be fixed (the recap industry didn't really take off did it??) and have at least 3 computer power supplies sitting in the basement w/ leaky/blown caps.. Some so shoehorned into the guts that it is possible but an annoying task.. Not to mention figuring out which ones are bad, partially bad, good but prone to going ect... at least for most people..
no it is China's answer to "planned obsolescence".. ;)
I think I have replaced all the PS on our work computers except those older than 13 years (yep got a few ancient ones still kicking around).
As to mb's only japanese ss caps for me .. now.. I'm really tired of it...

Capacitors are a common component on motherboards, and a few years ago lots and lots of them began failing. They blew up, they burst, the little aluminum cans cracked, popped, and leaked gooey brown electrolyte all over the place. Motherboards from almost every maker suffered from this problem, leaving users stuck with out of warranty boards that no one wanted back, and no longer worked.
The problem of burst capacitors was an industry wide epidemic, although ABIT suffered the worst of it by far. What caused poor quality electrolytic capacitors to burst after 3 years or so is a story of industrial espionage, stolen chemical recipe's, and cut rate electronic component prices. Motherboard makers learned a good lesson (we hope), and thankfully for consumers the use of higher quality Japanese-made electrolytic capacitors, and conductive polymer solid-state aluminum capacitors has grown dramatically. The latter are the type of capacitors mostly found on videocards, or in the CPU's power supply circuitry. Solid state capacitors improve overall stability, and last significantly longer than the electrolytic variety.
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http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2113

apparently the lesson is NOT learned..globally..

As to the above picture.. how much to replace the 4 caps??? one dollar???? how many would even attempt it? 5%?.. How many would just buy a new driver?? 90%???
 
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Oreo after I fixed 2 of mine and got good at it I turned it into a money maker. All the people I knew that had bad stuff that they didn't want to pay to get rid of I took off of their hands for free, fixed them in free time and sold them for almost 100% profit.

I did buy the pricey caps though over the cheap China ones for repairs so it ended up on average costing me $3-$4 instead of 50 cents!
 
To replace caps?
Maybe $0.10 if you buy the caps with another order of stuff. If you go to radioshack, $2 max.
 
Sn8kbyt said:
Oreo after I fixed 2 of mine and got good at it I turned it into a money maker. All the people I knew that had bad stuff that they didn't want to pay to get rid of I took off of their hands for free, fixed them in free time and sold them for almost 100% profit.

I did buy the pricey caps though over the cheap China ones for repairs so it ended up on average costing me $3-$4 instead of 50 cents!
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One mans junk is another mans treasure.. I commend your "recycling" efforts.. and entrepreneurial spirit but again the orig. owners are just plain out (unless you include the "savings" of not having to pay to recycle it) .....and for a manufacturer of such products.. what would have been the cost of doing it right?.. 1% less of profit.. at most...

sorry.. O/T really... I'm done w/ this branch.. Subject (bad caps) just annoys me..

(on a person note and the "straw that broke the camels back" I had bought 2 ACER computers as x-mas presents (yes el cheapo computers @ $900 for 2) for our kids and BOTH died at almost the same time .. 1 yr after end of warranty.. Replacement MB's from the manuf were like $160 each w/ no real guarantee that they also would last more than a few years.. Bought my own and plugged them in.. for less than $80 each.. Both are still working w/ "better brand" MB's (totally gave up on Microstar the OEM for those boards) , though as secondary systems since technology advances do exceed the lifespan of the boards.. in a certain sense. Could I have recapped multi-layered PCB"s and still had a functioning MB?
How much is my time and parts worth?? I just think it is sad that, in a sense, we are so complacent.. On a side unrelated to the unrelated rant, I also had a small Campbell Housfield pressure washer that failed in 2 years.. It cost $90 new....and the part that failed.. a $2 retail piece of plastic.. The sad part.. one of the few parts "unavailable",, and being an odd size for o-ring fit.. no manner of creative reconstruction worked for me.. hours in time and a few bucks in attempted substitutes...didn't bother me so much that the plastic part had failed, bothered me that I could no longer get it.. yet I could get the compressor part replacement itself. at over $100,,,, grrrr,,,,)

Either an incorrect calculation of the service life or a faulty electrolyte results in the same failure scenario. However, bursting of an electrolytic capacitor, even if it has reached its end of life, is an extraordinary process. Until the widespread appearance of the capacitor plague problem, it could be assumed that electrolytic capacitors would very gradually dry out over time, showing no visible abnormalities
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
historical....
http://techreport.com/news/19178/court-documents-suggest-dell-mishandled-capacitor-plague
Dell suffered from the capacitor plague more than others, shipping "at least 11.8 million computers" with potentially faulty components between May 2003 and July 2005. Worse still, 97% of affected Dell OptiPlex systems were "expected to cause problems . . . over a three-year period." Nevertheless, Dell attempted to play it cool:

In one e-mail exchange between Dell customer support employees concerning computers at the Simpson Thacher & Bartlett law firm, a Dell worker states, "We need to avoid all language indicating the boards were bad or had 'issues' per our discussion this morning." . . . In other documents about how to handle questions around the faulty OptiPlex systems, Dell salespeople were told, "Don't bring this to customer's attention proactively" and "Emphasize uncertainty."
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I have another fixture with drivers very similar to the broken drivers you have pictured. It looks like the new drivers may support PWM dimming or analog dimming via DIM1 and DIM2 like the old ones.

Here's are some pictures of the driver I have: https://copy.com/GXSIkAd1hHww

This bottom connector is unused on my fixture and has 3 pins labeled +12V-D, VDIM+, and D-GND. I'm hoping these are for PWM dimming.

20130826_140929.jpg
 
Bump. This is a good hack thread. There are a few details that could use more discussion though.
 
Old ford radios from the mid to late 80s had problems with electrolytic capacitors leaking too. The electrolyte would leak out of the bottom and get between the + and - leads where they soldered into the board and eventually would arc and carbonize the circuit board which then became conductive. I repaired/replaced so many of those I don't ever want to see another one again. Glad I saw this thread. I'm planning a similar mod on an OR Arctic S026. I think I may use proportionally controlled actuators and just attach them to the dimming knobs already present. That way I don't have to break the seal and void the warranty.
 
Coral Dilema said:
Old ford radios from the mid to late 80s had problems with electrolytic capacitors leaking too. The electrolyte would leak out of the bottom and get between the + and - leads where they soldered into the board and eventually would arc and carbonize the circuit board which then became conductive. I repaired/replaced so many of those I don't ever want to see another one again. Glad I saw this thread. I'm planning a similar mod on an OR Arctic S026. I think I may use proportionally controlled actuators and just attach them to the dimming knobs already present. That way I don't have to break the seal and void the warranty.
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Coral Dilema,that would be GREAT considering I ordered them.I would even be gracious enough to send you the parts needs if you walk me through the process.I could pm you my cell needed to order the parts :dance:
 
JaysonA said:
reviving an old thread i know, but just wanted to thank everyone. I modded my LED and added an RJ45 keystone jack for a clean install. Works great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMnxrO8Fbug&list=UUq8BtjRuPNW5xFTMFPWYGog
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First, these are all really amazing mods (I'm an idiot with electricity :clown:).

Second, what do folks think of the build quality of these lights (d120/u120)? I've been suggesting these to folks after I got one, but I just want to make sure they are reliable and well made (aren't going to die to easily or burn my house down).

So, in terms of component and build quality, what is the verdict?
 
oredith said:
mind sharing a bit more info about how you did it?.. :D
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I used a multimeter and tested each of the 4 wires that come from the driver to the pot dimmer. I found a pair with constant 10V and another pair that the voltage varied from 0-10 volts when the pot was turned. I jumped the constant 10v pair(this turns the unit on), and wired the 0-10v the the keystone jack on the appropriate pins.

I use 2 ports on the EB8 and 1 plug (2 ports) on the VDM.

My code on the EB8 ports, this makes the port come on automatically if > 1%, and off if <1%. WhiteDimmer is one of the VDM ports.

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Outlet WhiteDimmer = ON Then ON
If Outlet WhiteDimmer = OFF Then OFF
If Sump > 81.0 Then OFF

It works very well. I also have clouds and Lightning working(Copied and modified code from someone on Apex forums)

Hope this helps.

EDIT: I dont know if you can tell in the video, but I used a CPU fan connector to make the connection from the keystone to the 0-10v connector, I did ZERO soldering or cutting of wires, fully reversible.
 
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