Tuzne Stream 6105 melted plug and housing

[chaseadam]

Repost from Lighting filtration and other equipment. Thanks to James77 for the referral to the sponsored forum.

The thermistor or some other electrical component attached to the plug inside the main line housing overheated to the point of melting the plastic housing along with an electrical burning smell.

I do not believe water was the culprit, but can never know for sure around aquariums.

I have replaced both sides of the plug as the heat melted the male plug inside the female plug, but the pump does not operate. It pulls 0.05 amps and I have double checked the correct polarity. The Tuzne transformer is putting out 24VDC.

Has anyone experienced this? Anyone have advice on how to troubleshoot the electronics (voltages, etc.)? It is possible the heat damaged the speed control circuit.

Pictures of the housing:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0ByKYdk2V0X2dMnFjekZOT2c3LW8
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0ByKYdk2V0X2dRl9FT3RrQmRFczA
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0ByKYdk2V0X2dWEM4aUkxc0REclk

 

[rvitko]

This part is a capacitor and it serves to cushion the voltage, it absorbs the small peaks and valleys in the 24V DC, it will typically burn in the event of a power surge or if the pump was jammed causing a very high current draw to keep running (calcium build up on the shaft). This will also happen if water gets between the socket and plug and creates a short, usually when this happens the plug and socket fuse together as well.

 

[chaseadam]

I figured it was something to buffer surges (thermistor, capacitor, etc).

Can you provide specs of that capacitor?

I cleaned the propeller, but it spun relatively freely before I cleaned it.

Any advice on troubleshooting the lack of operation after replacing the port?

 

[rvitko]

It could be the motor has died or shorted and that is the root cause, it actually must be a resistor, it has 5N390K 135+ written on it. I can send one prewired to a socket. The power supply also has numerous safeties and it could be the power supply is out, I would check its output voltage.

 

[chaseadam]

I believe that is a 39pF ceramic capacitor.

I tested the power supply and it reads 24VDC on my crappy multimeter. I will hook it up my the oscilloscope later this week to verify how smooth the DC is.

Is there an electrical troubleshooting flow chart for determining if the motor died?

Shall I PM my address? This device is beyond its warranty period.

 

[rvitko]

I assumed it was a cap but I found no Farad rating so I was doubting myself. For the most part, I just swap the parts as I am told.

A watt meter will give an answer on the motor, if the watt draw is very low or very high, outside the rating, the motor has an issue.

I have no problem sending the part by snail mail.

You might also check the power supply under load by testing at the receptacle back end with everything connected.