Hello Folks..

Just wondering if anyone had a "dead" SC200 lying in a cupboard which they would be willing to sell me the internal power supply card?

I was using my trusty SC200 when all of a sudden the power light was coming on but doing nothing. A quick check of the internals of the SC200 showed a few of the capacitors on the main "power board" have fried :o(

Booooo!

The card itself unscrews really easily and so you would think that pinnacle could supply a new one - NO CHANCE AS USUAL! 

Pinnacle's reply is that I should send the SC200 over to Germany or the likes for them to unscrew a couple of screws and replace the board - and then at the same time charge me an arm and a leg for the previdege of them having used the cheapest components to build the SC200 in the first place!

I have also asked Pinnacle for a circuit diagram so I can purchase the correct capacitors and then solder them myself but no chance once again :o(

Pinnacle do a really good job of NOT keeping their customers happy don't they.

Anyone any suggestions or a circuit diagram????

Andy

If it is "just the caps", then you can TRY simply replacing them with like-value units (another guide here) and see if it works.  It might...

But regardless, that unit is just a bog-stock 5v power supply.  Any 5v replacement supply of appropriate capacity (1A should be plenty...higher-capacity would be fine as well) would work as long as it can be fit into the case.

Cheaper than a replacement...

Wow

Thanks for the "heads up"

I had presumed that it would be a specific psu for that sc200 I had no idea it would be a bog standard 5v replacement - off to search for one :o)

Andy

The "hard part" will be getting a non-Pinnacle PSU to fit...may need new mounting posts, that sort of thing.

IIRC, someone here took a spare switching power supply (perhaps for a Nokia phone...anyone recall for sure?) and simply stuck it in, taped it down, and it seemed to work OK.

Here's one topic for that. Nokia mobile charger is one solution for fix that (must have ~5.0V or more, ~1A), like mentioned above.. Any supply around those numbers will do just fine..

http://forums.pinnaclesys.com/forums/thread/112817.aspx

Mika

OK, thanks to Murphy kicking in, yesterday I myself became a "Showcenter Power Supply victim". 

Hey, at least I can now say that I pretty much know what one will get into when messing with one of those units.

In my case, it was pretty clear that the power supply was blitzed when I opened the unit because both of the 1000uF capacitors were visibly bulging, and I don't mean a little.  A quick measure across the power leads with a simple voltmeter, and I measured about 2.5v DC, and over 5V AC on what *should* be DC out.  Of course, in a perfect world, there would be 5V DC and (depending upon your meter) either no AC measurement at all, or a RMS equivalent voltage measure.   So anyway, it turns out that half of the output stage filtration was gone.

Examining the board, I did find a rating. Mine is rated 2A at 5V (there's a sticker on the large high-voltage capacitor), so if you're looking for a like replacement, look for a 2A or better supply.

Long story short:  I replaced the 2 1000uF 10v caps  with 2 1000uf 25v caps...which were all that I had on-hand.  No, they didn't fit very well, as they are nearly twice the diameter of the 10v units.  I ended up soldering on some solid-core insulated wire to make "jumpers" and using high-temperature hot-melt glue to allow me to stick the capacitors down to convenient places on the power supply board.  Time spent:  About 10 minutes from opening the box to last capacitor soldered (although I'm pretty well set up for this sort of thing, with a vacuum desoldering tool and a Metcal soldering station).   Tested the power supply and ended up with *just* above 5V DC output, put it back in service, and no problems anymore.

One gotcha that I'd suggest you watch out for when soldering on that board -- there is a surface-mount component only a short distance from one of the capacitor's solder lands.  If, when desoldering the capacitor, you get things hot enough to loosen that little resistor and you accidentally knock it loose, you'd likely have fun trying to stick it back down.  So...just work on one leg of the cap at a time, keep your iron away from the surface-mount stuff, and you should be fine.

BittMann

Hi there - thanks for the link.

Can you please let us know how you connected the mobile charger to the SC motherboard?

Forthpalm:

Hi there - thanks for the link.

Can you please let us know how you connected the mobile charger to the SC motherboard?

I doubt that most chargers will supply enough current, I should think that you would need at least 2A. Anyway most barrel connectors are +ve in the centre and -ve on the outside, but check the ratings label to make sure. Then connect the +ve to the red lead and the -ve to the black lead, coming from the motherboard. Personally I would snip the connector off and solder directly to the motherboard.

t

Doesn't have to be terribly fancy...something like this or this would suffice.  (I'm speaking generically, I don't have any idea if either of those sellers are good to do business with, they just popped up to the top of a Google search.)

I had old Nokia Mobile charger, I think it's from a model of year 2000 or something (Nokia 3100?). Those old ones had more milliAmpeers in those chargers that today models have..

Output voltage is 5,7VDC and 800mA. I'm not at home right now but I can check charger model during the next weekend..

I think any charger which output is around 3->5VAC and 800->2A is good enough to power up the SC200 ..

I connected charger into the mainboard directyby snapping the red/black wire and connected charger into that.. Just make sure to put charger + to red and charger - to black..

Very simple..

 Mika

Sincere thanks as always guys. I have a load of old chargers lying about so may as well try and get this old SC200 working again.

I had actually given up on the SC200 and went with the Popcorn Hour 110 - what a dream to use! More importantly they actually have a great customer service. Remember those days on here when Oliver used to help us all out!

Shame on Pinnacle for letting its long term customers down.