Was recently asked to look at a small switchmode power supply to repair.
Initial diagnosis was blown mains fuse (2A), shorted FET and failed TL3842 controller. Dead semiconductors were replaced, along with 2 small electros on the primary side.
Applied power (via isolation transformer and 100W series bulb). 100W bulb glowed briefly confirming main filter cap charged up, however no output voltage was measured.
After some probing and measuring it appears the 3842 is not starting up, pin 7 not reaching the 17.5v needed to begin operation (measured a peak of ~14v).
Feeding 18v from an external supply into pin 7 causes the 3842 starts up and the supply runs. During operation, pin 7 has between 10.5-11.5 volts present (coming from the AUX winding supply).
The start-up supply for the 3842 is a little unusual in this design. Instead of a resistor from the main DC rail, a small capacitor is connected to one leg of the incoming mains (used as a voltage dropper) then rectified by a pair of diodes. The value of the cap is 0.22uF which has a reactance of about 15k ohms at 50Hz.
All other components on the primary side have been individually checked and tested OK.
My question is what would be stopping this supply from starting up normally?
Reverse-engineered schematic:
(secondary side has been omitted, it's a bog standard TL431 driving the opto).