Got a phone call in the morning, from my father, his central heating system not working. Never mind in summer, but no hot water too. In Germany the usual way is a burner heating both the central heating and the hot water tank through a shared water circulation system.
Anyway, when I arrived, I found the controller dead, no display, no power on LED. It's a quite modern one, so no way to run it in emergency mode (the older ones can work on an electromechanical thermostat and near to none electronics involved).
So we call the service, because my father would like to have hot water asap again. The guy arrived later, checked the system, phoned the manufacturers hotline (they're quite good at that, one can reach them 24/7 with the correct SLA). Diagnose: Controller defective, have to order a new one. Will arrive on monday (for more money involved, one can get spares within hours). Agreed on that, but I mentioned, I might be able to repair on component level, it's just electronics. The repair guy agreed, if I can't fix it, we should call him on monday, and he'll have the spare part on tuesday.
So I took the controller home, and found this cause for the malfunction:
and this poor resistor.
Lucky enough, nothing else was damaged, the thing works again and my father has hot water again since an hour ago.
It was an easy fix, but I'm a bit concerned about the quality of stuff thats supposed to last 10 to 20 years (this unit is around 4 years old). Carbonization shouldn't happen here, since creeping clearance was fine for the applied voltage.
That carbonization is from something carrying the ignitor voltage from the flyback xfmer right there to a place where it doesn't belong. Could be a wire in the harness got too close, could be condensate formed a bridge which allowed an arc to make a permanent path.
Now that the HVAC tech has disturbed the wiring, no telling for sure where this happened; you should inspect all the wires carefully for arc burns lest it happen again. Usually when you see a ballast resistor toasted like that other one, it's a indicator that the driver transistor has shorted or gone leaky, so inspect that as well before you go through the assache of installing the board. Another possibility; that resistor is a symptom of the arc having damaged something in the flame sensor. Modern controllers do this through the igniter gap by flame rectification.
Good hunting!
mnem
Sorry dwagon, you're completely wrong. This is the SMPS snubber (RCD type), supposed to catch the flyback as you said, but contained within a plastic box within a sheet metal box, so it's good enough protected from the installing gorillas hands and wiring harnesses and won't collect dust nor get wet while running. It's well engineered and protected, my guess it's just a dud, some mishap at the manufacturers SMT / THT assembly line. The carbonized path formed between said snubber circuit and a well defined GND potential on the PCB, nothing random, and there's been well defined creepage distance applied by the layouter.
Do what you would want a buyer to do if you shipped him two of something and he paid for one.
I have to believe this was no accident. These extensions are only good for 560 series. They won't work with 500 series. Very limited usefulness and I suspect he had the two and just wanted to get rid of them.
Edit, but I will contact the seller and see what he says.I think that you will find that these are not the same items, but are a set, look at the part numbers printed on them, one has 013-0034-00 as the part no., the other has 013-034 and the plug looks different to my eyes.
Already watching that. It’s also in Stonehouse which is prime hiking country and no less than roughly where I was considering moving to. Might mean a day out
Today is good day. Knee good enough that I managed to hit a 5km run for the first time and come home to Rocky Horror Picture Show
Bit of a dilemma...
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HP SA. Works well enough, bit inaccurate as can be expected (even though that may just as well be the RF gen) but the display is really dim. This picture makes it look decent because there wasn't much ambient light but it's really no good. So.. ship it of to eBay in an auction or spend some time with the display. May be as simple as dust on the front plastic shield (wouldn't be the first time). I'm leaning to leave it as it is and let the eventual buyer have some fun with it...
I'm looking to buy a Raspberry Pi for a home automation project. Unfortunately the 4 GB and 8 GB are so expensive it starts making sense to just buy a small x86 board and set up a proper server able to do more things.
Already watching that. It’s also in Stonehouse which is prime hiking country and no less than roughly where I was considering moving to. Might mean a day out
Today is good day. Knee good enough that I managed to hit a 5km run for the first time and come home to Rocky Horror Picture Show
Already watching that. It’s also in Stonehouse which is prime hiking country and no less than roughly where I was considering moving to. Might mean a day out
Today is good day. Knee good enough that I managed to hit a 5km run for the first time and come home to Rocky Horror Picture Show
That part of the world is inhabited by humans, unlike the fens. There's also ten times as much ink (of any colour) on the OS 1:50000 maps Good gliding too
I'm looking to buy a Raspberry Pi for a home automation project. Unfortunately the 4 GB and 8 GB are so expensive it starts making sense to just buy a small x86 board and set up a proper server able to do more things.
Look for Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny units or an old Mac mini (core solo/duo). So much better than other turds.I've been looking at those since your earlier posts but unfortunately they tend to be too expensive. If I'm going to spend $300 or more I'd rather build a proper small and frugal server on a modern platform.
Oh I’m not talking about SWMNLBO here. I’m talking about the ham radio thingI'm pleased to be mistaken.
Already watching that. It’s also in Stonehouse which is prime hiking country and no less than roughly where I was considering moving to. Might mean a day out
Today is good day. Knee good enough that I managed to hit a 5km run for the first time and come home to Rocky Horror Picture Show
That part of the world is inhabited by humans, unlike the fens. There's also ten times as much ink (of any colour) on the OS 1:50000 maps Good gliding too
Yes I still have the elevation record for the last time I went out walking that way
Edit: spot the canal bit
Do what you would want a buyer to do if you shipped him two of something and he paid for one.
I have to believe this was no accident. These extensions are only good for 560 series. They won't work with 500 series. Very limited usefulness and I suspect he had the two and just wanted to get rid of them.
Edit, but I will contact the seller and see what he says.
If both he and yourself don't want the second one, I know a guy locally who has a 561S. He might be interested. [edit] your package should be delivered today.
And I received an answer from the seller. Yes, it was his intention to send both even though I paid for one.
Ask your friend if he wants one.
Worth looking up the size rankings a bit then. You an get some larger ones for not much more than the postage now.
Worth looking up the size rankings a bit then. You an get some larger ones for not much more than the postage now.Idle power consumption is the primary concern and that's where most older platforms fall on their faces. Some oomph when required would be nice too. It's unfortunate Ryzen isn't that frugal at idle yet because I'd happily slap that in a system if it were. Maybe the next die shrink will help that part too.
Think I’d probably just kill myself quicker in one of them
Edit: looked up the location and it’s just the other side of selsey common that which is where I was. Nice place
Think I’d probably just kill myself quicker in one of them
Edit: looked up the location and it’s just the other side of selsey common that which is where I was. Nice place
Or Rodborough common, which is a harmonious place. Have a look at Nailsworth and Stroud.
Be careful when you are driving there; I've seen some scary behaviour.
Normal:
Abnormal:
Think I’d probably just kill myself quicker in one of them
Edit: looked up the location and it’s just the other side of selsey common that which is where I was. Nice place
Or Rodborough common, which is a harmonious place. Have a look at Nailsworth and Stroud.
Be careful when you are driving there; I've seen some scary behaviour.
Normal:
Abnormal:
Excellent will have a look around. I saw a house there I can afford which was rather nice a few months back but COVID finished that idea off
I nearly hit a cow in the middle of Hallingbury Common once in fog in the middle of the night. The buggers will eternally scare me .