Does anyone have a Keysight E36313A? Mine blew up + I need a favour pls! :-)

[danielbriggs]

Hi there,
I've got a Keysight E36313A that I've been using from new; and it's 13 months old.
Yesterday it blew up. 
(Mains applied to the power strip it was connected to and it instantly went bang + a small flame out of the side; hadn't even got to turning it on from the soft power button).


I contacted Keysight hoping it was within a hopeful 2-year warranty, or something they would honour just outside of a 1-year warranty, but I was told they only offer 90-day warranties on their products (THIS IS MENTAL ) unless you buy a longer warranty at time of purchase.
The quoted repair price was about the the price of a brand new one. They said they would just exchange it, and don't offer board swaps or board level repairs on this.

In the spirit of not hemorrhaging another wad of money, and wanting to minimise waste, and maximise right to repair, I'd like to get this up and running again. 

Keysight are not able to supply me with any Component Level Information Package for this product, schematics or anything that will enable me to fix this myself (assuming because it's relatively new).

I was hoping it was a cap or something, but it seems it's a TO-220 style part designator: "CR101".
So, does anyone have an E36313A they are able to pop the lid off + send me a photo and/or part marking for CR101 please?
Mine has failed by blowing a hole out the front of it, taking the part no. marking with it, and depositing it's guts over nearby heatsinks + board.

I'd be really grateful if anyone could let me know this info so I can order a replacement part, swap it out, clean all the soot off and fingers crossed it'll be good to go.
If not, I'll have to search for a similar replacement, but ideally would like to keep an identical part replacement if I can.


I'm really dissapointed in Keysight Customer Service's response to this.
This is the newest item on my bench (and cheapest!) The fact it failed is annoying but OK, things happen, but the "throwaway-economy/bottomless-pit-of-money" mentality annoyed me.
It's things like this that make me want to consider filling my bench both at home and work with other suppliers equipment.

All the best,
Dan

[Grandchuck]

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=eysight+E36313A&type=E210US105G0#id=3&vid=2a479e1b948edd99ae64fd72788e0312&action=click

[tooki]

Here's a direct link to the youtube video instead of the pointless yahoo video wrapper:

[jc101]

Where did you buy it from? It may be covered under their T&Cs.
The Consumer Rights Act of 2015 can be your friend.

In any case, if visible flame cam outside the unit, that is a severe failure, and Keysight should be jumping all over this.  It could be a potential safety issue...

[floobydust]

OMG it uses a Rifa X-cap C511.

Video gives NTST40120CT EOL Oct. 2021.
It's half a bridge rectifier, CR101 dual-diode TO-220, 120V 2x20A common cathode. Other one must be common anode.
Danger if the two heatsinks touch each other, that could blow it up too.
There is ST STPS40SM120C as replacement.

[J-R]

I also am curious where you bought this because from what I've seen all new Keysight equipment comes with a 3 year warranty while their used products are only 90 days.  I bought mine used but also added the 3 year warranty for $180.

[danielbriggs]

Hi all,
Wow - thanks so much for the responses; this place is the best 

Part removed + board all cleaned up ready for to drop the new one in. Identical brand new "NTST40120CTG" ordered + lands in a few days.

Good spot about the Rifa caps! 

The unit was purchased from TT Instruments; a dealer in the UK, as brand new, open box. (I've ordered plenty of bits from them, a good place).
I didn't know about the measly 90-day warranty, and the 2-year warranty being an £86+VAT optional extra. Might make me think to ordering direct if there's a next time.

All the best,
Dan

[shabaz]

Good luck with the fix, fingers crossed it works out!

Unfortunately (or fortunately, in some cases, but not this situation clearly), in many countries, consumer rights laws often do not apply to business-to-business purchases.

Consumer rights can (potentially, depends on country) allow the return of items even if there's a scratch on the packaging, regardless how pristine the inside item is. Whereas, with B2B, even a scratch or dent on the equipment inside the packaging might not be enough to obtain a full refund or replacement, it can depend on either different B2B laws, or on the contract terms/conditions (and a similar thing with warranties, it can depend entirely on the contract if outside of being deemed a consumer purchase).

[indeterminate]

Have a look in your user manual
i states that the warranty is three years,   in the AU version
I taught that the US was the only place with really dodgy 90 day warranty stuff
customer service in multi nationals seem to frequently get this wrong witch is not supersizing given the differences in consumer rights around the world

[J-R]

Thanks for the clarification that this was purchased open box.  It's good to have the loop closed.


Slightly off topic, but I felt obligated to respond:

Not sure why the dig on US warranties.  We have a lot of protections in place like the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act (warranty void stickers are illegal now too) but also we make the attempt to avoid government overregulation and overreach because individual freedom is also very important and everything ultimately has a cost associated with it.

Warranties and support cost money and can be abused by the customer, so it's reasonable for a company to try to limit their future liabilities in a reasonable manner as they see fit.  And as a side note, that is surely why Keysight has some language in place that tries to focus their sales on businesses and not hobbyists.  But it's still trivial at least here in the US to get full support from them as a "hobbyist".  They don't require any proof that you are a business.

I have a few used Keysight products that I purchased an additional warranty out of the blue and they had no issues initiating new warranty coverage.  They simply asked me if the unit was working fine at that moment.  And I've found them great to work with.  They offered me a fresh calibration on a warranty replacement DMM even though the one I sent in hadn't been calibrated in maybe 5 years.

[HighVoltage]

My Keysight E36313A had the same problem and after changing the regulator it worked well again.
This is already my second E36313A, the first one was exchanged under warranty.
At that time I think it came with a 2 year warranty in Germany.

[danielbriggs]

It lives!

Many thanks to everyone who nudged me in the right direction for identical replacement parts.


Also: info from Keysight UK confirming the default 90 day warranty stance, unless you buy extended warranty's at point of order attached. 

All the best,
Dan