Nest Camera - USB-C capacitors?

[southport]

I have a Nest IQ Outdoor camera [1] that got some water in it. The damage is limited to a small board that contains the USB-C connector (on the back) and a couple caps and resistors, so I'm trying to repair it. I don't have much experience with USB-C... My question is about the caps. I haven't found any app notes about capacitors with USB-C (just the pull-up/down resistors). Are they just filtering caps? Any harm in removing them completely? Any recommended values if I should leave them in?



[1] Google has scrubbed it from their site, but it's this model: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Google-Nest-Cam-IQ-Outdoor-Full-HD-Wired-Smart-Home-Security-Camera-NC4100US/303009233

[Alex_Baker]

My best bet would be filtering capacitors for the DC supply from the USB, does the camera get its power from the USB-C?

[southport]

Yeah, camera is powered by USB-C. No data connection at all.

[Alex_Baker]

Can you tell if any of those capacitors are shorted? Those MLCCs often fail that way in rough conditions.

[janoc]

Can you tell if any of those capacitors are shorted? Those MLCCs often fail that way in rough conditions.

Ehm, given the state of those two caps in the photo, I would say they certainly got some "rough" conditions. One is broken in half and the other one has the bluish copper corrosion growing on it.

Both need to be replaced, IMO. Also the connector at the bottom seems to be damaged (the right-most pin is gonski).

Given the amount of water traces there, that board will likely have significant corrosion on it, likely damaged/broken tracks.

[Alex_Baker]

yeah that's what I'm thinking, the whole camera probably isn't getting any power because of electrolysis corrosion on the caps and connectors.

[southport]

Can you tell if any of those capacitors are shorted? Those MLCCs often fail that way in rough conditions.

The cap on the left is shorted, so that's definitely a problem . The right one fell off when I tried to probe it.

Both need to be replaced, IMO. Also the connector at the bottom seems to be damaged (the right-most pin is gonski).

Given the amount of water traces there, that board will likely have significant corrosion on it, likely damaged/broken tracks.

What's a reasonable value? 1uF?

Good call on the tracks - I'll test them. I was able to get the connector back together.

[janoc]

What's a reasonable value? 1uF?

Good call on the tracks - I'll test them. I was able to get the connector back together.

100n-10u would be probably a good guess. If it is across the power rails it is only a filter/decoupling cap so the value is unlikely to be very critical.