Electronics > Repair
Transformer help
DesireGood:
This may not even be doable, but I am willing to try.
My son and I miscommunicated, and I accidentally left his electronic generator in the weather. And, yes, it rained. And, yes, it got really wet inside. I read a lot about moisture sensitive component levels. I have no idea what MS levels these parts are. The manual said not to get it wet or things like happened to me could happen. I am hoping that that was more because of the quality of parts rather than it being an extensive problem.
My son said that there was what he thought to be a bad design with the unit, in that, it would drain of power on it's own, which is what I think led to its downfall in being problematic to moisture while also conducting electricity. My hope is that this is a transformer issue or perhaps some other easier to solve components - like typical components to fail with moisture exposure. Could it be that the transformer's coil wires overheated and are creating the dead short?
The batteries still have voltage, but when trying to plug the power source (batteries) into the circuit board in the pictures, there is a dead short. I tested it with an ohmmeter, and I got the same result - a closed circuit.
Where should I begin on this project? Even if it is a dim hope? Also, I contacted the manufacturer, and I was told to buy the most current unit and that they didn't have any way of fixing nor refurbishing the unit. I wanted to simply buy the board, but they said it wasn't available.
Thanks!
NOON Design:
Do you mean this is an inverter, used to convert battery DC voltages to mains AC voltages? It should be like any other circuit board, if it's alliwed to dry very thoroughly before power is applied it will probably be ok. If you applied power while there was still moisture in some components then there could be all sorts of things wrong now.
Try giving it a good wash and scrub with some pure isopropyl alcohol and then let it dry for a few days or put it in a very low oven for a few hours.
Then try measuring impedances and checking components for damage.
DesireGood:
Thank you for your reply!
Yes. It is a bunch of things. (see pics)
Well, it was hooked up while rain was coming down on it. After we got it apart, we disassembled it.
I'll try the alcohol. I am really a noob on this. Do I just buy some like 93% and pour it over it, and then set it out in the sun? I think our oven goes only down to 200 or somewhere there abouts.
Alti:
"Moisture sensitivity" and "pouring rain" are different things.
You could search for term "liquid damage" and look for someone who could deal with this.
If you applied power to a flooded electronics - I doubt there is economical way to bring it back to reliability. It is not necessary to start it to destroy it, just connecting battery leads to irreversible damage.
DesireGood:
I think I already covered what we did and how it is made. But just in case ...
It was already connected. When we took it apart, we disconnected it. It's the way it is made. It isn't made to be taken apart by the consumer. We took it apart to inspect it.
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