AIM-TTi LD400P Teardown and Voltage Reconfiguration from 230V to 115V

[eyiz]

You're welcome. A few more posts to go to the power on test! We're getting there.

And pull the cable ties taut.

Next we insert the 3 cable ties at the backpanel.

Pull the cable ties through and move the head of the tie towards the back.
Trap all the Brown and Blue wires in the grasp.

This cable tie is shown all the way back too, but the head actually has to be pulled forward a bit
from this position, to enable the tip to be inserted into the head. And then the tie can be rotated
so that the head sits right at the back of the unit afterwords.

Pull the ties tight. Slots at the back are convenient for this, on 2 cable ties at least.

[eyiz]

A snip with some cutters.

All 5 cable ties are back in their original positions.
Ok. So we started out with Black Cable Ties, and ended up with White Cable Ties.
Original were ESD safe, the replacements are standard non-ESD.
We can fix this later.

Now we put back on the 5 nuts and use our 5.5mm Hex Nut Driver to screw down the PCB firmly.
Here we tighten gently, no need for high torque, because the serrated washer nuts will grip the board
and not come off easily, anyway, with vibrations.

Plug back in the 4 remaining connectors, of the 6 total connectors that the PCB has.

[eyiz]

Last minute check, that everything looks ok from this angle.

And everything looks ok, from another angle.
We are ready to put back on the LD400P cover, close up the unit, and begin testing.

[eyiz]

Paired up with a P3 International Kill-A-Watt Meter, the AIM TTi LD400P is set up for turn on test.

Turning on the power strip first, reveals the nominal 120V mains voltage is actually reading 124V today.
Also, this is the first time the Flash on my old Nikon Coolpix 950 Digital Camera worked. A relic from the year 1999.
After this, the Flash never worked again.

So, I turn on the LD400P and take a photo. But, can't see the reading on the Kill-A-Watt.

[eyiz]

I have to pull up the pic in Adobe Photoshop, and artificially increase the brightness just to see the reading.
If the flash had worked, as planned, this wouldn't have been necessary. I need a new camera.
The Kill-A-Watt tells us that the LD400P is pulling 180mA on turn on idle.
From here on, most of the pics have to be Photoshopped just to see the Kill-A-Watt readings.

LD400P pulls 12 Watts on idle.

[eyiz]

While the Volt-Amps reading is 22 VA.

The Mains frequency reported is consistent with the rated 60Hz in my area.

[eyiz]

While the Kill-A-Watt reports the LD400P has a power factor of 0.56
Consistent with an Inductive load. Expected because of the two transformers in the Power Supply PCB.

This setup is made possible by a pair of clamps.
The vise to the left is a Hobby Vise bought two decades ago from a surplus store.
I have no idea the brand, but it looks identical to the "Vellman VTTV2 Table Vise" that's available online
from various places. So, it could be that. It was a cheap $18 CAD tool at the time. Quite useful and flexible.
It's an obvious imitation of the more expensive Bernstein 9-205 Spannfix. This vise is being used to hold a
"Wolfcraft Spring Clamp FZH-50", which in turn is holding a "Woods six outlet power strip", into which
the "P3 International Kill-A-Watt Meter" is plugged in, while the LD400P itself is plugged into the Kill-A-Watt
to capture it's power drain characteristics.
The setup is primarly to enable me to take photos, with both Kill-A-Watt and LD400P in the same shot.
It didn't quite work out that well, because my old CoolPix camera refused to Flash. Anyway, it is what it is.

Here's a close up of the LD400P turned on and idling with the factory default settings.

[eyiz]

I tried to capture the start up screen that shows Firmware installed.
Couldn't get a nice clear shot, because the camera autofocus wouldn't focus in time before the screen changed.
Manufacturer says we must wait until the LD400P has gone through it's complete power up routine,
before turning the unit off. So, it's a long wait to restart and try to take a photo again. In the end,
I gave up. This is the best pic of the lot. Still, shows Firmware 1.04, and Interface Firmware 1.05.
Good enough, to know the details.

Now that we're satisfied that the conversion from 230V to 115V went ok, we just need one
more step. As per manufacturer's instructions, we re-label the backpanel to indicate the
current setting of this instrument is now 115V.
For the new label we used "Nashua White 398 All-Weather Duct Tape Barcode 0 33656 56550 0,"
cut a 15mm x 8mm rectangle out of a piece of this tape and write 115 V on with a pen.

[eyiz]

Comparing the size and form factors of the MX100TP and the LD400P.
Since I now have both of these units, I decided to do some side by side comparisons on external details.
The AIM TTi MT100TP sits on top, and the AIM TTi LD400P sits on the bottom, in this shot.
As can be seen, they are about the same size boxes.

Putting them side by side. MX100TP on the left. LD400P on the right.

Putting the LD400P on top the MX100TP.

I noticed that the MX100TP has air holes underneath, while the LD400P has that giant "air cage" with holes on top.
So, I wondered, would it be effective to put the MX100TP on top the LD400P, so the Power Supply could somehow share that "air cage".
Did the manufacture think to design things this way deliberately, for optimal stacking?
Hmmmm...

[eyiz]

Putting the MX100TP on top the LD400P to check this idea out, reveals the holes on the MX100P don't quite line up.
But, given that the feet hold off the unit a bit, there's still some connection between the "air cage" of the LD400P
and the MX100TP when the latter is stacked on top the former. So, maybe there's better air flow for the MX100TP when
it's on top, rather than when it's on the bottom, of the stacked units. It's a thought.

Finding a regular convenient spot for my new toy.

Well, that's it. MY AIM TTi LD400P has been reconfigured from 230V to 115V to suit my particular mains power parameters.
Next up is to test the LD400P on some applications to see how well it works out for me.

Hope this was informative. I know it's a bit detailed. Almost nothing left out. i.e. nothing left to the imagination.
Now anyone can completely "visualize" the process of the conversion, and decide whether they'd want to undertake it for fun, or not.
If I had this detail before hand, i'd at least have gotten some Black ESD cable ties, and a Solder Mask Repair Pen, two things I could
have really used in this job. Anyway, we never have everything we need. There's always something more to get.