Intermittent right channel - back again

laatsch55

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Bypass the relay to make sure that's it. Run a jumper from the input of the DC board to the speaker post...
 
62vauxhall

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Had to wiggle the relay a bit to make it cut out but once done, doing as you suggested restored the channel.

Something I noticed, at least to my naked eye, is the trace tabs on that board are tiny. There seems to be next to no bare metal to accept solder. Another reason I want to have a look under a magnifier. Make me wonder now if all that was wrong with the first relay was a solder connection?
 
62vauxhall

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I could not deal with those protection board relays until today. I'm too bagged Mon to Fri from being gone from home 17 hours per day and Saturday is usually the day I don't have to work.

The board was off, under a magnifier and I removed the newly installed relays to clean up anything that might cause a bad solder connection. Didn't see much so re-installed the relays. Although the relays both click and the meters are working, there is now no audio at all getting to the speakers on either channel.

Not sure what's with this board but I think I'll just cut to the quick and get another one. Anyone have contact info for Don Imlay or should I just go through the Watts Abundant website?

And FWIW, this is how the board is wired back into place.

IMG_3154.jpg
 
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62vauxhall

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I sent an e-mail via Watts Abundant's website this morning. When this intermittent channel first manifested about two years ago, I did likewise but got no reply. That was why I asked if anyone had contact info.
 
grapplesaw

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62vauxhall said:
I could not deal with those protection board relays until today. I'm too bagged Mon to Fri from being gone from home 17 hours per day and Saturday is usually the day I don't have to work.

The board was off, under a magnifier and I removed the newly installed relays to clean up anything that might cause a bad solder connection. Didn't see much so re-installed the relays. Although the relays both click and the meters are working, there is now no audio at all getting to the speakers on either channel.

Not sure what's with this board but I think I'll just cut to the quick and get another one. Anyone have contact info for Don Imlay or should I just go through the Watts Abundant website?

And FWIW, this is how the board is wired back into place.

View attachment 26031
Click to expand...
EDIT:
"I now see you have moved the diodes to the bridge rectifier

please ignor this post"


I am wondering if you have two AC and one ground going to the board

unlike the 400 which has only one power supply leg to the board the 700 needs both

you pictures look like they have only the one supply and one ground.

Please see photo for connections
 

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jbeckva

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grapplesaw said:
I am wondering if you have two AC and one ground going to the board

unlike the 400 which has only one power supply leg to the board the 700 needs both

you pictures look like they have only the one supply and one ground.

Please see photo for connections
Click to expand...
The AC for his is rectified to DC at the transformer, with one of the onboard diodes bypassed.
 
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62vauxhall said:
I could not deal with those protection board relays until today. I'm too bagged Mon to Fri from being gone from home 17 hours per day and Saturday is usually the day I don't have to work.

The board was off, under a magnifier and I removed the newly installed relays to clean up anything that might cause a bad solder connection. Didn't see much so re-installed the relays. Although the relays both click and the meters are working, there is now no audio at all getting to the speakers on either channel.

Not sure what's with this board but I think I'll just cut to the quick and get another one. Anyone have contact info for Don Imlay or should I just go through the Watts Abundant website?

And FWIW, this is how the board is wired back into place.

View attachment 26031
Click to expand...
Again, bypass the relays as Joe and Lee suggested. If you get sound, then either the relay or the connections to and from it on the pcb are bad. How about extracting both relays and taking pics of both sides of the board?
 
62vauxhall

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Yesterday I had the good fortune of getting a PM from Glen aka grapplesaw. He offered his time (and his bench) to help determine what was going on with my speaker protection relay board. Three+ hours of examining, testing and re-testing later, the signal continuity problem's cause was identified as segments of the Phoenix connected strip. Once three jumpers were soldered in place, Glen's test equipment said all was good but it was much too late when I got home to hook it up but will do so tonight.

Glen sacrificed a good chunk of his evening helping a stranger and I look foreword to returning the favour however that might be. This was not the first time I benefitted from the generosity of other members which speaks clearly to the caliber of members on this web forum.

It almost seems that Phase Linear is more a fellowship or brotherhood.
 
WOPL Sniffer

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so was it a bad solder joint on the Phoenix connector? Cracked? I have never seen one of these connectors go bad. Just wondering. Thanks
 
62vauxhall

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That's a good question. The offending segment was removed, re-soldered and it seemed OK but once a wire was clamped in, nothing getting onto the traces. Those were OK, there was continuity from pad to pad but with the segment in place and wire installed, nothing. It seemed as if, despite soldering, there was no connection from the pin(s) of the phoenix segment to the trace.

Glen speculated that tightening the wire clamp screw the few times I did affected it's connectivity. He also mentioned that a one piece phoenix connector would have been preferable over the separate segments used on the board I have.
 
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jbeckva

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WOPL Sniffer said:
we'll have to remember that. I hadn't seen a relay on the DCP boards go bad yet so I was kinda wondering.
Click to expand...
Definitely a great catch! I've also had those phx connectors disintegrate on other builds and ended up replacing them. Were there physical breaks in the traces that you could see??
 
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