Topic: FLASHING POD LIGHTS

[PLOD11]

Just when i thought that everything that could go wrong had, another problem.

This started on the morning of the Royal run, and then cured itself without problem for the rest of the day. At the time we put it down to the heat, (and that may well be what has triggerd this fault)

Right what is happening ?

The LEDs on the left hand side of the POD come on with the Yellows at each end, and the middle all off.
After a few seconds all the middle LEDs start flashing, and the motor won't run.

This has cured its self after a while by switching the main switch on and off a few times, i am thinking that maybe a component is staring to go down.

Has ayone else had anything similar, or any ideas.

IN THE USER HAND BOOK IT SHOWS THIS AS A  WARNING THAT THE MOTOR HAS OVERHEATED, IN THIS CASE ITS STONE COLD 

I will have a good look at the circuit later and maybe start swaping some compnents. 


PLOD11

[PLOD11]

On searching through the forum i found this
http://c5alive.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=723.0

I will have a look at the Caps first, hope its as simple as that ... 

[radiomarty]

Good luck with that Plod - going to look over Goldfinger too as we have seen the fault once - all be it on a very hot day (royal run as you know).This was cleared with a disconnect.
As this is an intermittent fault it might be a tricky one -best thing is if it fails all together to stand a better chance of finding it.
You could also swap thermistors to eliminate that.PS I'm just down the A605 if you need a hand. Let us know what you find.

[PLOD11]

No problem, i will get the bits i need over the weekend and get them changed over and see what happens.

At the moment this defect appears to be on going, where before i was curing it by switching on and off and it going a way, it has refused to clear it self, so will let you know how it works out.

Fingers crossed thats all it is 

I have a second C5 so will do some checks on that and compare that with the dud one, at least i know its not the POD as i have already swapped these round and both work fine on the good one and both show the same fault on the Dud one.

I have had dry joints on the Dud one before and also the connections coming un solderd from the board i places.

John

[PLOD11]

 

Took it all apart today, found a dry joint on  C2 re solderd and was fine.

Just confirm it was related and not just a fluke, i removed C2 completely and exact same fault came back, so another C5 problem sorted.   

.

[radiomarty]

Great news Plod and thanks for the feed back- glad you sorted it - will be checking ours very soon...........

[Karl]

I'll shift this topic across to the Faults and Solutions section so it doesn't get lost 

Really useful topic 

[PLOD11]

Oh no spoke to soon ......   

FLASHING LIGHTS HAVE RETURNED   

But good news, changed the cap and now its all fine again,    I suppose after 25 years it had had enough.

Also got the fault that Ray had with "Lights on the POD but no drive" on my second C5, afer a bit of fault finding, pinned my problem down to TR3, a ZTX449 which apprently is no longer available, changed with an alternative and that cured that 

I got a complete set of spareS (major components) in case i need them in future for the control box, things like the 7805,transistors, zenor diodes, Caps and the Op amp Ic.

I tried Maplins for some of these but that was a waste of time. ended up getting them when i was down in East London on Monday, a lot cheaper than Maplins as well.

I am getting good at this control box repair, now i am starting to understand what everything does.

A complete set of major parts for the C5 control box set me back about £3.00,

[radiomarty]

Hi Plod - glad your getting to grips with the control box - I must admit I have been looking at them to. I am on my fifth repair and have noted very much the same as you. Two of them had resistor and regulator fault thus not giving 5V to the pod.Another two had D1 duff ,the op amp and cooked tracks which was fairly easy. However number 5 is being a pain - 5v ok from regulator - 12v present at the right places - but pod not lighting up and front and rear lights dim(motor running ok).Pod is ok. Had to replace D1 and the relay on this one but still proving a bit of a pain !!

[Karl]

Since electronics is not my strong point, I was really worried when c5martin ventured on to pastures new.....but I have to say it is good to see you guys stepping into the void and getting to grips with this stuff 


I feel happier now that we have some support for when the control box's fail 

[PLOD11]

No problems with the control boxs,

I repaired a third one this afternoon, it had 12 volts connected up it the wrong way, didn't do it much good. 

Everything on the control board is fixable and parts are easy to find, the pod is a bit different if the ULA chip is US.

Replaced R1, Op amp and a fuse and all well again. 

I would think about replacing the lot (major components like Transistors etc) one at a time  ...   

John

PLOD11

[radiomarty]

Good news it has now sprung into life - Got quite into it checking resistance / voltages etc turned out to be a very small crack in the 0v tracks that was effecting the light supply as well as the regulator supply but only happened with the connectors plugged in ! (straining the tracks).

[PLOD11]

Didn't think it would be much, glad its all working ok. 

Yes, i have spent a bit of time checking voltages over the last couple of days, i found an equivalant for the ztx transistor but with different pin connections, so had to twist the pins very carefully to fit in the right holes with out touching each other. Eventually got it in with some heat shrink over the pins.

I am going to keep a stock of the bits for these boards in case anyone wants any or are needed for repair. I will be going down to the shop where i get my bits from next week to stock up, if there are any bits you need let me know and i can pick them up at the same time.

John

PLOD11

[radiomarty]

Thanks Plod will e-mail you.

[jk]

What part number did you use for the ztx449 replacement?, and do you have a replacement number for the bc212l?
Thanks,
jason