Detected A Winged Ant Caused Failure Of SONY Multimedia Speaker System SA-WMD40
This Multimedia Speaker System was brought to me by a customer, for whom I restored a similar system which I have already covered in an earlier article. It belonged to his neighbor. The complaint was same that the power on through the 18V adaptor was visible, but never responded to commands from the remote or front panel control. I followed the earlier steps to open this system, which I am repeating for the sake of readers who would have missed: In order to open the sub-woofer, we need to carefully pry the front wooden frame, which holds the control panel and speaker grill. I removed two front foots in order to make prying easier and made enough space to insert a minus screwdriver to force the front portion out. In these types of speaker systems, this portion might have wooden legs which get inserted into its grooves with plastic holders on the other side.
The company also uses Fevicol to making bonding tight to avoid vibrations. With a lot of careful prying using the blade of a heavy flat screw driver, I could take out the front portion without causing any damage to the wooden hard board. In the rear, the Amplifier cum power supply was housed inside a plastic case, screwed in five places. I removed this portion too. Let us now have a look at inside:
I removed the boards from behind as well as from the front and subjected the entire system for a thorough cleaning using blower, various cleaning brushes and clothes. Now Let us take a look at the various boards used in this lovely Ampli Speaker:
Thinking that the complaint might be same like before which was shorting of push to on buttons and shorting of one LED, I checked and found that the case was different in this.
On scrutiny of the board and connectors, I saw one winged ant fried inside the FFC at the connecting point. Let us have a look:
I removed this and cleaned the area with IPA ensuring that it did not get into the blue insert assist of the FFC. There was no shorting of LEDs, but press to on switches were showing tendency to get stuck sometimes momentarily. So, I replaced all these five buttons. Then, when I applied power, it worked very well. While cleaning I also got a few foreign articles put inside by kids while playing through the air hole in the front. I played the set in all modes, Blue Tooth and USB and found it to be working well. As the customer did not bring the other speakers, I used what I had for testing.
Anyhow, mission accomplished with an amusing experience!
Let us now have a look at a few more pictures as a conclusion of this article!
This article was prepared for you by Parasuraman Subramanian from India. He is 74 years old and has more than 30 years’ experience in handling antique equipment like Valve Radio, Amps, Reel Tape Recorders and currently studying latest tech-classes conducted by Kerala State Electronics Technicians’ Association. He has done graduation in BBA degree, private diploma in Radio Engineering and retired as MD of a USA company. Presently working as Consultant to Hospital and other institutions.
Please give a support by clicking on the social buttons below. Your feedback on the post is welcome. Please leave it in the comments.
P.S-If you enjoyed reading this, click here to subscribe to my blog (free subscription). That way, you’ll never miss a post. You can also forward this website link to your friends and colleagues-thanks!
You may check on his previous article on Control Board Of LG Washing Machine Restored
(36)Dislikes
(0)
20 Comments
Leave a Reply
YOGESH PANCHAL
March 8, 2025 at 3:14 pm
Good Job!sir
Baffle duct hole is the gateway for all the insects in woofer BOX.
Anthony Paterson
March 8, 2025 at 4:33 pm
Did the fault have anything to do with the insect? I presume the fault had something to do with the switches?
Parasuraman S
March 8, 2025 at 9:39 pm
The insect did cause a problem. The push buttons were replaced as a routine preventive as mentioned in the article. Thanks for your comments!
Parasuraman S
March 8, 2025 at 8:24 pm
Yes, very true. Even children drop things into the box! Thanks, dear Yogesh!
Mervin Binda
March 8, 2025 at 6:09 pm
good job
Parasuraman S
March 11, 2025 at 2:16 pm
Thanks!
Albert van Bemmelen
March 8, 2025 at 7:11 pm
The cleaning takes an important role in your articles unlike most repairs in my part of the world.
Everything was clear and read but the part "I also got a few foreign articles put inside by kids while playing through the air hole in the front" made no sense to me?
Albert van Bemmelen
March 8, 2025 at 9:18 pm
After re-reading the comments I understood that you really had kids playing at your home who put some toys inside the speaker.
Parasuraman S
March 9, 2025 at 9:03 pm
I have no kids at home to do this mischief, but the customer had and that's what I referred to in my article!
Parasuraman S
March 8, 2025 at 9:44 pm
By the words 'foreign articles found' (things that do not belong to the set) what I meant was that I saw a few play things inside the box, which the playing children probably dropped through the front air hole. I have given a photo of it at the last. A green plastic piece, probably a lid or part of some toys or a girl's hair fixing clip.
Many thanks for your expert comments, dear Albert!
JimB
March 8, 2025 at 11:24 pm
Hmm, learned new technical term. Lizard shit. LOL. Had spiders and weevils, no lizards. Look forward to your articles every week. Keep it up!
Parasuraman S
March 9, 2025 at 9:03 pm
Many thanks for your comments and encouragement!
Mark J
March 9, 2025 at 4:42 am
Parasuraman you never know what you will find while making repairs. Well done on the repair.
Parasuraman S
March 9, 2025 at 9:05 pm
Yes, many surprises await us when we open a set for repair. My tehchie friends had found even small snakes that sneaked into and caused a shorts! Many thanks, dear Mark!
Imoudu
March 10, 2025 at 4:42 am
Thanks for sharing sir.
Parasuraman S
March 10, 2025 at 9:20 pm
Thanks!
Imoudu
March 10, 2025 at 4:56 am
Please what is tv backlight 3V (one) white led current should be.
Parasuraman S
March 10, 2025 at 9:25 pm
It depends on the wattage. P/V shuld give you the current. If you know the wattage, just divide it by the 3V. If not, connect an analogue multimeter, select X1 range, connect negative to the LED, route the positive through another current measurement meter to know exactly. If you have an LED tester with current meter, that would do the job easy for you. Alternatively, if you have a part number, just check the web for its datasheet. All the best!
Tito Kanshulu
March 12, 2025 at 8:14 pm
Were the wings of the fried fly conductive or they just broke the path? Good repair article Sir
Parasuraman S
March 13, 2025 at 2:15 pm
This was a fairly large ant, probably having liquid content rear portion, which caused short circuit between the pins, that shut down the system to standby. That's why it was found fried. Many thanks for your comments!