An easy repair to a stuck satellite receiver. Model: Homecast
This month is crazy month due to the world cup in Brazil and because of that I was getting a lot of satellite receivers for repair. This one comes on but it gets stuck on 0 channels. Check out the photo.
I tried to change the channel by using the remote control and using the channel button on the front panel but it was no use. I tried to reset the receiver but shutting it off completely by unplugging it from the main power.
All these attempts were met with failure. The receiver was still stuck on 0 channels.
This is the inside of the receiver and as you can see, it was not that complicated. The problem I was dealing was is complicated but I have seen this kind of problem before. At that time, it took me about an hour or so to get it repaired. This repair should take me about five minutes and not more. Check it out.
When I checked the voltage reading at the output on the power side, I was getting strange reading. The 12 volts, I was getting 24 instead. The 24 I was getting 42 volts. When I unplug the power socket I get normal reading. This proves that something is wrong in the power supply area.
Since I have seen this kind of problem before, I went directly to the cause of the problem, the two capacitors that you see marked with arrows. They are 1000uf/16 volts. If you have an ESR meter, which I encourage every repair technician to get because it would save you time and effort, you should go ahead and check all the capacitors on that board till you find the bad ones. I have done it before and now, I am saving time and effort.
As a repair technician, the capacitors would be the last thing to think about in this case. The hot IC in the main board was the actual thing that leads me to think of a power board problem.
Once I replaced these two capacitors, the satellite receiver came back to life. Check it out.
As you can see, the 0 is gone and I now, I am able to switch channels and enjoy some football games on it. Mission Accomplished.
This article was prepared for you by Waleed Rishmawi, one of our ‘Master Authors’ and currently working in the Bethlehem area of Palestine repairing electrical and electronic equipment.
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- Do you know of any your friends who would benefit from this content that you are reading now? If so, forward this website to your friends or you can invite your friends to subscribe to my newsletter for free in this Link.
(181)Dislikes
(1)
38 Comments
Leave a Reply
Humphrey Kimathi
July 5, 2014 at 3:08 pm
Hi Waleed,
Good article,one question,did you say the output voltage increased? I expect the voltage to decrease due to the increase in esr of the output filter capacitors.
Regards Humphrey Kimathi
KENYA
Waleed Rishmawi
July 5, 2014 at 4:54 pm
Humphrey: yes, it was doubled and that is strange but my meter does not lie. I have seen this kind of problem in many satellite receivers. the point is it was repaired and that what counts.
Yogesh Panchal
July 5, 2014 at 3:17 pm
Waleed ,
Good one thanks for sharing , I just want to know which ESR Meter you are using.
Waleed Rishmawi
July 5, 2014 at 4:56 pm
Yogesh: I have two ESR meters. I use the GME that I bought from Ebay and the Blue ESR meter that I got from Jestin Yong. both are good and I trust them with my work and so far they have not let me down.
Kurt
July 5, 2014 at 7:27 pm
Hello,
Im also want to know why voltage is doubling caused by bad capacitors?
greetings
Waleed Rishmawi
July 6, 2014 at 10:55 pm
Kurt: I am not really sure. other people have commented on the increase voltage because of these bad capacitors. you are more than welcome to read and learn more about it. thanks and have a good day
Ogen-rwoth
July 5, 2014 at 8:19 pm
Thanks you so much for your repair guide, i have learnt alot from them. Thanks for your effort.
Waleed Rishmawi
July 6, 2014 at 10:46 pm
Ogen: you are most welcome. I am glad you have learned something from them. have a very good day
Robert
July 5, 2014 at 10:16 pm
Good job Waleed and thanks for the article.
Waleed Rishmawi
July 6, 2014 at 10:46 pm
Robert: you are most welcome.
Anwar Shiekh
July 5, 2014 at 10:37 pm
I have found too many devices that have recovered without any work, and wonder if the work has cleared away whiskers that have developed from the new lead free solders.
Waleed Rishmawi
July 6, 2014 at 10:58 pm
Anwar: I am not sure what you mean in your comment. please explain more.
Abbey
July 6, 2014 at 1:39 am
Good article. Pls how much do ESR cost?
Waleed Rishmawi
July 6, 2014 at 10:47 pm
Abbey: you can ask MR Jestine Yong about the cost of the an ESR meter.
Igor Levin
July 6, 2014 at 2:32 am
The reason for voltages to be higher is, that one of the secondary voltages is the source for the feedback. When it is low system tries to increase it. As the result the REST of voltages are too high.
It had to be the common problem in Samsung607 ( if I remember right) CRT monitors. The capacitor for one of the output voltages started to dry and the rest voltages eventually became so high, that the the whole circuit burnt including traces on PCB. The main fuse was usually intact.
Waleed Rishmawi
July 6, 2014 at 11:02 pm
Igor: thanks for sharing. very interesting. I am not really sure why the voltage doubled in this case. I have seen in so many devices that I have repaired before. I am still researching it.
Humphrey Kimathi
July 9, 2014 at 1:58 pm
Hi Igor, Very intelligent conlution Levin, Thumb up, but if the problem is the feedback circuit then i would have expected more damage to the secondary circuits feed by these sources and finally the FET/Control ic on the primary side going into flames and eventually the main fuse blowing.
Regards Humphrey Kimathi
KENYA
Momchil
July 6, 2014 at 3:09 am
I have a theory as to why the voltage doubled. One of the capacitators was short circuiting and causing a differential voltage between positive and negative sine waves. Although it is DC circuit it takes voltage from AC source and it works in switch-mode. If the power board was bipolar or something like that I guess it could show double voltage. Imagine measuring two opposite sine waves in DC.
Waleed Rishmawi
July 6, 2014 at 11:04 pm
Momchil: thanks for sharing your theory. I am not really sure why the voltages were doubled in this case. I am still researching it. I appreciate your input.
walusimbi frank
July 6, 2014 at 4:09 am
Was quite tricky and we always think that its theboard main ic but thanks four tha repair update
Waleed Rishmawi
July 6, 2014 at 11:07 pm
Walusmibi: the first device I repaired with this kind of problem, I was suspecting the Main IC in the main board. it took me a while to figure it out but know I know. I am still researching why the voltages were doubled. have a good day
Austin onweaba
July 6, 2014 at 4:14 am
Nice work,keep it up, so, is because of output voltage of the power supply is increase that cause this satellite to display zero?
Waleed Rishmawi
July 6, 2014 at 10:52 pm
Austine. I believe so. the main ic in the main board was getting really hot for getting more voltage than usual.
Mark
July 6, 2014 at 7:31 am
Hey Waleed,
Good article. Like all the other guys, I am curious as to why the voltage increased. I have seen this in the Automotive field when loads are applied.
Waleed Rishmawi
July 6, 2014 at 10:53 pm
Mark. I am not really sure about the increase in the voltage but other comments were made about it and I am still searching it.
daniel
July 6, 2014 at 5:31 pm
Hi Waleed thanks for all the good repair article you haved posted.Well done to you
Waleed Rishmawi
July 6, 2014 at 10:44 pm
Daniel: you are most welcome
Humberto
July 7, 2014 at 7:29 pm
First of all, thanks God and Waleed's knowledgement, the Satellite Receiver was repaired anyway. Maybe some AC components are present here and that deceives the Multimeter which is selected in DC voltage scale.
One thing is really, as Waleed says in his story: every tech should have an ESR Meter (a powerful tool in my own opinion). Mr. Jestine Yong is a helpfulp person and can help everybody to get one, contact him.
venu gopal
July 7, 2014 at 11:18 pm
I too think the multimeter was deceived by some factors,and it was not an actual voltage increase.
If it was an actual voltage doubling,(42 volts !!!) the main board should have damaged.
Thanks for the article. 🙂
Taring K Arioka
July 9, 2014 at 6:28 am
Thank you for these articles. I have learned much from them.
nimal
July 13, 2014 at 6:21 pm
A specialist makes the most difficult repair seem very simple to others. Thank you for the tip.
kenneth
August 1, 2014 at 9:20 pm
Hello..my homecast, em-152usna has no power is there any idea how to fix this thing?thank you for your help sir.
Raymundo Saura
August 27, 2014 at 3:20 pm
nice article sir for new in this world of electronics like me thanks sir
ferdinand
June 27, 2015 at 9:16 pm
Hi sir Waleed,
I am from Philippines. thanks for sharing your experience with satellite receiver. I believe we have different versions / brand of satellite receivers but I've got the courage now to try opening the box of satellite receiver which I failed to solve due to same situation you stated here. The voltage raised to an increased of 2 volts higher. 12 to 14volts, 24 to 26 volts. I suspected the IC and capacitors to be the culprit. I don't have ESR meter and the capacitor seems to be ok with the multimeter. Anyway, thanks a lot for the bright idea. I'll recheck it again. Thanks also to Mr. Yong and Mr.Kimathi. I'm their fan also. Hope to learn more sharing from all of you.
Gog bless.
Rajesh
May 16, 2017 at 11:59 pm
Sir I am getting signal intensity but no signal quality .... How to fix it ....
nafiu saluhu
January 7, 2018 at 4:16 am
hello sir my name is nafiu from nigeria we mostly uses strong receivers our case is diffrent the power is supplying normal but the receiver shows blink of light when powered on so i tried all i could but the result was fruitless the models are srt4940,4675,4672 and 4669
peter
January 12, 2018 at 6:38 pm
im from nigeria. my srt 4950 shows no or bad signal then later displays half of the screen n freeze. it will remain freeze till the end of the day. pls help
Ivan
June 3, 2020 at 2:30 am
wow thanks sir am learning alot from you.