Re: Suddenly Dead MC460?

["Bob F" <bobnospam@xxxxxxxxx>]

David White wrote:
> Bob F wrote:
>> David White wrote:
>>> This unit is perhaps a little over 2 years of age. It has worked
>>> just fine for that entire period. However, today it seems to have
>>> stopped working all together. When I press any on/off rocker
>>> button, I see the little red light blink. But nothing happens on
>>> any X-10 device in the house. I have moved it to several other
>>> outlets to test with the same results. Other units of the same or
>>> similar model work fine. Is this thing trash or is there some
>>> common issue that I might be able to fix? Thanks.
>>
>> A large capacitor in one of my older controllers died, causing
>> similar symptoms. Replacing it ixed the unit.
>>
>>
> Thanks Bob,
>
> I have opened my unit up and see it is a pretty simple board. Can you
> tell me if there is some simple way, with my Vohm meter to test for a
> bad capacitor? Perhaps you recall which one it was that you had to
> replace?

The one I had the problem with was an older unit with a big (3/4" diameter?) cap
which, iirc, connected the electronics to the 110V power. Caps can be tested
(not while plugged into the wall)for basic function by using a resistance range
of the meter. You may need to remove them from the circuit for this. touch the
meter leads to the capacitor leads. You should see a low reading, which
gradually rises to infinity as the cap charges. reverse the leads, and it should
repeat this change. If you see no change over time, either the capacitor is bad,
or something else in the circuit is affecting the reading. Another way to test
would be to just touch a duplicate cap's leads to the live circuit and see if it
works, but you have to be careful with X10 stuff, because they work at line
voltage levels.