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Forum Index : Other Stuff : Sat decoder U/S, caps OK
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| domwild Guru  Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
Hi, A very very tall order: VAST UEC DSD 4121 satellite decoder has gone West. Used to show error code 'bE 1' before and now does not show anything at all any more. Power side seems to be OK as the attached USB external disk is happily flashing away with its 5VDC. 'Magic Smoke' has not disappeared anywhere. UEC repair quote is free, min. repair cost is $88, quote is fixed, warranty of repair is three months. Would cost me $10 to send there, UEC charges $20 to get it back if I do not accept the quote. $30 combined postage + min. repair cost $88 or $120 total. Cost of a new sat decoder is $230. It is possibly only three years since we had to throw away our prev. sat decoders to buy the new VAST decoders. Caps look OK. Cannot flash the memory with an upgrade; UEC suspects flash memory problems and this is why I downloaded the upgrade to a USB stick and followed instructions. I do not know if the flash memory has a number I can quote this forum so the question is this: Assuming I find the correct flash memory, unsolder it and press a new one in, would the update load in the missing (corrupted) firmware or hardware??? Not so much the financial aspect of having to throw away $300 after three or so years but if I can manage to resurrect something without a black belt in electrickery I would be a happy man. Misery not having TV in the bush, I had to talk to my wife, she seems to be a nice person! I have not spoken to her for about a month before as I do not wish to interrupt her! Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
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| VK4AYQ Guru Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi Dom That,s a lot of money to pay for a conduit of Visual Diarrhea, i got one of those Foxtel thing for my wife but it is just a lot of rubbish and repeats and bad news now it sits there doing nothing going nowhere and they wouldn't even take it back. My solution would be a good heat gun and melt the whole lot and wait till a storm comes and claim it on insurance, but maybe not a good idea as you would be back to Visual Diarrhea, All the best Bob Foolin Around |
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norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
Don`t know whether this`ll help plus you`ve probably already tried. Because I`m totally off-grid Vast Decoder is turned off each night, often have to remove card and reset to get it to stop showing error. Plus it updates once found Sat if an update is available. Card is behind hinge down panel RH front. Next time it fails will note error number. We come from the land downunder. Vic |
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| domwild Guru Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
Thanks Bob and Norcold. Great idea to claim it on insurance, trouble is this hovel in the bush is not insured. Will fiddle with the card if that might be the solution. Yes, I will disconnect it at night if I am not recording anything but SBS or ABC sometimes have ***** star movies from overseas. This box failed after a night recording. We are at the end of a single-phase supply from Walpole (WA) where the residents just complained on ABC TV about the failing supply. Western Power will give you $65 if the supply fails for more than x hours and a business having lost a lot of stock will get the same amount. Someone from the Aussat forum offered to buy the box for parts. Saw just one small chip on the board with 'SMP'-sized solder joints, no way would I be able to unsolder and solder such a chip, which might just be the firmware. Norcold: Please let me have the sequence of card removal and resetting. Is it just a case of removing the card with power on and sliding it in again? Thanks. Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
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| norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
Okay with set turned off, remove card give gold contacts a light rub with a pencil rubber. Replace on start hit front reset button. You are talking recording, am assuming your using an external recorder not the newer model Vast UEC than the DSD 4121. If yours was like mine it came with very little info(purchased online) and was little available on web site, had heaps of trouble initially, resetting and replacing card quiet often but think that was fixed with upgrade it downloaded direct from Sat after about 18 months as has been awhile since I`ve had trouble(touch wood, cricket season is on). If you do get it to boot go into setup menu and check firmware version and get back with that, than I`ll check mine to ensure you are upgraded. Hey Bob, Vast is a FTA service for us folks who are outside norm FTA service, same Sat as Foxtel but just your normal TV stations ABC24 SBS 10 etc.and importantly Imparja which gives nearly a uninterrupted cricket coverage, most times doesn`t even go to the news. And the Ads can be entertaining cos their not local.  We come from the land downunder. Vic |
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| domwild Guru Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
Thanks Norcold. Will try your trick. Bob: You are missing out on all the sheep dip ads so we feel sorry for you! Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
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| VK4AYQ Guru Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi Dom Just what I need, hot enough here to melt the sheep . All the best Bob Foolin Around |
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| Pete Locke Senior Member  Joined: 26/06/2013 Location: New ZealandPosts: 181 |
Don't know if you have access to an oscilloscope, but if you do a favourite trick of mine is to check for high frequency ripple on the power supply secondary by simply connecting the earth lead of the probe to the PCB ground, and touching the probe on the case of the caps. Normal electro's have the metal end of the case visible at the top. Although your external drive is working, sufficient ripple on one of the other power supply rails may be upsetting things. Just make sure you are looking at the SECONDARY side of the power supply. This worked back in the day when T.V's and VCR's were worth repairing. That's a few haircuts ago now, back when I had hair  . I'm of course assuming you have a switch mode power supply in the receiver. Good luck.
Cheers Pete'. |
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| domwild Guru Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
Pete, Thanks for help. Have a second-hand (dual trace) oscilloscope and have to learn how to use it. Will remember your post once I know how not to blow it up. It may or may not a switch mode power supply; I can see a small transformer, lots of diodes and resistors - have as much knowledge of electrickery as I have hair left! I might just be lucky having tried everything else suggested on this forum, AUSSAT and WHIRLPOOL: When we had to throw away our previous sat decoders because of the change to FTA VAST I had kept the power supply of the older UEC sat decoder. It also has 3.3, 5V and 12V supplies and it might just be the correct model for this newer VAST model. Judging by the comments on those fora the UEC models suffer from dicky PSUs, which is not good news for those of us at the end of mains or on RE. Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
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| Pete Locke Senior Member Joined: 26/06/2013 Location: New ZealandPosts: 181 |
....Ah. You mention keeping the power supply from the old unit? Does that mean it's a stand alone plug pack supply (big ugly black cased 3 pin thing that hogs its own space on the multi outlet, plus the one on each side so you cant plug anything else in  ) or does your receiver have it's own mains lead? If it does it will have a switch mode supply. The 'scope won't be hard to get sorted for this exercise. Set the X speed for 10Khz/div and the input level (Y axis) to 10uV. The 'scope might not lock to a wave form, but the thin green line will get thicker if there is high frequency ripple on one of the caps. Electro's don't always show external signs of failing. Depending on the 'quality' of the manufacturer of the goods they may have opted for cheap components. Electro's are no exception. Google 'capacitor plague' and it will show just how low component manufacturers will stoop to get a better profit margin for their wares. |
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| domwild Guru Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
Pete, Not a stand-alone plug pack. It is a second board inside the unit with a ribbon cable supplying the reception board. Thanks for advice with the oscilloscope. Once I get back to Perth I print out this page so I remember what to do. Thanks for help. Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
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yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
did you make sure the usb stick was formatted to FAT 32 and only load the upgrade.uec file and not the whole directory. http://www.uec.com.au/au/index.php/downloads/software-update s there was a bad batch of DSD4121's with crook power supplies, I get 3-6 a month to repair or replace. If I have been organised I will have a few power supplies with replaced caps ready to swap over when they come in. A new power supply is about $55 retail so they are certainly worth repairing. only thing I could suggest is swap a PS from another vast box and see if that fixes it before trying to repair yours. I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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| domwild Guru Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
Thanks Yahoo. I did the correct thing for the update and had no joy. Will keep the offer in mind. Will see how I go with another power supply I kept. Thanks for help. Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
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| norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
Perhaps of interest checked my SW version on Vast decoder, Ver 2.400 was upgraded in Sept 2014, must have been an automatic on air update as did not initiate. On checking UEC website, downloaded much more info manual than original(which was as useful as a hole in the head), should check these things now and again. Note a kit is available for recording, assume you have this kit, Domwild, this being of interest to me, wondering if you experienced problem you have just after adding that kit or did it operate OK for awhile. Just wondering if it is wise to get the kit or leave alone, from your experience and go for the newer decoder with inbuilt recorder. We come from the land downunder. Vic |
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| domwild Guru Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
Thanks Norcold for continued interest. When I purchased the VAST unit after having thrown out the previous non-VAST model I purchased the PVR-ready unit and hung on a USB external disk. First problem: Industry does not follow the USB standard and the unit did not have the required 500mA or so, which is a USB requirement for driving external equipment. Fortunately for me, Dick Smith took the USB-driven external HD back and I bought a disk with external power supply. The recording worked OK for the time of VAST; is that three or four years?? Because of old age I just remembered having kept the power supply of the non-VAST UEC recorder with its 3.3V, 5V and 12VDC. Let's hope the ribbon cable from the old PSU to the 'new' sat board supplies the correct voltages. The old PSU reads like this from memory: 3.3VG5VG12VG or some such alphabet soup The new and possibly dead one reads only 3.3 5 12 without 'G'round ever being listed. And there are seven (7) leads in the 'new' VAST unit, which confuses me. 12V seems to have its own ground and there is one black wire. Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
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| domwild Guru Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
Update: Am now fishing the net for voltages on that DSD4121 power supply. Did not keep the Aurora decoder's power supply but have several power supplies with the 3.3,5 and 12V outputs. One suggestion of the required outputs is 3.3, 3.3, GND, GND, 5, 5, NC, 12 Anyone confirm that before I blow the sat board with 12V or reverse polarity? Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
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| domwild Guru Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
Update: A friendly guy from Aussat forum with name Tristan and M'bozo gave me the voltages for this UEC DSD2141 box. Hooked up a second-hand PSU and the screen did not light up and I must consider this box to be dead. Tried updating, rubbing of card, checked fuse and signs of smoke or bulging caps, so I have tried everything suggested except the cap checking with oscilloscope. Now I have an offer for this dead box of $30. In the meantime I have bought a Satking 12VDC/240V and have plastered the web with "Do not buy UEC decoders" messages. The web is full of tales of faulty PSUs and other problems with this sat decoder. Fortunately, the UEC monopoly has been broken with the entry of Satking and Humax, so one has a choice of decoders. Question: This decoder is suitable for 12VDC for caravaners. Would the factory still have included a 12V zener to limit the supply or should I still use a power conditioner to be sure, to be sure?? Am at the end of the line with my own transformer and would run it off 240VAC. May lose the warranty if I have a look at the insides. Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
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