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LED Woes Continued - TauTronics Repair

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I've just finished the chronicle on the issues I had with my two Apollo LED's HERE. Also, as I reported in my Tale a couple days ago, the TauTronics LED fixture I was using to replace an Apollo fixture while it was being fixed, well that crapped out on me....the blues only. They barely come on and flickered a bit.






When I opened up the TauTronics, I was first surprised to see a label.....on the drivers!!!






So I now know what drivers they used in these boxes.....which is a first. The one issue is that these high voltage drivers are hard to find. I think Mean Wells only go up to 48 volts. I thought I found the closest power supply HERE, with the picture showing it's 54-105 V, 600mA, but the words say it's only 33-68 V. If I could get the one in the picture, it most likely would work.


The other thing that was noted with this fixture was that the fans only came on when the white lights were on. I thought that was how it was designed. However, when I open it up and saw the two Bridge Rectifiers, I knew something wasn't right. Upon close inspection I found the one bridge rectifier controlling the fans from the blue power plug had a broken wire. It is supposed to have four wires coming in, and you can see the one broken one in the lower left of this picture.






Also, for a light that was hardly used, and the bridge rectifier just sitting there, it looks like it went through a war. I'm not sure if this was because that loose wire was touching other wires causing heat and damage, or what the cause, but it looks like heck. Either way, I'll replace both rectifiers.


I'm not going to even bother testing the power supply until the rectifiers have been replaced. So update to come when the rectifiers arrive and are installed.
 

Hockeynut

NJRC Member
Your a real trooper Paul I would have tossed both fixtures by now. By the time you make all of the repairs and figure your time in you are at a loss.


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redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Rob, I've always been a fix-it person. My first car....a hand-me-down....didn't need anything done to it, but I pulled the engine anyway and rebuilt it because I wanted to, and it was my first engine. As a fix-it person, you never forget your first engine. :eek: :grin:


As far as my time, it's not worth much. You should see the stuff my wife has me doing!!!!


Parts wise, the rectifiers are a buck or two each, so that's not an issue. There is a level of gratification when you are able to bring something back to life. And if it doesn't work, you beat the crap out of it with a sledge hammer and get double gratification.


And Jim, if it was training, that would imply that I knew what I was doing. I don't, because if I did, I'd do what Rob suggested and toss these into the trash.


I think I've gone full circle.
 

Hockeynut

NJRC Member
Like they say there is a fine line between genius and insanity still trying to figure out which you are LOL prob both :)


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redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Rob, I have no question what I am......:abnormal:........you and others just need to figure it out! Dance


Now I need to go and discuss this with my philodendron and see what see thinks.....she's much smarter than I am and can give me some direction. :grin:
 
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