Help diagnose micro rectifier failure, please

[peteski]

I have done too many multi-component fixes in my life, wanting to know what the real cause was, to just be satisfied it was fixed. I think it's a common trait among troubleshooters.

Doug

I'm also a professional troubleshooter (have been all my working life) and I (and my customers) like to pinpoint the source of the problem and what fixed it. But I have also done my share of shotgunning.

[Doug G.]

I had a friend who went to school to troubleshoot/repair CAT and other types of scanners and they would not allow component level repair. Just board replacement. I'm sure speed was of utmost importance but I don't think they even sent the baords anywhere to be repaired. I think they just destroyed faulty boards.

Anyway, I hope whatever you try, works, Max.

Doug

[peteski]

I had a friend who went to school to troubleshoot/repair CAT and other types of scanners and they would not allow component level repair. Just board replacement. I'm sure speed was of utmost importance but I don't think they even sent the baords anywhere to be repaired. I think they just destroyed faulty boards.

Speed might not be it, or not the only factor . There might be some special rules and regulations to be adhered to when servicing medical-grade equipment. Maybe component-level repair is simply not allowed.

[mmagliaro]

Well, we may get our wish.  The new rectifiers arrived, and I put one in.  It works.
I then realized that I don't really have any small ceramic caps in tiny sizes for this kind of work.  I've got boatloads of
the larger disk type that you'd use in radio or amplifier, but not anything small.

So, while some SMD .01 uF caps are on their way to me, I'll just run it like this.  If it fails, then we know the rectifier wasn't "faulty".
If it keeps working of course, we don't know anything.

As an aside, when I put the first one in, I assumed that since the package was the same, that it would have the same pin-out.
Um no.  I got a puff of white smoke and that was all for rectifier number 1.  Then I looked at the data sheet, put
another one in the right way, and all is well.