#3 [Repair/RF] E4419B power meter

Ғылым және технология

I repair a E4419B which had a surprising hex inverter failure. These units are also listed as a E4418B and EPM-441A. Thanks to The Signal Path and their own excellent teardown ( • TSP #51 - Teardown & R... ) for giving me the confidence to attempt to repair this piece of test equipment. Also a very big thank you to HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment@groups.io who provided me with the CLIP and have been an amazing community resource.
0:00 The background and problem.
2:33 Opening the unit.
5:15 Replacing the ram battery.
7:08 Removing the sampling boards.
7:48 Removing the front panel.
8:30 Taking a look at the display and cleaning it.
13:16 More debugging and realising its the CPU.
19:11 The Frankenstein fix.
22:20 Schematic review and why the fix worked.
30:38 Self-test and using the sensor.
32:23 The small fixes and remaining work.

Пікірлер: 36

  • @vidasvv
    @vidasvv3 жыл бұрын

    And I thought I was the only one who blew open parts rather than lifting pins LOL Great video, TNX 4 the upload! 73

  • @bansci

    @bansci

    3 жыл бұрын

    Yeah, I went in guns blazing and should have just lifted the pin.... I must have been thinking I could find the short by the smell of magic smoke or the heat of a dying chip!

  • @ptronix
    @ptronix3 жыл бұрын

    Nice repair & nice meter, had problems with the buttons on a Marconi Sig gen, used some carbon loaded paint designed to repair tv remotes & still works fine two years latter. Also the rf output was on the back so re routed it to the front with semi rigid coax

  • @bansci

    @bansci

    3 жыл бұрын

    Good idea! I've already bought a replacement membrane and might have a follow on video properly fixing these issues, but the conductive paint is definitely a way to go if you can't get the replacements. The Feedback Loop repaired a fluke scopemeter's membrane keyboard by making a thin FR4 PCB to replace the membrane which I thought was quite clever, as they're extremely cheap from pcbway/jlcpcb provided you don't mind the CAD time.

  • @Subotai500
    @Subotai5004 жыл бұрын

    The battery could have been easily unsoldered from the underside of the board in under a minute. You can replace the exact same battery with mounting by searching on digikey. You have brown outs because that's the original 20W supply which they stopped using in later productions. You can find 40W or higher for them on eBay. Hope this helps.

  • @bansci

    @bansci

    4 жыл бұрын

    I tried desoldering the battery from below but I had issues getting enough heat in, so clipping the battery out first was the easy option. I'd also already ordered the replacement battery (with the wrong connectors) before taking delivery of the meter, so I went with what I had. About the power supply, interesting to note they have different versions, I'll take a look at the 40W version and maybe measure the existing units peak draw. My issue was definitely the broken hex inverter though, the power controller was giving the all clear signal but it was not being correctly inverted. I even ran the system from my lab supplies to be sure. Might do a follow up on this when I finally get back into the lab after COVID lockdown and replace the hex inverter!

  • @ofgjf
    @ofgjf4 жыл бұрын

    Nice video and a nice channel. I got a 4418B (single channel version). After the video i checked the battery voltage but it is still 3.2V. What memory is supplied from that voltage? The cal memory or just the user settings?

  • @ofgjf

    @ofgjf

    4 жыл бұрын

    Found the answer in the service manual: "It is advisable to replace the RAM battery A2BT1 every three years. If the battery fails or drops below 3 V the RAM will lose the following information when power is disconnected from the meter: Unit Serial Number Revision letter of Processor Card Unit Option User defined setups User defined sensor calibration tables"

  • @bansci

    @bansci

    4 жыл бұрын

    Thanks! You've got it right, its only an inconvenience to not have the battery working. The cal tables are nice for older sensors, and I think preserving the serial number is probably for when you have several of the meters on the same GPIB bus so you can tell them apart. As an interesting side note, the motherboard actually indicates what SRAM chips are actually backed up by the battery with a white box and text in the silkscreen. Not sure why though, perhaps to warn repair techs that there may be 3.3v on them so don't start shorting pins?

  • @karlfell3768
    @karlfell37682 жыл бұрын

    Fantastic repair. I just wanted to ask if you still had a copy of the schematic as I have the single chanel model on my bench for repair? Karl

  • @bansci

    @bansci

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks! Just email me at youtube@bansci.com. I haven't used the email much yet so ping me here too and I'll check the spam folder. Good luck with the repair, maybe comment what you found failed for future fixers like yourself to find.

  • @karlfell3768

    @karlfell3768

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@bansci Email sent. Thank you and I certainly will share my findings

  • @bansci

    @bansci

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@karlfell3768 I've replied, good luck!

  • @pedrorafaelechenique5654
    @pedrorafaelechenique56546 ай бұрын

    Excuse me, could you tell me how you removed the front panel of the power meter?

  • @bansci

    @bansci

    5 ай бұрын

    I can't remember exactly how but it was a very painful process, I think the plastic clips over something meaning you have to flex it out, very nerve wracking when you have aged and brittle plastic!

  • @bisteycs
    @bisteycs3 жыл бұрын

    Would it be possible for you to send me the PDF containing the schematics?

  • @bansci

    @bansci

    3 жыл бұрын

    Sure, please email me at youtube@bansci.com. Alternatively, join the agilent/keysight group and ask on there and someone will help you

  • @radiotvrepair1059
    @radiotvrepair10592 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for this vedio.i have agilent e4416a power meter.when i press the power button nothing happens can you help me

  • @bansci

    @bansci

    2 жыл бұрын

    Sure, can you describe anything else? Does the power light come on at all? If the light is not on, you need to check the PSU. It is always on, so you should be able to measure it's voltages on its connector. If the light is on, then it might be in your reset circuit like mine. Also check the very top of the display for an error code like The Signal Path saw.

  • @radiotvrepair1059

    @radiotvrepair1059

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@bansci thanks for your reply. voltages 12 v,-12 v , 5 v , battery 2,9v are ok . The stand by light is ok .when I press the power button notting happened.

  • @bansci

    @bansci

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@radiotvrepair1059 OK it sounds like my issue, you need to check the voltages on the reset pins on the MCU (to see if you have an issue with brownout control like me), and verify the clock in and out is working on the MCU (to see if its the clock), finally, you need to see if there's memory bus activity and the voltages of that, to see if its bad memory like The Signal Paths' one.

  • @radiotvrepair1059

    @radiotvrepair1059

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@bansci I didn't work with my power meter a month ago. before yesterday when I turned on my meter it does not want to start knowing that it works well before. can humility do that because I'm in a place where the percentage of humidity is very high.

  • @bansci

    @bansci

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@radiotvrepair1059 it could be, there's lots of ways you can degrade electronics. Humidity, temperature, vibration can ask expose weaknesses.

  • @bobsimmonds5880
    @bobsimmonds58803 жыл бұрын

    Nice repair. I would very much appreciate it if you could send me the clip also, will send you an email. Thanks

  • @bansci

    @bansci

    3 жыл бұрын

    Best of luck with the repair!

  • @legomindstormsfan1
    @legomindstormsfan14 жыл бұрын

    Would it be possible for you to send me the PDF containing the schematics?

  • @bansci

    @bansci

    4 жыл бұрын

    Sure I can point you at it, just mail me at youtube@bansci.com. I haven't used the email much yet so ping me here too and I'll check the spam folder

  • @legomindstormsfan1

    @legomindstormsfan1

    4 жыл бұрын

    You've got mail!

  • @legomindstormsfan1

    @legomindstormsfan1

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@bansci Thanks to the schematics I got from you I was able to get my meter working again in no time. My channel B sampling board failed during the self test. Turns out the 2.5 volt reference voltage was shorted by a 100nF decoupling capacitor (C30). Thanks again for your help!

  • @bansci

    @bansci

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@legomindstormsfan1 awesome, that was very fast! Glad to hear I helped in some small way.

  • @abelcino

    @abelcino

    Жыл бұрын

    Hi, can you please share with me the schematcs file too? Just got a unit with a weird symptom, if a plug the AC cable while pressing the power button it turns on and works as expected, after that I can press the power button to turn it off, but it then won't turn on if I press the power button again, I have to unplug the AC cable and repeat... Regards.

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