--- Originally posted on the Workshop forum, and now here because I am very keen to hear your advice, please. Thank you. ----

Hi, everyone

Only found out about B&O 2 years ago and have been hooked ever since! Wired up the downstairs with MCL and even refurbished a pair of RL45s. Really loving the stuff!

Now to my problem: I bought a job lot a while back on e-bay consisting of 3 MCL2A relay boxes, 2 transceivers and an expander box. I've finally got round to testing the lot and unfortunately 1 relay box and both transceivers (type 2045) don't seem to be working... I tested them by connecting each to / instead of one of my working MCL2A relay boxes + transceiver. To be fair, the seller did say 'sold as seen, untested', so I can't fault him for that.

I have bee really excited about finishing my sound project and I must confess I thought I'd got a bit of a bargain at the time (MCL2A+transceivers seem to be less and less easy to find and when they appear on e-bay, most are around £100, which I can't afford - I need 3 pairs + speakers, too).

Is there anything I could do to check whether the faulty relay box and 2 transceivers still have some life in them or are they destined for the bin and me for e-bay waiting for their siblings to make an appearance?

Thanks a lot for all your help! Much appreciated!

Dragos

I gather it's not worth bothering trying to repair the kit... fair enough. Would a magic eye be a good substitute for the MCL2A transceivers or must I stick with the original setup? Thanks, Dragos

Well, guys, this is turning into a monologue - thanks!

The good news is that my transceivers are working now! I had bought a third one off e-bay but it didn't have a back cover, so I thought about giving it one from the 'faulty' ones. When taking it out I pulled too hard and I realised that the transceivers are mad of two parts. So I thought about swapping them over, perhaps I could get a working one out of the two. Surprise surprise! They are both ok now!

So now I need to get the faulty MCL2A box online, too. I checked again and it definitely does not work. It seemed to me like it wasn't getting any power, so I took the screws apart and had a look at it (both sides). I have spotted 3 areas which are quite black (as opposed to all the others). I have put them in three white boxes in the attached photos. The problem is that I don't know exactly what they are and was hoping for a quick tip from the specialists here. If the silence persists, I will keep improvising...

Image 1 Direct link

Image 2 Direct link

I'm sorry Dragos that you didn't get any help earlier, but it is a bit difficult when all we know is that something doesn't work

The part in the middle of the PCB is a fuse. It may have been a bit hot, but it could be just the case that those solder spots have been secured by hand soldering during manufacturing for some reason. This may be the case for the two other areas you highlighted, which are capacitors.

As a first step, measure the fuse for continuity; if it's blown, that may well be the only problem.

Some of the other solderings look a bit suspicious, but it's hard to say from the pictures. You might as well redo them all.

Yep, me again... I looked and found (I hope the right) replacements for 2 of the bits which seem to have burnt. Unfortunately, I can't see a T 80mA 250V FUSE anywhere... Any ideas? Of course, if you think what I'm doing is wrong, I would appreciate a heads-up.

As you can see, this is a labour of love and getting this to work would be superb (I've never done any electronics in my life but B&O is getting me into it big time!)

Cheers.
Dragos

tournedos:

I'm sorry Dragos that you didn't get any help earlier, but it is a bit difficult when all we know is that something doesn't work

The part in the middle of the PCB is a fuse. It may have been a bit hot, but it could be just the case that those solder spots have been secured by hand soldering during manufacturing for some reason. This may be the case for the two other areas you highlighted, which are capacitors.

As a first step, measure the fuse for continuity; if it's blown, that may well be the only problem.

Some of the other solderings look a bit suspicious, but it's hard to say from the pictures. You might as well redo them all.

Yey! Thank you, Mika and you're right: I didn't give too much info to start with because I couldn't work out what was up myself... But now thanks to your lead, I have a bit of direction. Thank you very much! :)

Brilliant! Took the box to a friend who's nifty with soldering, measured the fuse and found it was broken, replaced it with a 100mA one (couldn't find an 80mA one anywhere - hope that's ok) and now everything is working well. Incidentally, I compared this model (2045) with a later one (2046) and on that one there isn't a fuse anymore - just a piece of wire... maybe they started saving up around that time...

Thanks a lot for the pointers, Mika!

Last question, I promise ;)

Now that all the boxes and transceivers are working (yey!), I will need to use an MCL Expander box. I have such an MCL2E, but it came without the mains adaptor. Would any 12V adaptor do or should I look out for a particular Amperage?

Many thanks in advance,
Dragos

Brilliant!

I'm sure the 100 mA fuse is OK. If these come from a dismantled system, it's possible that the workers just snipped the wires before disconnecting power completely and the fuse blew due to a short circuit.

EDIT: the power supply... we don't seem to have the service manuals on site so I don't know what the original rating is, but I can't see how these could possibly need more than 1A or so. Make sure you have the polarity correct before powering up - hopefully it is marked on the box.

I think ripping such things off like that should be punished somehow ... at least a whack across the head... Do you have any idea about the 12V power cord for the MCL2E, Mika? Can it be just any cord or should it be of a certain amperage?

Thanks a lot! :) Much appreciated!

See above... BTW, make sure you don't forget to power down the entire MCL bus before messing with the MCL wiring (unplug both the Beomaster and the wall wart of this extender box)! It's easy to forget...

Brilliant, thanks a lot for the advice! Now all I need to do is lift a few floorboards, drill a few holes in my floor and walls and get a couple of pairs of Beovox's. What a supercool project! Thanks again, Mika :)