Xpeed LX3 repair to power supply **ALL XPEED LX3 OWNERS SHOULD CHECK THEIR BOX**

Exactly the same thing happened to me. I've attached a pic of the bulge in the capacitor on mine. The symptoms were exactly the same as you describe.

Thank you very much for spotting this. 564e6d4d280cf0c70e907c.jpg

Ordered on Fleabay for the princely sum of £1.38 !, Should be here Tuesday. I'm going to replace both caps with 25V versions. It doesn't make any difference to performance, just makes it less likely the 10V one will fail again. When I was repairing TV's and videos, we frequently beefed up blown caps with higher voltage rated versions. I'll keep an eye on the 25V one, and might uprate that to a 33V if necessary?

Excellant thread and it shows how some good broken boxes can be made good again rather than end up as bricks

As is typical, scratching around in the bit box at work revealed a bag full of 50 V 1000uf caps. I've wasted £1.38 !!! ;-)

All working brilliantly. Updated to latest openvix release, and fresh bootloader, and she's flying.

A virtual beer to you Jenseneverest :thumbup:

Thank you very much.

I took the liberty of mentioning your thread on world of sat, as another lx3 owner had the exact same symptoms, hopefully, he finds it as useful as I did.

For those of you that may be interested, the 50v capacitor is slightly larger than the standard, but there is plenty of room to lift it off the board, and keep it away from the nearby components. The higher voltage rating should beef up its tolerance to anything the power supply can throw at it.

Just out of interest would it be possible for either or both of you to do a tutorial on changing caps i realise you have kindly put pics on etc but what im getting at is describing if they are difficult to fit or solder etc i for one would certainly be interested for any future problems i may encounter with boxes meanwhile as ive said earlier great thread its a learning thread for all

Thanks jensen mate your posts are always interesting im sure your tips will come in handy

I'll echo Jensen's comments about making sure the mains connection is DISCONNECTED before even removing the cover to start looking at this fix. The potential for shock after that is very small, and in my experience, the size of capacitors in these power supplies aren't enough to give you even a small shock, but as he says, shorting something to anther component could easily blow something else. Transistors and Integrated circuits don't handle sudden power surges well. That said, this is a very easy fix, as again he says, which should be a very simple procedure.

I'm a bit pressed for time until the weekend, where I hope to get the box off the shelf, and strip it to take pictures and do a proper tutorial, but here's a basic tutorial:

1: REMOVE THE MAINS POWER FROM THE BOX !!!!!!

2: Remove the 5 screws that hold the metal lid on the box, and slide it to the rear to remove it.

3: If your box has an internal hard drive (I can't imagine many don't?), remove the screws and the SATA/power cable, from the drive, and lift it out of its cradle. Put it to one side.

4: The ribbon cable that connects the power supply to other components is underneath it. Gently press on the tab on the side of the connector strip to unplug it (you might need to get a flat edged screwdriver to prise the tab on the side of the connector to allow the plug to be removed, be gentle). DO NOT try to remove the end that is connected to the pcb (printed circuit board) of the power supply itself, it is fixed, and permanent. If you break that end, you'll have a lot of soldering to do to rectify it.

5: Unplug the "molex" connector that feeds the hard drive.

6: Unplug the small two pin connector which is the mains power supply to the pcb.

7: Unscrew the four screws (one at each corner) that hold the pcb onto the chassis of the box.

8: Jiggle the board out of the box, so you have it free in your hand. (Not strictly necessary, but removing and soldering components in place can be tricky, this makes it easy).

9: Locate the capacitors mentioned in this thread, and identify where they are soldered to the pcb. In my case, only one capacitor had bulged, so it was easy as it's close to the edge of the board.

10: Remove the capacitor/s ( TAKE NOTE OF THE POLARITY OF THE CAPACITOR AS YOU REMOVE IT). The Capacitors have markings identifying positive and negative terminals. Usually on capacitors, it is the negative (-ve). Again, usually it is a stripe on the side of the capacitor with a "-" or -ve" marking on it. Use a soldering iron of a low wattage, and de-soldering tape, or a "solder sucker". If you're lazy like me, or can't find your solder sucker, simply apply the soldering iron to on side of the capacitor and as the solder melts, apply pressure to pull the connection through the board. Do the same to the other side, and don't worry if you don't get it in one go, simply do one side and then the other to stagger it out. Once the capacitor is off the board, use the soldering iron to clean the solder away from the connection so you can see the hole which you will have to put the legs of the new capacitor though. If the hole is blocked with solder, you won't be able to get the legs back through the board to position it.

10: Once you have replaced the capacitor with the new one, apply the soldering iron, and solder it back to the board. If, like me you have used a higher voltage version of the capacitor, you will probably need to "jiggle" it to make sure it doesn't put pressure on the components surrounding it, as the capacitor will be slightly larger than the original. It's ok if it touches other components, and won't short out that way, but for air flow and thermal reasons, leave a gap. There's plenty of room.

11: Replace the power supply pcb board back in the chassis, connect all the relevant cables/plugs from it and the hard drive, and put the lid of the lx3 back on.

12: Connect all the relevant leads HDMI/ethernet/dish connections etc. The last connection you should make, is putting the mains cable back into the box. Power it up.

13: The box should show the normal booting/loading/percentage....etc etc, that it usually does, and load up.

14: Put the kettle on/crack a beer.

15: Enjoy

tnx

I have same problem.

?✌

I think this thread could learn everyone something and even though ive been in the hobby since the very start ive learned a little so many thanks guys for taking the time to write it i will certainly come back to this thread if i get issues on a box and need to buy caps --i have found this thread a great read and detailed pics --thanks again

A couple of edited pictures:

It doesn't matter what voltage you use, as long as you have the same value capacitor (1000uF). I have used the 50 volt version, to give it greater resistance to damage, but you could replace the original 10 volt capacitor with an identical capacitor if you wish. Note the - marking on the side of the capacitors in this picture, and the shorter pins.

05e93d.jpg

The xpeed LX3 power supply board (nicked off Jensen's post ;-) ) It has a fixing screw at each corner. It has two removable plugs on the board. The are the 2 pin mains electricity connector, and the standard molex connector (shown in this picture) for the hard drive. It has a white ribbon cable attached to it, which DOES NOT disconnect from the board. It is fixed to the board, and should be disconnected by unplugging it from its connector which sits underneath the hard drive.

b0bc7dabd41d351091e1479b.jpg

A picture of my Venton HD2 power supply which is very similar. Note that the negative side of the capacitor mounting point is indicated by a black cap or sector. It is very similar on the xpeed LX3 board. As you remove the offending capacitor/s you will see the marking underneath the old capacitor. Replace the new capacitor with the same polarity.

a80e745614cc.jpg

That should be enough info to give you a good idea of what the job entails, but if you have any questions,please fire away.

Thanks for the heads up guys - I finally got around to doing mine today!

I used these Panasonic capacitors as hopefully they'll outlive me and the box:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0…3187911_185740111_TE_item

The hardest part for me was getting the old capacitors out as it's only the second time I've ever soldered but it's gone well and the box came up first time so I'll keep an eye out to see if I still get the random reboots like I was prior to doing this.

In my case only one of the caps was bulging which was the 10v one, but I replaced both anyway so fingers crossed for more reliable service :)

Thanks again for the heads up - it was much easier than I'd expected!

UPDATE:

Sorry to resurrect an ancient thread, but my box was dead this morning.

I've swapped out the power supply with the one in my venton hd2, and tested the xpeed lx3 one in that as well. Both power supplies are fine, and power the hd2 properly. Nothing at all in the xpeed lx3. Which means, that it has got to be the main board :thumbdown:

If I have any news, I'll update.

my friends lx3 has died, I have stripped it down to get the PSU out, only 1 capacitor is bulging, but not 1 in the photos it is situtated next to the yellow capacitor, can anyone advise what to do, the capacitor is 16v if that make any difference

I saw this post and it sparked my interest. I repair vintage audio equipment here in the USA.
We have several suppliers here. Newark, Mouser, DigiKey.
Capacitors in modern switching power supplies like shown here are known to fail frequently.
Some soldering skills are a given. Proper temperature, correct solder, and no solder bridging between traces. Fresh desoldering braid and an ok solder sucker.
Please replace with known quality equivalents. Panasonic, Nichicon are a couple.
Asian electronics are notorious for inferior capacitors. Some even are fakes of name brands.
It's ok to replace electrolytics with a higher voltage rating. Actually it's a wise thing provided you have the footprint to do so.
Everything to make you dangerous is posted here. But work wise and work safe.
While at it check for adequate soldering and look for "solder circles"..components that appear to not have the leads flowed with solder to the PC board.
Nice post.