Teranex Mini converters failing at alarming rate

I have 6 Teranex mini converters (a combination of HDMI->SDI and SDI->HDMI versions). They're in a mobile production truck.

In the past year I have replaced all 6. Now I'm back on the truck and 2 more are down.

That's 8 bad in past year.

Spacing/cooling adequate (they're in two sets of the little 3-up mount, with 1U space between).

They're operated via POE from UniFi 48 switch.

There's a LOT of equipment in this truck, and none of it fails except for these converters.

What gives? Should I just find something else?

That is kind of weird. We have multiple units, SDI HDMI HDMI SDI OPTICAL HDMI etc.. Have them for 3 years now.. No issues at all, only fans that get louder..

But we power them from mains, instead off PoE. Do they work with mains after they fail over PoE? Or did the power supply die?

They stop working on AC power as well. Oddly, if plugged into POE, the switch ports they're connected to still show as as something is connected (no activity though).

They do not pass video signals though, and they're not reachable via IP/config software. Additionally, the front screens (we have the addon faceplates) go black as well.

So it seems the power supply dies when you use it with PoE for an extended periode of time.

Just for test, Start running 1 or 2 new ones on mains instead of PoE and see if they survive. Mine do for couple of years now.

Adding to this - I’m currently repairing 15 teranex mini. They are all suffering from psu faults on the mains psu side. From what I can see the cooling duct forces air through the fpga heatsink and then over the POE psu , the mains psu doesn’t appear to get any airflow.

I’m not surprised that either PSU section fails whether using POE or mains.

Units affected are
SDI to HDMI 12G ( 6 )
HDMI to SDI 12G ( 6 )
Web presenter ( original ) ( 2 )
Hyperdeck Studio HD mini ( 1 )

Either the units are completely dead , or ‘ticking’

And how are you repairing them? Or you send them all to BMD for repair?

There are 3 capacitors which fail in the mains to 12v smps board.
100uF 25V 105C startup cap ( if this has deteriorated you’ll get no startup , or ticking )
1000uF 16V 105C - usually dried out / vented / bulging
1000uF 25V 105C - same , dried out and bulging.

You have to dismantle the unit , then remove the smps board ( can be tricky - need a decent soldering iron for this ) consists of 5 connections , 2 of which are connected to the ground plane.

Once removed - replace those 3 caps.
I have some longer life capacitors on order to see if it helps , also replacing 100uF cap with a 130C rated one, it’s right next to the smps switcher IC heatsink.

IMG_2249.jpeg (663.07 KiB) Viewed 8228 times

Assembly is the reverse of disassembly.

Don’t get me started on the annoying habit of almost any BM kit to fail at the FPGA BGA joints
I wish we could all go back to leaded solder for BGA.

IMG_2250.jpeg (738.4 KiB) Viewed 8228 times

Yeah leadfree soldering is really a problem.. We see this also in some of our products that we tend to want to repair with lead holding tin.

Hey, I just stumbled over this thread. Was anyone able to reflow the FPGAs already? I am looking for a temperatue curve to reflow the Lead free solder properly.
Kind regards
Nico

usually 240 to 250 degrees Celsius for a Pb-free ?

Keep in mind that reflowing the whole board MIGHT melt some plastic parts as often connectors and other parts are put on the board after the PCB went trough reflow.

There are 3 capacitors which fail in the mains to 12v smps board.
100uF 25V 105C startup cap ( if this has deteriorated you’ll get no startup , or ticking )
1000uF 16V 105C - usually dried out / vented / bulging
1000uF 25V 105C - same , dried out and bulgingBGA.

i have to reach a minimum amount for free oversea shipping. My list of componants for a class A amplifier project isn't enough Having some teranex, may be time to order some spares. But dimensions and space leads are mandatory for caps.

Apologies - I used caps that I already had on hand - although I may have ordered a 130C cap as that would unlikely to be in my parts bins.

Okay - found the order
25ZT1000M12.5X25
16ZLJ1000M10X16
25YXJ100M5X11

From Farnell in the UK.
And a higher temp one from mouser for the 100uF UBT1E101MPD8TA

Okay - found the order
25ZT1000M12.5X25
16ZLJ1000M10X16
25YXJ100M5X11

From Farnell in the UK.
And a higher temp one from mouser for the 100uF UBT1E101MPD8TA

thanks Andy. I will close my order

Yup, joining this thread… It's definitely an issue with these units. And as you say, this isn't a PSU module like e.g. in the BMD UltraStudios, that's easy to swap out.

We have 4 Teranex Mini SDI>HDMI 12G units that are 7 years old, and 3 out of them have had power supply failures.
Out of the last 2, one still seems to work over PoE. The other one had rattling noise. I just opened it up to see what screw went loose. Nope…. the entire capacitor's cover popped right off.

teranex mini shelf use a chain airflow between converters. But when fixed in bay, output flow may be partialy obturated by rack profiles. I opted for only two converters by shelf.

I have also some spare caps. Belt and suspenders