One for the electronics expert

[Oddjob]

I bought an Ultrasonic bath in January to use on a bank of carbs I was restoring, used the bath twice and the last time it blew with 2 loud pops. Contacted the Ebay seller who asked me to take pics of the PCB boards, the PCB mounted fuses have clearly blown and after much toing and froing they gave me a full refund. They also stated I could keep the bath, they didn't want it back. This got me thinking, could I replace the fuses on the board and get the bath working again?

One odd thing to note however, not sure if this is the case with all of them but mine refused to heat the liquid in the bath unless the vib motor was also running, this meant it was running around 90 minutes in total and could be the reason the fuses blew. Are they all like that? This is the one I bought https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314275396344

I'll heat the liquid in a pan on the stove in future so I don't need the vib motor going as long.

So are these fuses available to buy, if so where and what do I look for..









I was thinking of not demounting the old fuses, just tag onto the existing wires, saves risking the PCB being damaged by excessive heat. I'm fairly proficient at soldering BTW and have quite a few different sizes and heat ranges of soldering irons.

[Bryanj]

Ken, i would put remote blade type fuse holders in mounted somewhere safe and accessible

[Orcade-Ian]

Ken,
It appears worse than just fuses - there appears to be some serious trauma around that diode (D6?) in the second pic and the solder seems to have melted around the diode mount hole and that blue bodied resistor looks suspect too. What is that splodge between diodes D7 and D9 in the first pic? 
Those components are probably part of the bridge rectifier in the power supply.

Ian

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

That's bad luck at that price - I bought one from Allendale Electrical a Vevor 6.5 Litre digital version £85.99 brand/supplier recomended by someone here. I've used it about a dozen or more times, still okay mine was model JPS-30A it does state not to use continually for more than 30 mins. to avoid overheating. My model is no longer listed on their site.
 

[juitz]

Side topic on Vevor -  I purchased a Vevor unit and stopped working about 11 months into owning it.

Was an absolute nightmare trying to firstly get it repaired or refund.

Firstly, they don't have local presence and asked me to take to a local repairer at my cost. When I refused and requested a refund they said they couldn't give me a full refund because I had used it for almost a year, even though their warranty policy said replace or refund within 12 months. It took me about 2 months of back and forth to finally get almost all my money back.

Vevor seem to have pulled ultrasonic cleaners from their line in the UK.

[Oddjob]

Ken,
It appears worse than just fuses - there appears to be some serious trauma around that diode (D6?) in the second pic and the solder seems to have melted around the diode mount hole and that blue bodied resistor looks suspect too. What is that splodge between diodes D7 and D9 in the first pic? 
Those components are probably part of the bridge rectifier in the power supply.

Ian

I see what you're getting at Ian. It could be that the fuse blew after severely overheating and that sprayed the soldered joint where it was mounted on the PCB across both D6 and the blue diode. I may have to remove that board and see if the back of it shows any signs of damage.

I presume these fuses are extremely low ampage ones? around 1a or something?

No mention in the literature about running it longer than the 30 minutes the timer goes to.

If I an source some fuses it may be worth the cost just to see if it works or not, if not no harm done, if it does, free Ultrasonic.

Maybe some of these. https://www.amazon.co.uk/sourcingmap-Glass-Cartridge-Axial-3-6x10mm/dp/B008LTJH1K/ref=asc_df_B008LTJH1K/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=570384070781&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11749060324832004749&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006886&hvtargid=pla-856719816406&psc=1

[Laverda Dave]

My cleaner heats the water independently of the vib motor. The instructions specifically state do not use the vib motor for more than 30 minutes.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Looks like they have dropped the Vevor ones and the price has shot up for the alternatives 6 L now £252 plus shipping.

Only concession is mine is stored in a heated room when not being used - it will probably fail any time soon it's 11 months old.

https://www.allendale-ultrasonics.co.uk/ultrasonic-cleaners/benchtop-ultrasonic-cleaners/6-litre-ultrasonic-cleaner

[Toko_Jo]

US cleaners are switching several hundreds of volts at very high frequency into a highly
 capacitive load and are notorious for going pop...even the Ultrawave pro units do it. The usual failure items are power transistors or MOSfets that drive the US transducers. They are the 3 legged devices on heatsinks. Best bet is to use a multimeter on  diode test function to check every diode and betweel all legs of 3 legged output devices on heatsinks. The usual failure mode is short circuit, which will show 0v on the  diode test. If you experience this then best to desolder the device and re-check out of circuit just in case another component such as a coil etc is affecting the reading.

[Laverdaroo]

Just to piss on yer chips a bit, I bought a knock off Chinese one at 7 litres, the timer runs to an hour and the water gets  hot up to 60 degrees in about 15 mins but l always warm it first on the stove as the gas is cheaper. I often put it on for a run, inspect and bob it on again for another hour. Had it three years and never had an issue. At 65 quid I wasn’t bothered if it went pop after using it for what I wanted as it saved so much time but it just keeps going.

For once, it appears I lucked out.

Unusual for me


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[Deano400]

Hi Ken,

Did you get anywhere in solving the blown fuse on your ultra sonic bath?

I have one that has just blown a fuse.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Have ordered fuses from fleebay.

[Laverda Dave]

Just to piss on yer chips a bit, I bought a knock off Chinese one at 7 litres, the timer runs to an hour and the water gets  hot up to 60 degrees in about 15 mins but l always warm it first on the stove as the gas is cheaper. I often put it on for a run, inspect and bob it on again for another hour. Had it three years and never had an issue. At 65 quid I wasn’t bothered if it went pop after using it for what I wanted as it saved so much time but it just keeps going.

For once, it appears I lucked out.

Unusual for me


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That was a great bit of luck Roo . So, can you please tell me the winning lotto numbers for Thursday's Euro millions draw

[Laverdaroo]

If you’re after luck, I’m generally not the chap to talk to. A mate of mine described it beautifully when he commented that I was that unlucky, I could fall in a bucket of t*ts and come out sucking me thumb!




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[Oddjob]

Hi Ken,

Did you get anywhere in solving the blown fuse on your ultra sonic bath?

I have one that has just blown a fuse.

(Attachment Link)

Have ordered fuses from fleebay.

Nope, not done a thing to fix it. On the back burner so to speak.

[Matt_Harrington]

Roo, does your U/S tank really heat up to 60degC in 15mins! Maybe they changed it on mine to make it more reliable as mine takes ages to heat up....