Small Switch Mode Power Supplies

Modification Secrets

Brought to you by Jestine Yong

SmallSwitchModePowerSuppliesModificationSecrets

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 Content

1 Small Switch Mode Power Supplies Modification 4

Secrets

2 True Case Histories 1 5

3 True Case Histories 2 17

4 True Case Histories 3 28

5 The Power Module can even work on 110 vac 37

supply

6 Conclusion 38

7 Recommended Electronics Repairing Related 41

Information

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3
Small Switch Mode Power Supplies Modification Secrets
This small switch mode power supplies modification worked superb. It
eliminates your headache in solving many different types of power supplies
problems. Check out the advantages again in solving the below problems:

When there is lightning strike on the power supply, usually there will be
some bad components. In some cases the power side components could
burn beyond recognition. If there is no schematic diagram or same model
of power supply to compare to locate the original parts value, it would be
tough to repair the power supply.

The power IC and power FET in power supplies come with many
different types of part numbers. If you can’t locate either one of the parts
this mean you will not be able to repair it.

Save cost- In some power supplies the price of power IC and the power
FET can be quite expensive. You no longer have to keep stock for variety
part numbers for power IC and power FET. This modification method can
truly save the cost.

Save time- Sometime we spent too much time in troubleshooting the

power supplies. Problems like no power, low power, too high power,
power shut down, intermittent power problem and etc can be solved by
using the method that I’m going to show to you as you read on.

Easy to follow- It can be done in less than 20 to 25 minutes if you follow

my steps.

The most important thing is the parts are quite cheap and you can check
out where to buy the parts at page 39.

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 True Case Histories 1
A customer sent to me a 22” Benq LCD Monitor (G2220HD Model) with the
complaint of no power. He told me someone had tried repair it before but
unsuccessful. The moment I opened the cover I saw the power IC was missing
and I do not know what the original part number was. The power FET shorted
and part of the current sense resistor outer layer also came off (see the photo
below and next page).

Power/Inverter Board with missing Power IC- Figure 1

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 Missing Power IC and Current Sense Resistor Cracked- Figure 2

Finding the original schematic in order to look for the original part (power IC)
will not be easy. Even if you could find the power IC you still have to proceed
to buy the parts, replace the power FET and check all the primary side
components and make sure they are all good. This also will not guarantee the
power supply will come back to life after it had been badly repaired by
someone. Precious time will be lost doing a repair work that had been done by
others. In my opinion the best solution is to modify with a universal external
power module onto it. How this can be done? Check the photos in the next
page and read the step by step explanations.

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Universal External Power Module- Figure 3

Universal External Power Module-Figure 4

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Assuming you already have the universal external power module and before
installation you need to remove the power IC and the power FET and make sure
the below components are good:

Main Fuse
Bridge Rectifier
Main Filter Capacitor
Power Transformer primary winding
Optoisolator IC
Secondary output diodes and
Secondary filter capacitors (made sure the capacitors are not bulged)

Note: For main fuse, bridge rectifier, Optoisolator IC and secondary output
diodes you can use a normal analogue multimeter to test. Filter capacitors you
can use ESR meter to test and Power transformer (primary winding) you can
use Blue Ring Tester to check it. If you do not have a Blue Ring tester no
worries because usually the primary winding of power transformers are
quite robust and rarely have problem.

The primary winding is the pins of the drain of power FET (center leg) and the
positive (+) leg of main filter capacitor and it should show 8 LED light as
shown in the photo in the next page:

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 Identifying the Power Transformer Primary Winding Legs- Figure 5

Note: In some smaller power supplies the Blue Ring Tester only registered 5 to
7 LED lights on the transformer primary winding.

Besides the above components, you are also required to check on the
corresponding components in the power supply especially the semiconductors
like diode, zener diode and transistor (if have) and made sure they are good. The
reason to check all these components is to prevent the newly install universal
external power module from not working or blowing caused by the shorted
component/s I just mentioned.

Assuming all of the components mentioned above tested good, you now can
begin to install the universal external power module. Apply some heat
compound to the module before fitting it to the heatsink. See the photo in the
next page.

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 Apply heat compound before fixing the module to heatsink- Figure 6

Since there is no extra hole for the 5 wires from the power module to pass
through, you may need to use a drill to make a hole on the circuit board as seen
from the photo below:

Drill a small hole so that the power module wires can be inserted- Figure 7

Note: Make sure the drill did not break any circuit track behind the board.
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Please refer to the diagram below on the connection of the 5 wires:

A typical power supply schematic diagram to show where the 5 wires need to be
connected- Figure 8

Black wire- Connect to the negative leg of Main filter capacitor

Green Wire- Connect to the positive leg of Main filter capacitor
Red Wire- Connect to the Run DC circuit output (after the Run DC diode)
White wire- Connect to pin 4 of Optoisolator IC (make sure the circuit
line is cut-more details in the next page)
Yellow Wire- Connect to the drain pin of Power FET (Make sure you
remove the power FET.

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Note: Remember to remove the power IC and power FET from the power
supply board

Next step is to cut the pin 4 circuit track of Optoisolator IC so that the external
circuitry would not affect the operation of the Optoisolator IC.

If you refer to the diagram in figure 8 again you will notice that the Optoisolator
IC pin 3 is not going to hot ground (some other circuits are going to hot ground
like the one below):

A typical SMPS Optoisolator IC pin 3 connected to hot ground- Figure 9

Since the board that I’m modifying, the pin 3 of Optoisolator IC did not go to
hot ground thus I have to cut away the circuit line and connect a wire between
pin 3 and hot ground as seen from the photo in the next page:

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Connection of Optoisolator IC pin 3 to hot ground- Figure 10

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This is how the 5 wires are connected in the power supply board- Figure 11

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 Modification Completed- Figure 12

Once done soldering the 5 wires, please recheck your work. Before you turn the
power supply On solder a 100 watt light bulb on the fuse points so that if there
is any error in fixing the wires, the power module would not blow. If the power
module blows you will waste your precious time and have to redo everything
again.

Note: Please refer to page 26 on how to connect the bulb.

If the power supply is working the fuse would not light up and you will get to
measure the two output dc voltages. In this example the output voltages were 5
volt and 19 volt. If you have confirmed the power supply is working fine
then you have to do a proper wiring work as seen in figure 36, 37 and 38.
Once done on the wiring work and powered On this is what I saw-see next page.

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A dead power supply was brought back to life- Figure 13

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 True Case Histories 2
A friend of mine who have some experience in electronics repair brought in a
LG 17” LCD Monitor and showed to me the burnt power IC of the power
supply. He asked if I could repair it and I told him no problem. He actually
wanted to repair the power supply himself but because of the burnt power IC he
gave up.

Note: It is not easy to repair the power supply especially if you can’t identify the
part number and can’t get the original schematic diagram.

Burnt power IC found in this 17” LCD Monitor power board-Figure 14

For your information this power supply design does not have power FET. This
means it only uses one power IC. Even though it only uses one power IC, the
modification method still works.

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Note: This is why having this ebook you will have advantage over other repair
technicians that do not know this method of modification.

A typical Power Supply schematic that uses one power IC (for your reference)-
Figure 15

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As usual, before you start to use the universal external power supply module
here are the things that you need to check first:

1) Main Fuse
2) Bridge Rectifier
3) Main Filter Capacitor
4) Power Transformer primary winding
5) Optoisolator IC
6) Secondary output diodes and
7) Secondary filter capacitors (made sure the capacitors are not bulged).

Note: Main fuse, bridge rectifier, Optoisolator IC and secondary output diodes
you can use a normal analogue multimeter to test. Filter capacitors you can use
ESR meter to test and Power transformer (primary winding) you need to use
Blue Ring Tester to check it. If you do not have a Blue Ring tester no worries
because usually the primary winding of power transformer rarely have
problem.

In this model that never use power FET, the primary winding are the pins of the
positive (+) leg of main filter capacitor and the next pin. It should show 8 LED
light as shown in the photo in the next page:

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Blue Ring Tester showing 8 LED lights when checking on the transformer
Primary winding –Figure 16

The burnt power IC also affected the back circuit track- Figure 17

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If there are parts that found to be bad, make sure you replace it first before you
start your modification work. In this power supply, besides the burnt power IC, I
also found the main fuse open circuit. Once you have confirmed all the other
parts are good then start the modification work.

Drill a hole so that the 5 wires of the universal power module can pass through-
Figure 18

Make sure you apply heat compound to the power module before fixing it to the
heatsink. See figure 6 in page 10. Ok let’s go to the next photo in the next page
to see how the Optoisolator IC pin 3 and pin 4 circuit track had been cut and
how all the 5 wires are connected.

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First break the circuit track that is leading to the pin 3 and pin 4 of the
Optoisolator IC.

You can use a pen knife to cut the circuit track- Figure 19

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Here are the 5 wires of the Power Module coming out from the hole that I have
drilled- Figure 20

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 The function of each wires- Figure 21

Black wire- Connect to the negative leg of Main filter capacitor

Green Wire- Connect to the positive leg of Main filter capacitor
Red Wire- Connect to the Run DC circuit output (after the Run DC diode)
White wire- Connect to pin 4 of Optoisolator IC (make sure the circuit
line is cut)
Yellow Wire- Connect to the drain/output pin of Power IC (Make sure
you remove the power IC.

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 Modification Completed- Figure 22

In order to be in the safe side, once you have fixed in everything, please connect
a 100 watt bulb across the fuse (with the fuse removed) and power On. A good
power supply the bulb will go off and you will get the output voltages. In the
test I’ve got 5.15 V and 12.60 outputs which indicate the power supply is
working. If the bulb glows with full brightness this means there is something
shorted or you have connected the 5 wires wrongly and you need to turn the
power supply off and recheck the connection again.

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5.15 volt output- Figure 23

12.6 volt output- Figure 24

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Once you have tested that the power supply is working fine you can actually
redo all the 5 wires soldering and do a proper wiring before closing back
the cover. You can refer to figure 36, 37 and 38 to see how I have properly done
a nice work on a DVD player power supply.

There you are, simple and fast modification that always work.

Power supply working perfectly good- Figure 25

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 True Case Histories 3

The Akira DVD Player Internal boards Figure 26

The complaint of the AKIRA DVD player was no power but the main fuse was
good. This power supply design use only one power IC and the power FET is
built into the Power IC.

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 The Akira DVD player power supply unit- Figure 27

When I checked on the output diodes there was no output voltage even after all
the connectors from power supply to the mainboard were pulled out.
Sometimes a shorted component in the mainboard could cause no power
symptom so removing all the connectors is just one of the procedures in power
supply troubleshooting. I did not check the bridge rectifier because the main
fuse did not blow.

I proceeded to check on the main components. The first thing I did was to
discharge the main filter capacitor-see next page.

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 Discharging the main filter capacitor- Figure 28

The main components that I’m referring to in this power supply are main filter
capacitor, power transformer primary winding, secondary output diodes and
Optoisolator IC. All of the main components were found to be good. Even the
Run DC filter capacitor (22uf 50 volt) also tested good with my Blue ESR
meter.

The next test was voltage testing. When I checked on the VCC of the power IC I
found that the DC voltage fluctuates indicating either the power IC or
corresponding components have problem. Since many of the corresponding
components checked good thus I suspect is the power IC fault. The power IC
part number was ICE2A165 which I do not have stock with me.

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 Power IC, Optoisolator IC, Run DC diode and capacitor- Figure 29

Getting just a piece of power IC online or purposely go to the center of town

just to buy that IC is not economical. The only solution is to modify the power
supply and retest.

Since all the below components were tested good:

Main Fuse
Bridge Rectifier
Main Filter Capacitor
Power Transformer primary winding
Optoisolator IC
Secondary output diodes and
Secondary filter capacitors (made sure the capacitors are not
bulged)

So I proceeded right away to do the modification work. You can refer to page 17
on True case histories 2 for reference purpose.

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Basically both power supplies are using only the single power IC. Below are the
5 wires and at where you should connect the wires:

Black wire- Connect to the negative leg of Main filter capacitor

Green Wire- Connect to the positive leg of Main filter capacitor
Red Wire- Connect to the Run DC circuit output (after the Run DC diode)
White wire- Connect to pin 4 of Optoisolator IC (make sure the circuit
line is cut). In this case I removed a resistor.

Instead of cut the circuit track I removed the resistor- Figure 30

Yellow Wire- Connect to the drain/output pin of Power IC

Note: Make sure to remove the power IC.

Please take a look at the photo in the next page:

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 5 wires from Power Module were connected for testing- Figure 31

Note: For your information this is just a test and not a final fix. This is to make
sure the power supply works before doing a nicer wiring work.

As usual after the modification work, place a 100 watt bulb across the fuse
(with the fuse removed) and power it On.

Light bulb was used on power supply before turning on the power- Figure 32

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 Make sure the equipment is working before the final touch up- Figure 33

Once the power supply is working, you then can think of a way on how to
secure a heatsink with the power module attached. See the photo below:

Use a small drill bit to make holes on circuit board- Figure 34

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The power module and heatsink is placed on a strategic location- Figure 35

This is how the 5 wires were soldered at the back of the board- Figure 36

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 This is how the 5 wires are connected in a better way- Figure 37

Note: Make sure to apply heat compound to the back of power module and if
possible find a bigger heatsink .

You can use hot glue gun to further strengthening (secure) the 5 wires joints.
You may also use shrink tube to cover the 5 wires- Figure 38

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 A dead DVD player was brought back to life- Figure 39

From this modification it has proven that indeed the power IC was the cause of
the no power symptom. You have saved your time and money and no headache
in fixing this power supply. If you are doing the repair work full time, I suggest
that you order more of this universal power module to keep it as spare for future
use.

The Power Module can even work on 110 vac

The DVD Player can even work on 110 vac- Figure 40

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 Another LCD Monitor modified and run on 220 volt- Figure 41

The same LCD Monitor tested on 110 vac and worked beautifully-Figure 42

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 Conclusion
You can use this method to modify on DVD players, Satellite Receivers,
LCD/LED Monitors or any other electronic equipment that uses the small
switch mode power supplies that have similar SMPS design topologies in figure
8 and 15. According to the supplier, the power module could withstand up to 80
watt but I personally have tested equipments up to about 40 watt only.

Click on this link for more information.

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I strongly suggest you to reread this information for few times and start right
away all of the tips and tricks you have learned from this E-book.

If you have questions about the small power supply modification, please do not
hesitate to email me at

jestineyong@electronicrepairguide.com

I wish you all the best and look forward to hearing your success story.

To your success,

Jestine Yong
Bsc. Eng UK
Author of “Small Switch Mode Power Supplies Modification Secrets”

http://www.powersupplyrepairguide.com
http://www.lcd-monitor-repair.com
http://www.testingelectroniccomponents.com
http://www.findburntresistorvalue.com
http://www.electronicsrepairarticles.com
http://www.bestelectronicarticles.com
http://www.electronicsrepairfaq.com
http://www.electronicrepairguide.com
http://www.jestineyong.com
http://www.noahtechelectronicstraining.com
http//www.lcdmonitorcasehistories.com

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 Recommended Electronics Repairing
Related Information
1.Samuel M. Goldwasser “Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ”. Here is the
website link http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/

2.List of Electronic Spare Parts Suppliers at JestineYong.com. Here is the

website link http://www.jestineyong.com/category/electronic-suppliers/

3.LCD TVs, LCD Monitors, Laptops and Plasma TVs spare part supplier:
http://www.iccfl.com

4.List Of Schematic Diagram Websites:

http://www.jestineyong.com/category/schematic-diagrams-website/

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