Well, it took a whole day to perform from start to finish, but hey it beats shelling out $700+ for a new board...
A few days back I started a thread asking if anyone else with a 97+ had their climate control boards fail: http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49556
It turns out that yes, I was not alone. I also asked if anyone had a list of the electrolytic capacitors that were on the board. Unfortunately no-one could point me to a list so that I could order them before I started tearing my car apart, and possibly getting stuck having to mail order some of them because my local shop did not have them in stock.
So for all you future do-it-yourself board repairers, here is the list of electrolytic capacitors on the board:
1. One 0.47uf, 50Volt
2. One 3.3uf, 50Volt
3. One 22uf, 16Volt
4. One 22uf, 35Volt
5. Four 47uf, 35Volt
6. One 47uf, 50Volt
7. One 100uf, 10Volt
8. One 100uf, 35Volt
9. One 330uf, 10Volt
10. One 330uf, 35Volt
All of the capacitors are rated for 105 degrees Celsius. These higher temp electrolytic capacitors are not typically carried at most electronics stores, most stores carry the ones rated at 85 degrees Celsius. The lower rated temperature ones are OK to use, but they may or may not last as long as your original higher temp rated ones did.
For my repairs, I decided to replace the electrolytic caps where ever possible, with more heat tolerant, longer lasting Tantalum Capacitors. They are more expensive than electrolytic caps, but they will never again have to be replaced (at least not for 20 or more years, even in the hottest environments). If you want to get a little more information about different types of Capacitors and their applications, here is a pretty good site:
http://www.interq.or.jp/japan/se-inoue/e_capa.htm
Now, I guess I was lucky in that I only had two caps (C44 - a 22uf 35V cap, and C32 - a 47uf 50V cap) that had actually shorted out on my board as you can see in the first picture here: http://home.earthlink.net/~douglasnicholson/id1.html
Each of the two shorted capacitors leaked their acid out, and burned out a trace on the board. I am lucky enough to have electronics workstations where I work that are equipped with microscopes and the tools needed to repair burned out traces, but as long as you have a little electronics experience and have a good magnifying glass you can simply follow each burned out trace to the next component on the board that the capacitor was supposed to be connected to, and solder a small wire between them to solve the problem. The second shot on the page listed above is of my quick trace repairs on C32, its the cap just to the right of the 4 large transisitors. Sorry its a little blurry, but if you look closely you can see the new sliver trace repair coming off the leg of the capacitor. Its also one of the capacitors that I could not replace with a Tantalum because there currently is not a Tantalum available in 47uf that is rated for 50Volts (35Volts yes, but not 50Volts).
Well, best of luck if you are about to attempt this repair. :smile:
A few days back I started a thread asking if anyone else with a 97+ had their climate control boards fail: http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49556
It turns out that yes, I was not alone. I also asked if anyone had a list of the electrolytic capacitors that were on the board. Unfortunately no-one could point me to a list so that I could order them before I started tearing my car apart, and possibly getting stuck having to mail order some of them because my local shop did not have them in stock.
So for all you future do-it-yourself board repairers, here is the list of electrolytic capacitors on the board:
1. One 0.47uf, 50Volt
2. One 3.3uf, 50Volt
3. One 22uf, 16Volt
4. One 22uf, 35Volt
5. Four 47uf, 35Volt
6. One 47uf, 50Volt
7. One 100uf, 10Volt
8. One 100uf, 35Volt
9. One 330uf, 10Volt
10. One 330uf, 35Volt
All of the capacitors are rated for 105 degrees Celsius. These higher temp electrolytic capacitors are not typically carried at most electronics stores, most stores carry the ones rated at 85 degrees Celsius. The lower rated temperature ones are OK to use, but they may or may not last as long as your original higher temp rated ones did.
For my repairs, I decided to replace the electrolytic caps where ever possible, with more heat tolerant, longer lasting Tantalum Capacitors. They are more expensive than electrolytic caps, but they will never again have to be replaced (at least not for 20 or more years, even in the hottest environments). If you want to get a little more information about different types of Capacitors and their applications, here is a pretty good site:
http://www.interq.or.jp/japan/se-inoue/e_capa.htm
Now, I guess I was lucky in that I only had two caps (C44 - a 22uf 35V cap, and C32 - a 47uf 50V cap) that had actually shorted out on my board as you can see in the first picture here: http://home.earthlink.net/~douglasnicholson/id1.html
Each of the two shorted capacitors leaked their acid out, and burned out a trace on the board. I am lucky enough to have electronics workstations where I work that are equipped with microscopes and the tools needed to repair burned out traces, but as long as you have a little electronics experience and have a good magnifying glass you can simply follow each burned out trace to the next component on the board that the capacitor was supposed to be connected to, and solder a small wire between them to solve the problem. The second shot on the page listed above is of my quick trace repairs on C32, its the cap just to the right of the 4 large transisitors. Sorry its a little blurry, but if you look closely you can see the new sliver trace repair coming off the leg of the capacitor. Its also one of the capacitors that I could not replace with a Tantalum because there currently is not a Tantalum available in 47uf that is rated for 50Volts (35Volts yes, but not 50Volts).
Well, best of luck if you are about to attempt this repair. :smile:
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