Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidTrap
I have a friend who is an electronics engineer and is willing to look at the camera for us. There is a capacitor on the circuit board that looks like it might be leaking - fingers crossed that can be replaced and the problem will be solved. I'm just wondering if the collective wisdom on IIS might be able to offer him some suggestions as to what might be wrong - CCD cameras aren't necessarily his area of expertise.
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Yes definetly have your friend look at it. Even if you hadn't said there was a potentially leaky capacitor that is amongst the first things I would have suggested you check for. Look for not only leaking capacitors, but ones that are bulging or have an open vent. These are all signs of capacitor failure. Sometimes even if the capacitor looks OK, it may not be. A good way to weed out faulty capacitors is by using an ESR (Equivalen Series Resistance) METER an looking for capacitors with too high an ESR for their specification (Voltage Rating & Capacitance) indicating a dead, dry or dying capacitor. You can also use a oscilloscope and to a lesser extent a multimeter to look for too much AC in the power supply output. I'm sure your EE friend would be all over such methods.
As well as potential capacitor failure also look for other signs of damage such as: dry solder joints, cracked circuit board tracks, failed diodes and resistors, loose connectors (if in doubt probe both sides for continuity across the connector), anything that looks burnt or shows signs of overheating, etc...
I hope you nail it.
Best
JA