Is 18 months well out of warranty?

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25 posts

Geek

#329240 12-May-2010 10:34

As an exercize i have taken three Faulty Draco power supplies this morning and within 1.25mins have all three running and modified to the last version . One of the ones i repaired the capacitors in the %v5 line had weeped and the orange light flicked on/off .

The second squeeled upon switch on and continued at a low level , again replacement of 4 capacitors and a couple of diodes and mod's and the board runs perfectly.
the third was dead, all the voltage rails were pulsating , this turned out to be a short circuit 3v3 receifier diode and close examination of the 1,200Uf smoothing capactor confirmed that the capa had failed causing the diode to fail. replacment of the diodes and caps in both the 3v3 and 5v5 volt lines recetified all problems.

I fear alot of problems with these units stem from the fact no body was willing to explain what the problems are. the only other problm i am aware of with these units is a mod to stop intermitant picture loss to blue screen and intermitant power supply shut down. The cure is to change a surface mounted restister from 1K to 1.5K

These problems are consistant with other makes of satellite equipment using simliar SMP's.

Samsung

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butlerboy

457 posts

Ultimate Geek

#329267 12-May-2010 11:19

SATECH: The second squeeled upon switch on and continued at a low level

that's exactly what my first one was doing, the noise drove me crazy. it was just loud enough you could hear it when there was a quiet scene in a programme.

butlerboy

457 posts

Ultimate Geek

#329270 12-May-2010 11:24

SATECH: I fear alot of problems with these units stem from the fact no body was willing to explain what the problems are. the only other problm i am aware of with these units is a mod to stop intermitant picture loss to blue screen and intermitant power supply shut down. The cure is to change a surface mounted restister from 1K to 1.5K

my current one is pixelating and freezing constantly. it used to get about 90-100% for signal strength and quality but will now only get around 50% for both. initially thought it may be a fault with my aerial but my jc matthews dvr-320t plugged into the same aerial outlet gets 95-100% for signal strength and quality.

SATECH

25 posts

Geek

#329276 12-May-2010 11:41

This problem is not confined to Draco receivers , i have replaced thousands of 1000uf , or 2000 uf capacitors in all makes of satellite and terrestrial STB's .

i used to repair technosats for the indian broadcaster vision aisa which failed regularly, Innovas had similar problems ,Coships also.Any receiver which has a SMP of asian origin which is 99.9% of all STB's world wide., infact i dont think i can name a receiver DTT or otherwise which does'nt have power supply problems at one time or another.

Same went for TV's we used to repair heaps of CRT Mitzibushi's 29 to 33 inch due to the same problem with smoothing capacitors in the power supply which would fail.

This problem is not only applicable to Draco. Every one i service has all mods done to it before it is returned to the owner, retailor or distributor. What happens when your SMP power supply in your computer fails , you take it out toddle down to your nearest computer shop and buy a replacement , or call in the technician who probably has a box full in his van.

The industry had a spate of panasonic Vcr's some years back which would not turn on some after a couple of years some longer suprise suprise the caps in the SMP dried out and the unit would die.

i can throw on the floor many power supplies from all makes and models of STB's which all have the same problem.

Other problems do exist with all STB's but it would seem that 99.9% problems begin and end with SMP failures .

1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

#329520 12-May-2010 21:00

@SATECH,

In your experience, are these multiple brand failures due to poorly constructed power supplies, either in the componentry used or the design? Or could it be a common failing that PSUs in smaller units with either restricted air circulation and/or the location of the boxes ie. in cramped, closed-off AV racks are a main contributing reason?

Again, the modern society we live in dictates the poor standards of goods & services. Don't believe me; look at Microsoft OSs (except, maybe, W7: can't comment as I've never used it), PC games. You develop something & use the paying consumers for the beta testing. Then charge them for support.

In the industry I work, parallel importing & generic brands have basically ruined it. Consumers buy crap tapware or plumbing fixtures from hardware stores, have it installed by their local plumber & if it fails, expects the tradesman to fix, repair, or sort out the issue, even though it has nothing to do with installation & they did not supply it -& that's if they procured the right product for their requirements to begin with. And the importer doesn't want to know about the issue, even though it often is exacerbated by them: supplying overseas goods that aren't compatible with NZ pipe sizes, etc.

@ButlerBoy,

My comments were not meant as a personal attack. If you took it that way, I apologise. It is good to see you have defended your purchasing actions in the past.

Silverstone LC14 HTPC Case/Intel E4600 CPU/GA-EP35-DS3 MOBO/Asus EN9500GT graphics/2GB RAM/total 2TB HDD space/HVR-2200 & 2X 150MCE tuner cards/LG GGC-H20L BD Drive/MCE2005/Mediaportal/TVServer 1.1.0Final/LG 55"3D LED-TV/Denon AVR-1803 receiver/X1 projector

Athlonite

1828 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#333315 22-May-2010 17:01

I'd say just the threat of legal action would be enough to get the distro moving to repair your set top box for free most town cities have some type of free legal advice office

Glimmerman

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#340656 11-Jun-2010 15:34

Hi,
I'm new to geekzone and stumbled across this thread while searching for support for a Draco HDTV5500 that we bought from DBNZ in March 2009. I researched all the STBs available at the time and the Draco had the sharpest picture and quickest EPG and didn't get as hot as other models. The unit worked perfectly for 13 months then exhibited similar problems to those expressed by others in this thread. Unfortunately DBNZ had disappeared and the importer was initially unsupportive because it was out of waraanty. Then I came across JX SATELLITES www.jayx.co.nz They offer a repair service for STBs and really know their stuff. Tony the tech engineer was very helpful and explained the problem was inadequate PSU typical of many consumer products and computers imported from Asia. JX refurbished the PSU, upgraded some components and now the Draco works better than ever. No pixellation or dropouts, no complaints from the kids about Kidzone disappearing, and signal quality is 98-100% on all channels. We were happy with the Draco before and now the unit works flawlessly. So if your Draco is giving you grief call the guys at JX Satellites (09) 443 3749 or (021) 0294 6499. They know what they're talking about and fix stuff properly like old school rather than push you another product.

robbyp

1199 posts

Uber Geek

#340668 11-Jun-2010 15:57

Glimmerman: Hi,

I'm new to geekzone and stumbled across this thread while searching for support for a Draco HDTV5500 that we bought from DBNZ in March 2009. I researched all the STBs available at the time and the Draco had the sharpest picture and quickest EPG and didn't get as hot as other models. The unit worked perfectly for 13 months then exhibited similar problems to those expressed by others in this thread. Unfortunately DBNZ had disappeared and the importer was initially unsupportive because it was out of waraanty. Then I came across JX SATELLITES www.jayx.co.nz They offer a repair service for STBs and really know their stuff. Tony the tech engineer was very helpful and explained the problem was inadequate PSU typical of many consumer products and computers imported from Asia. JX refurbished the PSU, upgraded some components and now the Draco works better than ever. No pixellation or dropouts, no complaints from the kids about Kidzone disappearing, and signal quality is 98-100% on all channels. We were happy with the Draco before and now the unit works flawlessly. So if your Draco is giving you grief call the guys at JX Satellites (09) 443 3749 or (021) 0294 6499. They know what they're talking about and fix stuff properly like old school rather than push you another product.

Smells a little spammy being a first post to promote a service. Anyway under the CGA, the supplier should have repaired the unit for free. Using another company to repair it not only would ahve probably cost a lot, it lets the manufacturer off the hook.

dinsdale1

9 posts

Wannabe Geek
Inactive user

#340712 11-Jun-2010 17:10

Well if you knew the full story, you wouldn't make suchg a comment, but thanks for stating the bleeding obvious

Glimmerman

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#340719 11-Jun-2010 17:30

Hi robbyp
Sorry you thought my comments were spammy. I tried the supplier first stop but they had gone bankrupt and left the country so I was left with a box that didn't work just out of warranty. CGA doesn't help much. Its like a lifetime warranty - applicable until the supplier disappears. Anyway the importer was second stop and they are now referring customers to JX Satelites for service and repair. They did a great job. Professional and reasonable cost to repair. The main point is that the product is working again so I'm happy and I learned little about DVB-T and STBs and JX provided great service. What can I say? Give them a call and find out for yourself. Cheers

MLT

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#341300 13-Jun-2010 20:25

I don't think that the feedback from Glimmerman were spammy at all. In fact quite the opposite. With all the hassles experienced by owners of the Draco box, especially the ones purchased from the now defunct DBNZ, this forum is exactly the place to provide helpful information such as this.

nate

6472 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#341481 14-Jun-2010 12:28

MLT: I don't think that the feedback from Glimmerman were spammy at all. In fact quite the opposite. With all the hassles experienced by owners of the Draco box, especially the ones purchased from the now defunct DBNZ, this forum is exactly the place to provide helpful information such as this.

It's very spam like.

The poster has very few posts, they are promoting a company by posting full contact details plus they are vague on the exact scenario they were helped in.

I'm not disputing that you are finding that post helpful, but we often come across posts that are similar to that one, and 99% are spam.

Glimmerman

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#341493 14-Jun-2010 12:50

Hi Nate, you are right I am very new to this forum and just started posting. Perhaps I have contravened some rules. My motivation for posting is genuine. The scenario is simple. Many people have had Draco boxes that have died within warranty or just out of warranty due mainly to underrated power supplies. Unfortunately the distributor I purchased from went bankrupt and left the country so recourse was limited to nil. The importer agreed to repair boxes under warranty and charge a nominal fee to repair boxes out of warranty. I came across JX Satellites while researching an alternative technical support since my unit was out of warranty. I have since learned that the importer is also referring customers to JX Satellites for repair of Draco boxes. So I posted their contact information because there are obviously many Draco box owners like me looking for technical support. I wish I had known about them earlier as it could have saved time in frustration. Actually, I thought I was being helpful posting my experience and how I resolved it on this forum. As you are a moderator perhaps you can confirm do I need to remove my story if it is considered spam?

Jamms

22 posts

Geek

#341510 14-Jun-2010 13:49

grolschie: For me, $30 seems reasonable in this scenario. Cheaper than disputing it, less time and stress for all involved. Just my $0.02. Do you know if it's exactly the same PSU, or is it an improved one? i.e. will the same problem occur with the new one?

I am on my third power supply for my Draco 6300, Bought from FreeviewShop.co.nz First one was within 4 months and they sent me the details for the distributor who sent me a new power supply to install myself when I explained the symptoms (aerial light stays on, nothing else works)

Just got my box back again from the distributor after that replacement power supply (which he said was an improved one) died after another year. Cost $70.

Draco's seem to be s**t in the reliablity stakes in my experience, it's a nice box otherwise. I've built a mythtv box with dual tuners which we use now instead.

StarBlazer

961 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#341533 14-Jun-2010 14:38

Perhaps some of the posters may wish to read the CGA! Here is clip from the Consumer Affairs website - seems cut and dry to me;

Responsibilities of retailers, manufacturers and importers
Does the consumer have to claim from the manufacturer or from the retailer?
Consumers can claim from either the retailer or the manufacturer/importer. They are most likely to claim from retailers because retailers are usually more accessible. You will breach the Fair Trading Act if you suggest to a consumer that they have to go to the retailer instead of to you. The Fair Trading Act says you cannot mislead a consumer about their rights. An individual can be fined up to $60,000 and a corporation up to $200,000 for breaching the Fair Trading Act.

A consumer might choose to claim against you if you are running a recall and offer repairs or refunds directly to the consumer. Consumers may also come to you because the retailer who sold them the goods has gone out of business.

It is the consumer's choice who they claim against.

http://www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz/for-business/compliance/consumer-guarantees-act-1/providing-remedies-for-goods

This section from Consumer affairs is in relation to the seller - interesting reading in my book. I hope you didn't throw the STB away!

Procrastination eventually pays off.

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