No Lights on Receiver button

[greywing]

Recently my receiver quit working and the indication was that the indicator button on the front was out. In checking things out, it seemed that the power brick was dead. However, substituting another power source did not restore operation (still no light on the button). Seems unlikely that everything would suddenly die at the same time but I reasoned that a failing power brick my have caused some faulty voltages sufficient to damage the unit. So I bought a used unit on Ebay and upon receipt find it is doing the same thing, e.g. no light in the button and no recognition by the controller. The replacement power brick is putting out the correct voltage. I have replaced the ethernet cable but no joy. The network switch tests fine. I am at a loss about what is happening here with two dead receivers. It is my understanding the when power is applied to the receiver, the button goes red whether it is recognized by the system or not.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

[Redrum]

If the receiver and power supply are ok, if you press and ho!d the front button,it should start flashing red, fast at first then slower.

If it does, you have reset the receiver and it us waiting for the controller to help with setup. If you have a controller (hopefully) from power off (blank screen), hold the '+' key while pressing power until you see lights on controller flash. Then comp!ete the setup

If press and hold does not cause red flash, either the ps or receiver might be bad.

Jim

[agt]

Recently my receiver quit working and the indication was that the indicator button on the front was out. In checking things out, it seemed that the power brick was dead. However, substituting another power source did not restore operation (still no light on the button). Seems unlikely that everything would suddenly die at the same time but I reasoned that a failing power brick my have caused some faulty voltages sufficient to damage the unit. So I bought a used unit on Ebay and upon receipt find it is doing the same thing, e.g. no light in the button and no recognition by the controller. The replacement power brick is putting out the correct voltage. I have replaced the ethernet cable but no joy. The network switch tests fine. I am at a loss about what is happening here with two dead receivers. It is my understanding the when power is applied to the receiver, the button goes red whether it is recognized by the system or not.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

I had the exact same symptom on my receiver for the last year.
Just last week I thought I'd have one last try for a fix, and found a thread somewhere on here that noted that your power supply can seem OK (eg measures 9v with a meter), but actually be unable to supply current under load.

So I got a generic 9v 1.5A (original is lablled 0.56A so i wanted to go more than the smaller 0.50A the electronic store had), and eureka, it was almost fine.
The last step was soldering on the old connector to the new power supply, as it's quite a rare plug dimension.
The nearest available plug on the new supply I bought would work if I held it on a slight angle, but if i just plugged it in appeared to be dead.

It seems that you have little left to lose, so I'd say give the power supply another look. Just don't assume like i did that measuring 9v at the plug means the supply is OK - check the current under load if you know how, or buy a totally new supply and transplant the original plug.

[w3wilkes]

I had a PS failure on one of my receivers and replaced it with something like this that comes with several different plugs and yes, one of them fit just fine. It's been working great for a few years now.

https://www.amazon.com/ZOZO-Regulated-Switching-Replacement-Electronics/dp/B015PXUHYA/ref=sr_1_11?crid=3IYHN7PBDUH7U&keywords=9+vdc+power+supply&qid=1640447796&sprefix=9+v+dc+power%2Caps%2C115&sr=8-11

[Redrum]

. It is my understanding the when power is applied to the receiver, the button goes red whether it is recognized by the system or not.
.

I reread your post. I pulled a receiver out of storage and plugged it in, red light, then white. I then did a factory reset (hold red until red fast then slow flash), unplugged it, waited 5 minutes, plugged it back in, and it went to the red slow flash. I assume it remembered the "waiting for setup" state.

The power supplies are most likely, but, if you wanted to see if the receiver is operational and just the light is bad, you could run through the setup process -
- press and hold the receiver button, say 30 seconds (you can't see red flash)
- turn off controller (hold power until the exit jingle). Hold "+' on the controller while pressing and holding power until flash or startup jingle. Go through the connect process.

Then, on your controller, under choose player, you should see the mac address of the receiver (if it's alive)

Jim

[greywing]

Great find

I had a PS failure on one of my receivers and replaced it with something like this that comes with several different plugs and yes, one of them fit just fine. It's been working great for a few years now.
https://www.amazon.com/ZOZO-Regulate...%2C115&sr=8-11

Thanks w3wilkes. That looks like a pretty nice power brick and very versatile. Turns out it was the power brick that measured 9.03 V but apparently couldn't supply sufficient current to power up the Rcvr. And thanks to everyone for your responses. The OEM bricks seem to be a fairly frequent source of problems. To be fair mine was on 24/7 for 11 years but it is a pretty benign operational task.

As a question to all, has anyone been successful in repairing a receiver?

[Redrum]

Thanks w3wilkes. That looks like a pretty nice power brick and very versatile. Turns out it was the power brick that measured 9.03 V but apparently couldn't supply sufficient current to power up the Rcvr. And thanks to everyone for your responses. The OEM bricks seem to be a fairly frequent source of problems. To be fair mine was on 24/7 for 11 years but it is a pretty benign operational task.

As a question to all, has anyone been successful in repairing a receiver?

Glad you found the problem.

Regarding the switching power supply, see #3 in this link: https://www.ato.com/switching-power-...g-repair-guide The duet was released in 2008 (I think), and they (the PS) are a pretty inexpensively design/build. As you say, yours was always on, generating some heat, and components (especially capacitors) aging for a lot of hours.

Regarding the receiver repair (repair what?). I would not even attempt it, just replace it. I have 2 receivers in service and a couple more in storage (just because I don't tend to get rid of anything ). The receivers are limited compared to the touch and pi solutions, and I (and others) have found them to be temperamental on wifi.

I would use a raspberry pi with a hat (analog or digital) to replace a receiver if I had to.

I do still like and use the controllers. Their screen (and the cradle PS) can also age and die, but I find them very useful as a "now playing" and "change the music/volume" UI for secondary listening areas

Jim

[greywing]

Glad you found the problem.

Regarding the switching power supply, see #3 in this link: https://www.ato.com/switching-power-...g-repair-guide The duet was released in 2008 (I think), and they (the PS) are a pretty inexpensively design/build. As you say, yours was always on, generating some heat, and components (especially capacitors) aging for a lot of hours.

Regarding the receiver repair (repair what?). I would not even attempt it, just replace it. I have 2 receivers in service and a couple more in storage (just because I don't tend to get rid of anything ). The receivers are limited compared to the touch and pi solutions, and I (and others) have found them to be temperamental on wifi.

I would use a raspberry pi with a hat (analog or digital) to replace a receiver if I had to.

I do still like and use the controllers. Their screen (and the cradle PS) can also age and die, but I find them very useful as a "now playing" and "change the music/volume" UI for secondary listening areas

Jim

Thanks, Jim. I will probably stick with the SQ Rcvr for the duration but I have only limited knowledge on the "Touch" and "Pi" solutions. Do you have any reference recommendations WRT these alternative solutions?

[Redrum]

Thanks, Jim. I will probably stick with the SQ Rcvr for the duration but I have only limited knowledge on the "Touch" and "Pi" solutions. Do you have any reference recommendations WRT these alternative solutions?

Since your power supply solved the problem, there is no reason to think your receiver doesn't have allot more life, right? They are still useful, I just wouldn't repair mine if it broke.

The "touch" is a squeezebox touch, which came out after the duet, but is also discontinued: https://www.logitech.com/assets/3360...x-touch-fg.pdf They are still available on ebay occasionally.

There are many ways to use a raspberry pi single board computer as a "player" (like your receiver) or a "server" (instead of whatever you are running LMS on currently), or both. This forum and the web are full of these solutions/alternatives. For example, this thread discusses options: https://forums.slimdevices.com/showt...ight=raspberry Its not the only discussion, and this forum is full of discussions of what to do, problems/solutions, and cool ideas.

To learn about the pi, start at the rpi org site https://www.raspberrypi.org/ Note however that the supply shortage has impacted the availability of these little guys.

The options and peoples preference are so diverse, I would be remiss to say "do this", But I can give you a couple examples and maybe others can chime in.

I use PiCore Player which is excellent, and well supported on this forum https://www.picoreplayer.org/ access the menu (upper right hand corner) and cruise the menus for info - projects, getting started, etc. Again, it's not the only solution, it works for me.

I use, and have built for friends, a LMS server only, using a raspberry pi 3b+ or 4b, SD card, power supply, connected to a 2TB USB HDD (my library), connected to my router via ethernet. Total (at the time) was about $120USD.

You could use the same pi, or a separate pi, as a player. I have not done this (yet), I have a stable of the SB devices. If you used the same pi, you would just need an analog dac or digital output "hat", or a USB DAC. The pi by itself only has USB and headphone out.

If you used a separate pi as a player, you could use a "lesser" pi (say a zero W, 2B, 3B+...) but you need the appropriate hat. Again, I have not built one (I do have a hifiberry in a box waiting), others would have better guidance.

There are so many great options it can make you dizzy...and to want to buy and build more . When you are ready, do some searching, reading, and come back here and start a new thread.

Jim

[greywing]

Since your power supply solved the problem, there is no reason to think your receiver doesn't have allot more life, right? They are still useful, I just wouldn't repair mine if it broke.



Jim

Actually, my original SB is broke so I'll probably toss it. The used one I bought on Ebay is my operable unit and I'll continue using it.

Thanks for the Ref links. Appreciated. I will take a look and assess.

[bpa]

Thanks w3wilkes. That looks like a pretty nice power brick and very versatile. Turns out it was the power brick that measured 9.03 V but apparently couldn't supply sufficient current to power up the Rcvr. And thanks to everyone for your responses. The OEM bricks seem to be a fairly frequent source of problems. To be fair mine was on 24/7 for 11 years but it is a pretty benign operational task.

As a question to all, has anyone been successful in repairing a receiver?

The usual problem with old SB players is failure of (i) PSU, (ii) the WLAN card and (iii) caps. With SB3/Classic it will work without a WLAN card so easy to test. Receiver must have a working WLAN card (even if not used) to work. Replacement WLAN cards are not expensive and easy to replace as they are a PCI socketted card

[Redrum]

Actually, my original SB is broke so I'll probably toss it. The used one I bought on Ebay is my operable unit and I'll continue using it.

Thanks for the Ref links. Appreciated. I will take a look and assess.

sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you found the ps was the culprit.

In looking around, I found another relevant discussion on replacement, one that has a link to one member's build experience. https://forums.slimdevices.com/showt...vs-Pi-with-DAC

I had also forgotten about the Polyvection DAC32 and DIGI32 (in development) https://polyvection.com/en/ an out of the box direct replacement for your receiver. Lots of discussion on this on this forum.

I should also clarify that I would not repair my receiver, I would rather spend the time to build something better. That's just me and my relationship with receivers . I consider them the weakest of my sb products. It's not to say you shouldn't. @Bpa gave you good things to look at if you do. Here's a disassembly video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03D_...l=DusanKubinak

Jim