SoaringBob
Tenderfoot
- Dec 18, 2009
- 5
- 0
There is probably no info available to help, but it won't hurt to ask. 
Last time I used my detector, it worked fine, or so I thought. I remember it working just fine a year ago, and broke it out to use to locate a missing property corner marker a month ago, but the batteries appeared to be dead. I was placing an Amazon order and remembered I needed AA's, which arrived yesterday. I changed out the batteries and turned the FT on, but there was nothing more than a minor click to be heard from the speaker, then silence. I checked all the knob settings and turned it on again, and started adjusting settings to see if I could get a response. Nothing, but then I started to smell burning plastic so I shut it off and pulled the batteries out. Smoke came rolling out of the speaker slots. Houston, we have a problem, and since the warranty has long since expired, I commenced to enter into the inner world of electronic guts!
After figuring out the secret to getting it opened, I was able to slide the pcb boards out, and saw right off where the smoke had come from due to the tell tail black spot on the white cardboard covering, and crispy black spot on one of the pcb's.
The two pcb's are screwed together with spacers to keep them separate but rigid, so I unscrewed them to get a view of the side all the goodies are mounted on. It appears it is a transistor (black three legged D shaped plastic) that burned up, and it really is a crispy critter, and split open.
Here's where it gets weird! It appears there was another transistor next to it, position marked Q10, but the board got so hot next door that the solder melted and it dropped completely out of the solder holes. I found it sitting on the surface of the other pcb stuck to the surface because it got hot enough to melt into the varnish slightly.
But that's not all! After looking over the rest of both boards, I noticed one of the orange capacitors, at C17, and about an inch from all the mayhem, was bent over and only one leg was soldered into the pcb solder hole. From the looks of it, it came from the factory like this, as it is too far away from the heat to have melted the solder over there, and the way the unsoldered leg looks, it would have to be bent to fit in the hole anyway. Unless one of those television eating cockroaches got in there and muscled his way around, there is no way the leg of that capacitor could have gone into the solder hole without bending a dogleg into it!
To top it off, I checked the old batteries today. 1.53 volts from every one of them, so they were never a problem.
OK, enough background. Sorry for the information overload. What I'd like to know is what part number was the transistor, or whatever it was that burned up? It appears it was at position Q11 on the board, but only the Q is easily readable, and part of a 1, but the area is all black now. It is located between Q10 and C35. If anyone has access to a schematic, or has taken their FT 16000 apart and can take a gander, it would be much appreciated.
Something caused this part to burn up, but since the detector cost around $900 back in the early 90's, I have to at least try to get it working again. I have read the July 1st and August 1st posts regarding the lack of repair parts for older detectors, and it is doubtful pcb's still exist for these, but with a little cleanup, I think the board can be saved. If it doesn't work with new parts, well at least I tried!
Thanks for any help anyone can provide.
Last time I used my detector, it worked fine, or so I thought. I remember it working just fine a year ago, and broke it out to use to locate a missing property corner marker a month ago, but the batteries appeared to be dead. I was placing an Amazon order and remembered I needed AA's, which arrived yesterday. I changed out the batteries and turned the FT on, but there was nothing more than a minor click to be heard from the speaker, then silence. I checked all the knob settings and turned it on again, and started adjusting settings to see if I could get a response. Nothing, but then I started to smell burning plastic so I shut it off and pulled the batteries out. Smoke came rolling out of the speaker slots. Houston, we have a problem, and since the warranty has long since expired, I commenced to enter into the inner world of electronic guts!
After figuring out the secret to getting it opened, I was able to slide the pcb boards out, and saw right off where the smoke had come from due to the tell tail black spot on the white cardboard covering, and crispy black spot on one of the pcb's.
The two pcb's are screwed together with spacers to keep them separate but rigid, so I unscrewed them to get a view of the side all the goodies are mounted on. It appears it is a transistor (black three legged D shaped plastic) that burned up, and it really is a crispy critter, and split open.
Here's where it gets weird! It appears there was another transistor next to it, position marked Q10, but the board got so hot next door that the solder melted and it dropped completely out of the solder holes. I found it sitting on the surface of the other pcb stuck to the surface because it got hot enough to melt into the varnish slightly.
But that's not all! After looking over the rest of both boards, I noticed one of the orange capacitors, at C17, and about an inch from all the mayhem, was bent over and only one leg was soldered into the pcb solder hole. From the looks of it, it came from the factory like this, as it is too far away from the heat to have melted the solder over there, and the way the unsoldered leg looks, it would have to be bent to fit in the hole anyway. Unless one of those television eating cockroaches got in there and muscled his way around, there is no way the leg of that capacitor could have gone into the solder hole without bending a dogleg into it!
To top it off, I checked the old batteries today. 1.53 volts from every one of them, so they were never a problem.
OK, enough background. Sorry for the information overload. What I'd like to know is what part number was the transistor, or whatever it was that burned up? It appears it was at position Q11 on the board, but only the Q is easily readable, and part of a 1, but the area is all black now. It is located between Q10 and C35. If anyone has access to a schematic, or has taken their FT 16000 apart and can take a gander, it would be much appreciated.
Something caused this part to burn up, but since the detector cost around $900 back in the early 90's, I have to at least try to get it working again. I have read the July 1st and August 1st posts regarding the lack of repair parts for older detectors, and it is doubtful pcb's still exist for these, but with a little cleanup, I think the board can be saved. If it doesn't work with new parts, well at least I tried!
Thanks for any help anyone can provide.
