Fender Passort PD-250 stuck in protect mode

[Enzo]

Fender pretty much considers that SMPS to be a "part" all by itself. They prefer to replace the whole module.


The thing to do is look for dead passports or passport SMPS units to strip that part from. I could even have one in my junk pile, but have not spotted it if I do.

[rrflorida]

At $400 a pop, no wonder they want to sell you a new one! If I ever see a dead passport, I'll be digging in to the PS for sure.

Had a technician friend help me swap out the blown parts, and clean up the PCB. We also reversed one of the L5 coils. He noticed that one of the capacitors C11/C12 had a "domed" top instead of a flat top, and said I should replace those as well (they're part of the circuit that had all the blown parts). So now they are on order and should be here Wednesday.

Will update soon.

BTW, Mr. Enzo, I spent 4 years in the mid-80s at that little school in East Lansing - I do not miss those winters...

[Enzo]

Go State...


It isn;t so much they want to sell a $400 part, it is more a matter of having the field service network able to effect reliable repairs. Not only out of the comfort zone of many audio techs, SMPS are a lot more dangerous to work on than the amplifier section next door to it. And it is easy to go through several iterations of blowing itself back up if you don;t know what you are doing. So while they had us repair them initially, they later decided to go to module replacement. As a repair center, I go ahead and dig into them, and if I fix it, they won;t demand I replace the thing anyway, but as a matter of policy, they'd rather not have the field stations mucking with them anymore.


And there is the problem of supplying the specific parts. As far as I know, those SMPS boards were bought from a vendor.

[J M Fahey]

Plan b:
never forget that Passports are meant, by design, to be èxternally powered
Happy with anything between +/- 35 to 51V.
Hint hint.
Worst case build or salvage (from a dead 60/120W combo) one such PSU and call it a day.
*Maybe* you could even mount it inside the head, don't really know that, but you can check.
And dump tHat crappy SMPS

[rrflorida]

That sounds like a very fine plan b, Mr. Fahey. I'll give the SMPS at least one more whirl and then re-evaluate my tack.

Thanks for the input.

[rrflorida]

For sale: Fender Passport PD-250. Turns on fine, no sound from speakers (or very faint sound when feeding stereo inputs from another device).

Cheers,
randy

[52 Bill]

...Turns on fine, no sound from speakers...

So you got the power supply problem worked out?

If you feed a signal into the power amp in jack is it still weak? When you were working on it, did any of the signal cables that connect to the power amp board get pulled or stressed? Those boards are pretty flimsy and the connectors will break off from the traces if they get pulled at an angle.