need help to identify strange component

[John DeGroof]

My brother's iPod died after using a new car charger. All firewire
devices I've tested provide 12v, including the iPod A/C adapter. The
Monster car charger provided 11.4-13.66v, which tells me it's either
defective or unregulated. In any case the iPod died within 1 minute
of the new charger's first use.

I've identified what is most likely the problem (not the result), but
need help identifying the part. Being inline with the firewire power
input, it'd make sense it's either a dual transistor, power regulator,
rectifier, etc. - I'm not sure.

I took a picture of the part and posted it to my webpage. The bad
part is identical to the good one next to it, and is located above the
large Ti chip. Part numbers are KJGN5 and KJGN6. Any idea what they
are, or where to find a replacement? Thanks in advance.

http://home.earthlink.net/~jdegroof5/ipod.jpg

--
John DeGroof, Compressionist
DVD, DAD, DVD Audio, MPEG, AC3, DTS, PCM, DSD, MLP

 

[Franc Zabkar]

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 17:23:51 +1000, Franc Zabkar
<fzabkar@optussnet.com.au> put finger to keyboard and composed:

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 02:08:13 GMT, John DeGroof
jdegroof@earthlink.net> put finger to keyboard and composed:

My brother's iPod died after using a new car charger. All firewire
devices I've tested provide 12v, including the iPod A/C adapter. The
Monster car charger provided 11.4-13.66v, which tells me it's either
defective or unregulated. In any case the iPod died within 1 minute
of the new charger's first use.

I've identified what is most likely the problem (not the result), but
need help identifying the part. Being inline with the firewire power
input, it'd make sense it's either a dual transistor, power regulator,
rectifier, etc. - I'm not sure.

I took a picture of the part and posted it to my webpage. The bad
part is identical to the good one next to it, and is located above the
large Ti chip. Part numbers are KJGN5 and KJGN6. Any idea what they
are, or where to find a replacement? Thanks in advance.

http://home.earthlink.net/~jdegroof5/ipod.jpg


Could it be a diode array for ESD protection?

eg http://pdfserv.maxim-ic.com/en/ds/MAX3202E-MAX3206E.pdf

Your IC is possibly equivalent to the MAX3202E. FWIW, Maxim provide up
to two free samples.


- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 's' from my address when replying by email.

 

[Jerry G.]

Because this is a very expensive toy, I would send it out to have it
properly service, rather than guess at any type of part replacement.
Obviously the car charger must be defective, or the wrong type!

I hope the user did not skimp on the car charger and get something
universal. We found that with these universal chargers, when used with
sensitive equipment, they can easily do a lot of damage!

The part you want is not a generic number, and you may have to go to the
proper service people to have your unit serviced. It is also possible that
whatever else that IC is feeding may be damaged as well.

If the car adaptor is an original option for your unit, bring that with you
when you have the iPod serviced. Try to see if you can have this done under
warranty. What you want to achieve is to prove that their products are
defective, and they should cover for this. Normally the manufactures will
give a warranty for all of their products, providing that all the used
options are their own.

If the charger is not an original part, there is no way that they will give
warranty for your unit.

--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
=========================================


"John DeGroof" <jdegroof@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:446k60p4ddei8kpi3jjjqg7ig3ison2fvf@4ax.com...
My brother's iPod died after using a new car charger. All firewire
devices I've tested provide 12v, including the iPod A/C adapter. The
Monster car charger provided 11.4-13.66v, which tells me it's either
defective or unregulated. In any case the iPod died within 1 minute
of the new charger's first use.

I've identified what is most likely the problem (not the result), but
need help identifying the part. Being inline with the firewire power
input, it'd make sense it's either a dual transistor, power regulator,
rectifier, etc. - I'm not sure.

I took a picture of the part and posted it to my webpage. The bad
part is identical to the good one next to it, and is located above the
large Ti chip. Part numbers are KJGN5 and KJGN6. Any idea what they
are, or where to find a replacement? Thanks in advance.

http://home.earthlink.net/~jdegroof5/ipod.jpg

--
John DeGroof, Compressionist
DVD, DAD, DVD Audio, MPEG, AC3, DTS, PCM, DSD, MLP

 

[John DeGroof]

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 11:50:38 -0500, "Jerry G." <jerryg50@hotmail.com>
wrote:

Thanks to everyone for the replies...

Because this is a very expensive toy, I would send it out to have it
properly service, rather than guess at any type of part replacement.

It's out of warranty, and I'm exploring 3 options, the 3rd of which is
fixing it myself. "Proper service" is sending it to Apple, who will
charge a flat rate of $249 for "repair or replacement", plus shipping
and any other costs. A brand new 15GB iPod is currently only $299,
and although this is a 20GB, the new models are coming out soon. The
20GB might be the lower model, so given the choice of about $280 for
repair or $299 for a brand new one, so you can see the motivation to
repair it outside Apple.

Obviously the car charger must be defective, or the wrong type!

Not so obvious actually. If the car charger is supposed to be
regulated to 12v, then the 11.4v-13.66v does indicate it's defective.
However, it might not have been designed to be regulated and only
provide car power. If that's the case, I suspect it may have been
already charging when the car was started, and a voltage spike was
passed through the charger. While I'd consider that a design flaw,
it'd be a long battle through the courts to get reimbursed.

I hope the user did not skimp on the car charger and get something
universal.

Nope. The charger is made by Monster, and was specificially designed
to charge that model of iPod. That model charges via the power pins
of a 6-pin firewire port.

The part you want is not a generic number, and you may have to go to the
proper service people to have your unit serviced.

"The proper people" is Apple, and they're being greedy IMHO. They've
already made their money in the sale of the unit, why not charge
something a little more reasonable like $100? That's what they charge
for a battery replacement btw! That'd be another DIY project, as
batteries are available at 3rd party websites.

It is also possible that whatever else that IC is feeding may be damaged

The IC feeds the large Ti chip, which was getting red hot when the
unit was connected to external power. The firewire ground and shield
have continutity at the connector, which is not normal, and most
likely due to that popped IC. I've also tested the caps nearby, and
they appear to be fine.

I've bypassed the IC, run the unit on internal battery power, and
entered the service mode where there are about 16 diagnostics, all of
which pass, and untimately the player plays music and appears to work
fine, other than it won't accept external power.

Try to see if you can have this done under warranty.

The iPod was out of warranty 6 months ago unfortunately.

providing that all the used options are their own.

If the charger was made by Apple, it would have been easier. Remember
the options I mentioned above? Well, the first option is in progress
also. After a little bit of a struggle, I did get Monster to issue an
RMA where we send the charger in question, the damaged iPod, and
receipt for a new iPod, and they'll cover the cost of the new one,
providing they find a problem with their charger. I'm not convinced
one way or the other if it's defective - that depends on whether
regulation to 12v was in their design or not. I'm sending the charger
back to them for testing, and will proceed based on their findings.
Best case they find a problem and my brother gets a new iPod; worst
case I can't fix this one and he has a choice of how to spend his next
$300.

--
John DeGroof, Compressionist
DVD, DAD, DVD Audio, MPEG, AC3, DTS, PCM, DSD, MLP

 

[John DeGroof]

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 02:08:13 GMT, John DeGroof
<jdegroof@earthlink.net> wrote:

Someone in another forum suggested the part may be the following,
based on markings:

http://www.diodes-inc.com/datasheets/ds30145.pdf

--
John DeGroof, Compressionist
DVD, DAD, DVD Audio, MPEG, AC3, DTS, PCM, DSD, MLP

 

Not so obvious actually. If the car charger is supposed to be
regulated to 12v, then the 11.4v-13.66v does indicate it's defective.

However, it might not have been designed to be regulated and only
provide car power. If that's the case, I suspect it may have been
already charging when the car was started, and a voltage spike was
passed through the charger. While I'd consider that a design flaw,
it'd be a long battle through the courts to get reimbursed.

Actually, since this corresponds to the typical car voltages, that
would imply there is no regulation at all. Whats inside that charger?
A handful of filter caps and a zener, or a real switching supply?


-Chris

 

[John DeGroof]

On Thu, 01 Apr 2004 00:26:57 GMT, chris@nospam.com wrote:

Actually, since this corresponds to the typical car voltages, that
would imply there is no regulation at all. Whats inside that charger?
A handful of filter caps and a zener, or a real switching supply?

When the car was providing 14v, the charger was providing 13.66, so
something's in there. Any electronics the charger may have are inside
the cigarette lighter plug, as the rest is a wire with a 6-pin
firewire plug on the end. I'm not opening the charger, as we do have
an RMA, and I'm sure that would invalidate the RMA. I'm curious to
know though...

--
John DeGroof, Compressionist
DVD, DAD, DVD Audio, MPEG, AC3, DTS, PCM, DSD, MLP