PM3 problems

[hcoog]

Hi,

Have been sent over from the UK site with some problems with my PM3 monitor: http://concept2.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=22815

Wondering if anyone here could shed any light on the problems?

Thanks,

[Citroen]

The crux of this thread and the reason I suggested HCoog post over here (so that Carl would offer an opinion) was this:



What is that rusted component?
Would it account for this:

[Carl Watts]

Thats a memory backup Supercapacitor made by ELNA it is 0.22F 3.3V and available from Digikey.

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea ... -1020-1-ND

It is capable of backing up your date & time information for about 20 minutes if your PM has a nice low standby current while you change the batteries.

It is not a "Vital" component and it is best removed and left missing or replaced with a new one as they tend to leak down and cause corrosion on the Heatrate chip on the board just below it that you can see in the picture. Looks like you have been lucky.The caps failed in every early model PM3.

Thats not a "Type" screen I have seen before, usually they get a big blotch or have horizontal lines or bits of them fade. I would say it's still a screen problem however. It's an integrated graphics LCD with the driver built in so you need a new one and Concept 2 is the only place you can buy it. You may improve it by turning down the LCD contrast a little but the lines will stay.

Cheers.

[hcoog]

Thanks Carl. Mine looses the date and time the instant you remove the main batteries, so I guess the backup one is as broken as it looks. I can't find anywhere in the UK to buy a replacement, so I'll just pop it out as you suggest to avoid further damage.

Guess the problems with the early PM3 capacitors were due to this -- have had to replace numerous PC motherboards thanks to it.