Hi all,
Like so many others, I have had problems with my P38 Clarion head unit. The display illumination has been intermittent, and the sound has been buzzing, popping and disappearing altogether.
I have been trying to pin down the problem by operating the radio without the top cover, and found that if I pressed down hard on the heat sink for the three power transistors, the sound and lights would return. It was obviously a bad solder joint or bad contact somewhere.
I brought the radio indoors and went to work, concentrating on the area around the power transistors, looking for signs of bad solder joints. I couldn't see anything out of place, but I remelted most of the joints in the general area. I believe that I actually found the problem:
The support for the heat sink is soldered to the board at two points and doubles as a bridge between two ground buses. Right next to it, on the left hand side, is what I believe is a surface mounted resistor. It's about 4x6mm in size, about 1mm thick, black with a three digit number on top. I went to remelt the solder at one end of it and when I did, the thing fell of the board. This would imply that the joint on the other side had cracked. I had to remove the heat sink support in order to solder the resistor back on the board, so there is a slight chance that this was where the bad joint was, but my money is on that resistor. Anyway, it cured the problem and the radio is finally working like it should again.
Now it makes sense how Rovacom can offer repair of these head units for 80 quid, as I believe that 9 times out of 10, this is the problem and a very easy fix if you know where to look and are handy with a soldering iron.
On another note, I also think I figured out how to add a mini-jack for Ipod connection.
I hope this will be of help to somebody, and regret that I didn't take any pictures.
Cheers
Henrik
Like so many others, I have had problems with my P38 Clarion head unit. The display illumination has been intermittent, and the sound has been buzzing, popping and disappearing altogether.
I have been trying to pin down the problem by operating the radio without the top cover, and found that if I pressed down hard on the heat sink for the three power transistors, the sound and lights would return. It was obviously a bad solder joint or bad contact somewhere.
I brought the radio indoors and went to work, concentrating on the area around the power transistors, looking for signs of bad solder joints. I couldn't see anything out of place, but I remelted most of the joints in the general area. I believe that I actually found the problem:
The support for the heat sink is soldered to the board at two points and doubles as a bridge between two ground buses. Right next to it, on the left hand side, is what I believe is a surface mounted resistor. It's about 4x6mm in size, about 1mm thick, black with a three digit number on top. I went to remelt the solder at one end of it and when I did, the thing fell of the board. This would imply that the joint on the other side had cracked. I had to remove the heat sink support in order to solder the resistor back on the board, so there is a slight chance that this was where the bad joint was, but my money is on that resistor. Anyway, it cured the problem and the radio is finally working like it should again.
Now it makes sense how Rovacom can offer repair of these head units for 80 quid, as I believe that 9 times out of 10, this is the problem and a very easy fix if you know where to look and are handy with a soldering iron.
On another note, I also think I figured out how to add a mini-jack for Ipod connection.
I hope this will be of help to somebody, and regret that I didn't take any pictures.
Cheers
Henrik
