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Broken Surge Protector

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I have my Modem/Router and some other computer stuff plugged into two power strips that are in turn plugged into this surge protector (mostly because this has two open plugs). Today I turned off one of the power strips, rearranged some of the stuff (moved something from one strip to the other, etc.), and when I turned the strip back on, it did nothing and the other strip turned off (I knew for sure because the router has a backup battery that beeps when there is a loss of AC power. It was beeping.)

After some testing, I concluded it was this surge protector, not a breaker or either power strip that was the issue. Since it had invitingly standard Phillips head screws, I opened it up to see if there was anything obviously wrong. I tested the fuse however it is not blown, working fine. There didn't seem to be any heat damage or other visible issues. The LED on it still lights when plugged in, just normal things don't get power.

Even though I doubt I can actually fix this, I wonder if anyone knows what could be the problem?
 

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It's highly possible that the choke connections are poor, especially if the fuse is ok, I would re-solder them. It should be really easy for you to do a quick continuity check from both live(Hot) and Neutral pins to the outlet sockets to confirm :)
 
There isnt a lot to go wrong there.
As mr wolf says, you could also get a meter and start from the power in and follow the connections on the pcb to the power out.
Did you check the fuse?, do that first.
 
The fuse was fine. Doing the continuity check, the neutral and one hot were fine, so I traced the path of the other pin.

Lo and behold, one of the inductors had a loose solder point! I hadn't even noticed it before, when I was checking it over :rolleyes:
Anyway, I re-soldered and it is running fine now. Thanks guys!

p.s. what could have caused it to come out of its joint? I wasn't working near it.
 
what could have caused it to come out of its joint?
Poor assembly (dry joint).
 
As Alec said, poor design and assembly. The design is lacking mechanical strength in general, instead relying solely on the solder to hold the weight of the inductors when plugged in and vertical :)
 
Your surge supressor is better than nothing, BUT a Warrentied surge suppressor is priceless, for it is, a real insurance policy. The Tripp Lite ISOBAR, the last time I checked has a $50,000 connected equipment warranty. The caveat is you have to have your receipt. At work, we used this warranty. A direct hit, I would suppose. The supressor was entireley black.

Large conductors don't machine solder well.
work stuff.

I found poor reliability of wall warts in outlet strips, so I changed to an AC octopus. Much tighter and well behaved nolw for my net
Plan now is to make a 4 device, any voltage below 21 V, 2A each low voltage UPS.
 
Maybe they didnt scrape back the enamel quite enough for wave soldering.
 
All that stuff makes sense. I definitely agree that warrantied products are much better, and I would probably get one to replace this (I don't even know how old it is), however right now it is basically just a fancy high-rated outlet splitter. Everything is plugged into the two actual protector strips, which are plugged into this.
 
With a poor solder joint lurking in/out of operation, I'd toss out the surge protector. It's possible by now the MOV(s) have taken a hit and not as effective as before. Way too many surge protectors on the market made inexpensively, leading consumers to believing their electronic devices are protected- NOT!
 
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