Faulty DC input on an ME 50

BluJu

A couple of months ago after being tired of running around with loads of single pedals I purchased a BOSS ME50
as a more portable solution. I paid R1000 for the pedal knowing at the time that it had a faulty dc input.
I took it to music connection who probably sent it to Roland and they came back with a quote of R700 to fix what seems to be a minor problem.
How can they justify that kind of repair cost and Is there anyone that can repair it for me for a more reasonable price?

Averatu

Could be a fault on the PC board, which means replacing the whole board.

AlanRatcliffe

It will probably be a simple repair - anyone with basic soldering skills can fix 'em. Knowing Roland/Boss I will bet that the socket has pulled away from the circuitboard (It's a case of when, not if with Roland - I've ended up soldering dozens in my own effects over the years). Put a dab of epoxy under the socket to prevent a reoccurance and solder the legs back down.

slyd

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: It will probably be a simple repair - anyone with basic soldering skills can fix 'em. Knowing Roland/Boss I will bet that the socket has pulled away from the circuitboard (It's a case of when, not if with Roland - I've ended up soldering dozens in my own effects over the years). Put a dab of epoxy under the socket to prevent a reoccurance and solder the legs back down.

+1 on this.
I've also found sometimes that the plastic socket has cracked (from someone standing on the dc power jack going in), these I've superglued back together, then given a complete coat of epoxy around it to prevent a recurrence.

Hopefully it's just something similar to these conditions. Find a mate with basic electronic knowledge, and get him to check it out. More than likely, it's a repair job for free, (I'll take a sixpack ?)

BluJu

Cool. Thanks guys. I took the cover off but it all just looked the same to me. I'll try find someone that will try his hand at it.
I don't mind paying for the job, just R700 seemed a bit much.

FenderBender

BluJu wrote: I took the cover off but it all just looked the same to me.

You would need to look at the solder joints on the opposite side of the PC board that the socket is mounted on.

If you're feeling brave, remove the board and have a look see at the connections underneath the socket. 10 to 1 you will see that one or both of the socket's pins have worked loose in the board (as Alan mentioned). You may see a visible gap between the pins and the PC board solder pads or you may need to wiggle the socket while looking at the soldering with a magnifying glass to see the breaks, which can sometimes be hairline cracks!

Repair is simple and the soldering itself takes 5 seconds, but the bugger is the stripping and reassembly! The unit had to be assembled in the first place and as long as you remember where all the screws, plug in cables and bits go, you should not have any problems. Take pics as you strip and don't be scared to label stuff with a marker! If it's too hairy for you, just about anyone who can use a soldering iron will find it any easy job. And yeah R700 is a bietjie steep hey ?

Good luck ?

slyd

Yup, 700 buckaroos is a "whack of splodge" (as Bob would put it). ?

C'mon, one of you jhb tech's on the forum, . . . offer to check it out for da man >☹ We're all innit together!

(Sorry Bob . . . "splodge of wonga" as you would put it!)

BluJu

slyd wrote: Yup, 700 buckaroos is a "whack of splodge" (as Bob would put it). ?

C'mon, one of you jhb tech's on the forum, . . . offer to check it out for da man >☹ We're all innit together!

A case of beer for the first successful tech.

slyd

There ya go . . . ! 8)

BluJu

So I got a mate (an electrical engineer) to help me out with the pedal.
We disassembled it and removed the pc board. Wasn't too bad.
He noted that one of the solder pads was loose but could not solder it back onto the copper board so he soldered a small wire from the pad
to where it needed to go. It seems to work great.
Is this method of repair fine/safe?

AlanRatcliffe

Should be OK - I've done it many times. Did you glue the socket down to the board too?

BluJu

Well that's good to know. The socket looked to be held one pretty okay so didn't want to mess with it too much. It was just one of the solder pads that was dodgy.

AlanRatcliffe

Yeah - but the cause of the solder pad breaking away will be from the plug being bumped. As the socket is mounted to the PC board rather than the chassis, the solder joints take all the stress as the socket moves. Gluing the socket to the board means if the plug is knocked, the board takes most of the stress (and it's a lot more flexible than the solder joint). A Roland tech showed me the glue trick - it's what they do to make sure they don't come back in again.

BluJu

Oh I see. I'll do that then. Thanks ?

slyd

So . . . a bit cheaper that 700 splodges of wonga hey!? Very cool ?

Friends are important . . . ?