Exact Power EP 15A - repaired


These haven't been in production for some years now... so there was some considerable panic when mine started producing a rather loud buzzing noise. Luckily I found someone at the company that was working there when these were being manufactured. The newer employees didn't have a clue what I was going on about. Carl told me that there's a very specific testing procedure, as this usually identifies the issue... otherwise you may be purchasing the wrong parts and still have the same problem. He emailed me the information and I now have it available, or you can call the company and request it from Carl. With this information it only took two hours and inexpensive parts (Bias caps) to get it up and running again. The first person I took it to wanted to replace all of the capacitors$$$.

I was also told that George Meyer-av.com works on these, but if you have the testing information, any audio repair person should be able to fix it.
128x128andera
I currently have an EP-15a out for repair at George Meyer AV. I bought mine used from AA and the unit buzzes under heavy load (10amps) and holds voltage steady around 126 volts, not 120 volts. A gentleman named Steve Hogan posted the procedure below on AK, which is why I contacted him initially about doing the repair, but since he never replied I took it to George Meyer. From what I understand, they've worked on these units before and can get the right parts. Hoping to have mine back in a couple of weeks.

"I have repaired dozens of EP15-A units, which have lost the ability to regulate properly and begin to buzz under load. This is almost always due to the voltage regulators on the control PCB falling out of regulation due to capacitor failure. There are several electrolytic capacitors on the control board which were undersized from day one and ALWAYS fail prematurely. I have developed a standardized procedure for replacing these caps on the EP15-A units with higher quality (Panasonic 105C) caps with the correct (higher) values. It is a somewhat time-consuming repair because the motherboard must be removed from the chassis, and the control board must be removed from the motherboard in order to replace the defective parts. I also replace some caps on the meter card, which typically lose value as well. I recently examined a brand-new in the box unit that had never been used, and its regulators were not regulating due to bad caps. If you own an EP15-A it needs to be recapped, and then re-calibrated. Often, the unit's performance slowly deteriorates over time until finally the caps fail so badly that it will no longer work. Recapping with the bigger caps will make the EP15-A work better than new. You may contact me off llne if I can help."

Best of luck!
Hello there,
My Exact Powell 15A have stopped working sometime and go it's just operating in pass through mode. From the information you posted I believe you're talking about the [8] 100 micro fard 25 volt capacitors that needs to be changed and upgraded? And what are the value of a the capacitors that need to be installed in their place?
         Regards, Karim
<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536869121 1107305727 33554432 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:Verdana; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610610945 1073750107 16 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} -->

12V Bias Capacitor check.

 

 

The 12V bias caps (MAL202136101E3) are the only components on the back of the control board. (Pic 1).

To test the Caps; attach your scope probes to the 12V test points (Pic 2), and set your scope to DC coupling 2Vdc divider, 10ms time divider.

When you turn the unit on (Not loaded) there should be very little to no AC (Pic 4).

If there is a negative going voltage (larger than 1V) like in Pic 3, then the caps need to be replaced (all 8 of them).

I have posted images at Canuck Audio Mart...https://www.canuckaudiomart.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=54287http://