ADVC-55

[Dancer]

It appears my Canopus has crapped out. No matter what I do, I cannot get the red light to turn green. It has always been a bit snarky, but now it's not working at all.
I have installed a borrowed a Sony Media Converter and it works great. It's just doesn't have the image quality of the Canopus.
I contacted GV, but they won't have anything to do with it. They saw it's out of service.
No it's not.
That said, I need to get it repaired or replaced. Ideas would be appreciated.

[dpalomaki]

Actually it is past its "end of support" date which was 2015, end of production was in 2012, per the GV web site.
https://wwwapps.grassvalley.com/cgi-...VC-55&b=status.
While manuals and drivers might be available for down load, parts, repair and warranty service would not be available.

FWIW: are you powering it via IEEE1394 cable or a separate power supply? (I ask because some IEEE1394 ports may not have sufficient available power.)

You can find ADVC-55 listed on auction sites such as ebay, but there is always a risk of getting a bad unit. You might want to look for a more modern unit with greater capabilities, such as HDMI in and HV capability. However, I have no specific recommendations,.

[wrongsideof40]

Hi - Try this....My ADVC-55 got more and more reluctant to 'turn green', over the years and I'd pretty much consigned it to history. I left it in place, tho, connected between a VCR/DVD combo and the edit PC. Last year I gave it one more go....and it worked!
It happened to be the hottest day of the year. On a hunch, the next time the 55 refused to function, I disconnected it and placed it on the radiator for a few minutes, until the metal case was warm to the touch. Hey presto! It worked straight away! This is entirely repeatable.
And once the unit is doing its job (ie capturing) its self-generated heat from the electronics seems to be enough to keep it going. That discovery made my day!

[antonsvideo]

this means it has a bad capacitor

[BernH]

this means it has a bad capacitor

Speaking as the resident trained electronics technician, temperature fluctuation causing something to work or not can mean bad caps, but it can also mean broken solder connections or even bad chips. Heat is the enemy of electronics, but it effects caps, semi-conductors and solder in different ways.

Heat causes semi-conductors to fail, and cooling them will often temporarily restore function. This is why we have coolers on our CPU's and GPU's. We are trying to prevent thermal breakdown.

Heat will cause electrolytic caps to slightly increase their internal pressure and of course temperature, which can cause them to leak electrolyte and go dry, or cause the value to drift as the leaking and drying is happening. This failure usually is not correctable by heating the cap as you are just applying the same thing that caused the leaking/drying to begin with, and almost never consistently repeatable if it is a bad capacitor.

On the other hand, as electronics heat and cool, the solder attaching components to the board will expand and contract. Over time, the expansion and contraction can cause the solder to crack due to thermal expansion/contraction stress. In this case heating will expand the solder and close the gap opened up by the crack, and it is this mechanical repeatability that makes me suggest that this is more likely the actual cause. A re-solder of the board may be all that is required.

I have even seen things come right out of the manufacturing plant and require that the board be re-soldered, as the automated soldering processes that are employed in the plants sometimes don't do a perfect job.

Of course without looking at a board it is hard to say 100% what the issue is.

[dpalomaki]

One way of testing components for thermal issues in a working device was to hit them individually with a bit of cooling spray (was typically a freon) watching the output until the sensitive one was hit.

Chemtronics Freeze Spray an example of the product.

[BernH]

One way of testing components for thermal issues in a working device was to hit them individually with a bit of cooling spray (was typically a freon) watching the output until the sensitive one was hit.

Chemtronics Freeze Spray an example of the product.

Correct. It used to be a staple product on our benches when I was a full time bench technician. Based on the reported symptoms, I would still lean towards bad solder since warming it up makes it work, not the other way around.

[dpalomaki]

With the case open, a bit of gentle pressure (with a non-conducting probe) on parts and joints might also help pinpoint the problem spot.

The I/O jacks is a good spot to start checking given that they are subject to stresses as connections are made/unmade.

[BernH]

With the case open, a bit of gentle pressure (with a non-conducting probe) on parts and joints might also help pinpoint the problem spot.

The I/O jacks is a good spot to start checking given that they are subject to stresses as connections are made/unmade.

Another bench trick. the eraser on the back of a wooden pencil is a good tool for that.

You must have done a bit of this stuff in your day too Don.

[dpalomaki]

...You must have done a bit of this stuff in your day too Don.

Just a bit. The stories one can tell ...

[BernH]

Just a bit. The stories one can tell ...

The craziest one I have seen was a peanut butter sandwich slid into a VHS machine by a young child. Luckily the VHS machine was not too hungry and only the loading basket need cleaning. I don't think the heads would have fared so well if it was really hungry. I have seen some other odd ones over the years from malformed parts used straight from the factory to massive catastrophic failures and board damage, but the sandwich was by far the wackiest.