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Blew up my Creative Gigaworks T3 Amp - or not?


freezy

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My bet is its one of the transistors. I find transistors are usually the number one thing to go bad and they like to fail shut. You will almost never fix a problem by replacing just a resistor because resistors almost never just go bad on their own....there is usually another component that failed that causes the resistor to blow up. The component that originally failed may not show visible signs of damage. I know on my Time Warp pinball machine if any of the solenoid transistors fail it will blow the F2 fuse. I was able to use a slow blow fuse and only power up for a couple seconds to find out which solenoid was failed active and then I traced to that transistor on the circuit diagram and replaced that transistor. It had no visible signs of failure but replacing it fixed the problem.

Gil

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Oh well I'll order a new one then :/

Thanks everybody, you've been a great help and if nothing more I've learned a lot!

EDIT: Just read Gilrock's answer. Unfortunately I have no idea which transistor I need for replacement. If you have an idea, let me know, otherwise it's going to the bin.

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Oh well I'll order a new one then :/

Thanks everybody, you've been a great help and if nothing more I've learned a lot!

EDIT: Just read Gilrock's answer. Unfortunately I have no idea which transistor I need for replacement. If you have an idea, let me know, otherwise it's going to the bin.

Yeah I'm really not that good at troubleshooting these problems I got lucky with my pinball machine plus it's easier because in the old days everything on circuit cards was really big and nothing was surface mounted. I work with guys who could troubleshoot things like this really fast. I've seen them just look at the schematic and which part blew and they shot gun it saying replace Q12 and Q15 and try it again...I walk away thinking yeah right and I replace them and sure enough it starts working. You would at a minimum probably need a schematic. I would probably just order another one but thats mainly because I can make good money working side jobs at home so wasting 2-3 hours troubleshooting a board exceeds the cost of what I could make using that time for something else.

Gil

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  • 6 months later...
  • 1 year later...
My bet is its one of the transistors. I find transistors are usually the number one thing to go bad and they like to fail shut. You will almost never fix a problem by replacing just a resistor because resistors almost never just go bad on their own....there is usually another component that failed that causes the resistor to blow up. The component that originally failed may not show visible signs of damage. I know on my Time Warp pinball machine if any of the solenoid transistors fail it will blow the F2 fuse. I was able to use a slow blow fuse and only power up for a couple seconds to find out which solenoid was failed active and then I traced to that transistor on the circuit diagram and replaced that transistor. It had no visible signs of failure but replacing it fixed the problem.

Gil

Hi Gil.

I have the same issue with my T3. Please tell me which transistors you have swapped? Just model, number ect.

Best regards.

Allan

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  • 3 months later...

Hi all, I fixed mine by simply bypassing the blown circuit to get power to the transformer.

My unit showed the following characteristics on the power circuit board:

- burnt resistors.

- burnt SMD components on the underside.

- however, fuse is OK.

- transformer tested OK.

I am not sure what the blown circuit does... auto-off or line filter circuit? No idea, but it works without it.

The following outline the steps I took.

WARNING: If you are going to attempt this yourself be very careful as you will be dealing with live mains. Do it at your own risk! I take no responsibilities if you cause harm to yourself/others or blow up your unit completely.

IMG_3724.JPG

IMG_3721.JPG

1. Test to ensure that the transformer is still working

- Connect the black and white wires (labelled 1 on the image above) to a make-shift power cord.  Ensure they are connected securely!

- Plug in power cord to the mains and turn on.

- Set your multimeter to AC voltage measuring mode. Measure the output voltage on the blue/yellow cables (labelled 2 on the image above). Blue cables should be around 20-23V. Yellow cables should be around 8-10V.

- DO NOT connect your multimeter to the sockets on the black and white wires!

- If the voltages are within range then the transformer is good. If it's not then find an equivalent replacement transformer from your electronics store.

IMG_3720.JPG

2. Solder bypass wire to the circuit board

- Note I chose not to short the inner plug on the board directly to the input power source as there is still some resistance between the two spade plugs on the board.

- Crimp a 4mm spade plug to a correct gauge high-voltage wire and solder this onto the underside of the power circuit board as shown in the image above.

- Please note, if your fuse had blown you will need to replace it. See earlier posts freezy.

IMG_3725.JPG

3. Connect bypass wire to the transformer

- Connect the bypass wire to the black cable.

- Plug in the white wire to the plug closest to the edge of the board (refer to image above).

- Reconnect the rest of the plugs (power output and speaker) onto the amp board.

IMG_3727.JPG

4. Test unit

- Connect a satellite to the unit.

- Connect the volume control puck to the unit.

- Connect the power cable and turn on.

- Rotate the volume control. You should see the blue light comes on.

- Connect to an audio source. e.g your mobile phone. You should be able to hear it.

- Once satisfied screw on the back cover.

Good luck,

Tom

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  • 4 months later...

Hi every !

 

I've got the same probleme on my Gigaworks T3

 

i've changed:

 

Q1 was shorted - > 1n60C
2 burnt 100 ohms resistor ( top side) 

D7(or D1) was shorted

2 smd resistor 47K and 5.6Ohms ( bottom side)
but each time i plug it  , it burns again....

 

i think the problem is  coming from T1 transformer which is a "EE16" the primary is good with 160 µH but the secondary is "cut"

Now the main problem is to identify this transfo .  if sombody has any information , please contact me

 

THX

 

Z

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  • 3 months later...

Hi all, I fixed mine by simply bypassing the blown circuit to get power to the transformer.

 

Hello there man and everyone. My unit ended up like same . I was looking for a answer everywhere and this post of yours exactly saved my unit. I did exactly what you ve said and it worked like charm. I couldnt thank you enough. You're awesome and brilliant. Everybody that have this situation must know that this solution works for 2 guys right now. And without changing a resistor or something. Tomitan if you read this just to know you did a big help. Thanks again

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  • 1 month later...

Hello there man and everyone. My unit ended up like same . I was looking for a answer everywhere and this post of yours exactly saved my unit. I did exactly what you ve said and it worked like charm. I couldnt thank you enough. You're awesome and brilliant. Everybody that have this situation must know that this solution works for 2 guys right now. And without changing a resistor or something. Tomitan if you read this just to know you did a big help. Thanks again

 Same here, really nice job ! Much thx :)

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  • 3 months later...

Hi all, I fixed mine by simply bypassing the blown circuit to get power to the transformer.

 

 3rd guy here, I have the revision B of the amplifier board, a bit different than revision A that you pictured(no resistors near the fuse/transistor). I followed the same instructions and the T3 is back singing again, I can't thank you enough since I already took it to a local electronic shop that specializes in audio and the repairman was unable to fix it for me, and pointed out another electronic shop to me that had expensive rates and dealt with micro electronics (like burnt smd's and such). turns out the problem is simple.

There is no change in the sound at all after that fix. thanks again.

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  • 1 year later...

Hi all,

You can always replace damaged standby power supplier by new one. I did that way in my T3. I this case I used power supplier that came with network switch. It's small switch type unit, output voltage 12V, current 500mA.

In my case I also had to change the relay.

Zdjęcie_10_11.2017,_22_22_30.jpg

Zdjęcie_10_11.2017,_22_22_47.jpg

Zdjęcie_10_11.2017,_22_23_14.jpg

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  • 10 months later...

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to user "Tomitan" for his repair guide. The problem that i had with my Creative T3 speaker system is that I have 1 burnt SMD on my power board of the subwoofer. By following closely to Tamitan's guide, I was able to fix my Creative T3 by following his step by step guide.

 

Pictures of my T3 subwoofer bypass repair: https://imgur.com/a/y7MKo27

Video of speaker repair and playing music after the repair: https://youtu.be/-2tVGjB5QzU

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  • 2 months later...

I signed up just to say thanks.  Googled yesterday, all fixed today thanks to Tomitan.  My AC meter is broken so I skipped the testing transformer part and went straight to bypass.  Also don't have a spade plug so I just tinned the other end a bit more so it's snug in the middle of the female when plugged in, then heatshrinked.  Works perfect.

So this means my transformer is ok, and fuse also tested ok with DC voltmeter.  The only thing that blew is R13.  My board is a new revision with resistors that looks like the tiny ones on video cards.  The white wire is also red.

When I was soldering the bypass it was quite hard to hold everything so I taped the wire to the board first resting the copper between the soldering point and the screw underneath.

This is fantastic guys.  Hope this helps many to come.  The T3 is my fav speakers for the size and price I am sure yall agree ;)

_DSC1147a.jpg

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