WET610N Voltage Problem
 

Hello,

I am having a problem with the offical FRC radio adapter replacment part, the WET610N. It requires a 12v supply at 1 A. When the wall adapter was plugged in the wall and measured, it outputted exactly 12v, which seems to run the device fine. The wire was then cut so that it could plug into the 12v supply at the bottom of the Power distrubtion board. This, however, caused the device to fry.

I was not at the death of the first one but it may have been reverse polarity or that the power distrubtion slot that says it outputs 12v actually outpus 13v. We ordered a new one, which arrived today and have tested it with the adapter it came with. When plugging the device into our Power distribution board 12v slot, it emits a high pitch whining sound that does not happen when plugged into the wall adapter. I imeadieatly unplugged it after hearing this and measured the voltage from the wire. It was outputting 13v. Is this a problem with our board is that what is outputs for everyone? Has anyone else had this problem?

Thanks for any help in advance,

Alex

Re: WET610N Voltage Problem
 

13V is just fine.

The supply outputs either the battery voltage or ~12V, which ever is higher.

I'd check the reverse polarity theory first.

Re: WET610N Voltage Problem
 

A13,
Are you saying the PD has the high pitch sound? That is normal, some more than others.

If you are saying the Wireless access is emitting a high pitch sound, I don't think there is anything in the box that can do that. I would check the voltage with an oscilloscope or try setting your VOM to AC and measure again. If either of those instruments shows an AC voltage (more than 100mV), there may be a problem with the PD. Erik, have you seen any output caps fail?

Re: WET610N Voltage Problem
 

Al,

You are correct in that a failed output capacitor could damage a radio, but I believe this to be extremely unlikely for the following reasons:
1) I have not seen any failed output capacitors.
2) A single failed capacitor would not cause damage, at least two would need to die.
3) The boost ratio is close to nil for the 12V supply during normal operation.
4) The wall adaptor it is used to being powered has a rather ugly output - the input stage of these things can handle that, so it can handle this case.

If it was "plug into PD, immediate failure", it would point to reverse polarity.

If it was "plug into PD, lights turn on for a while and then failure", it would point to something broken that causes a second breakage.

Re: WET610N Voltage Problem
 

13V should not kill it, at least not as fast as you described it. That high pitched whine could be an inductor of some sort, but regardless, sounds like reversed polarity or something similar.

Also, some wall-warts need to be loaded/similar for the proper output voltage. (without a load, the voltage will fluctuate wildly).