ZHL-2010 DOA

[Napalm]

I have a ZHL-2010 from mini-circuits that started only giving me half the gain it usually does.

Took it apart and found out one of the inductors on the input side had literally fried.

Ordered replacements, soldered them in and poof, they went again.

Would Mini-Circuits repair it for me? I already found another one on ebay and installed it in its place but still... They're not exactly easy to come by nor cheap.

 

[prcguy]

You would have to contact MiniCircuits to find out. These amps are usually a pair of amplifier chips, a voltage regulator and a handful of other parts and should be easy to diagnose. You could identify the voltage regulator and see if that is working and you might have to disconnect the two amp chips in case one is shorted and dragging down the regulator output. You could input a small signal and trace it with an oscilloscope to see where the signal degrades, etc. I remember getting a similar or maybe the same model used amp that was bad and there was an open part at the front end of the power input, an inductor I think. The seller sent me a replacement and let me keep the bad one so I fixed it.

 

[Napalm]

You would have to contact MiniCircuits to find out. These amps are usually a pair of amplifier chips, a voltage regulator and a handful of other parts and should be easy to diagnose. You could identify the voltage regulator and see if that is working and you might have to disconnect the two amp chips in case one is shorted and dragging down the regulator output. You could input a small signal and trace it with an oscilloscope to see where the signal degrades, etc. I remember getting a similar or maybe the same model used amp that was bad and there was an open part at the front end of the power input, an inductor I think. The seller sent me a replacement and let me keep the bad one so I fixed it.

Thanks. Yeah, the inductor keeps blowing. I replaced it and poof, same thing.

I'll dig into it one of these days, meanwhile I'll keep buying up all the ZHL-2010's I see LOL.

 

[Ubbe]

Took it apart and found out one of the inductors on the input side had literally fried.

Any amplifier that can handle a high level of RF needs a lot of current going thru it that generates heat. If that inductor are on the input side then it has to be some sort of bias current and if the current are much more than normal then it's probably the amplifier transistor device that has gone short circuit. Those are probably a $5-$10 device but if you can get a complete amplifier for $30 then it might not be worth fiddling with it as there could be more issues that initially made it go short circuit.

/Ubbe