Allen & Heath GL4000 meter pod issue
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From: Greg Cameron on 14 Sep 2008 23:03 On Sep 14, 7:55 pm, "Phil Allison" <philalli...(a)tpg.com.au> wrote: > "Greg Cameron" > "Phil Allison " > > > Always amazes me how folk store valuable electronic in shed and garages > > that > > are not water tight and where condensation in cold wet weather will slowly > > but surely destroy them. > > Actually, it was a paid storage facility of fairly recent vintage. > > ** Places that may be OK for storing furniture, vehicles or boxes of stuff > are NOT usually suitable for storing un-protected electronic items.. > > Strangely enough, a foam lined road case is not near good enough protection. > > The case is NOT water tight and the foam will hold any water that gets in > and cause the ruination of whatever is inside if not got to very quickly. > > I have seen one example where the foam lining completely disintegrated after > several years and turned to sticky particles that attached themselves all > over the outsides AND insides of a Boogie Mk4 tube guitar amplifier. > > Took hours to clean up and it still looked terrible as it ruined the grille > cloth. > > .... Phil Agreed, I got lucky with the foam. Most of the foam in that case is the smooth firm plastic type, with the softer stuff on the outer edges and the case lid. I suppose there's something to be said for o-ring sealed equipment racks. I know the cheap stuff like SKB has that feature and Pelican cases. Seems it should be an option on the $2000 case the GL was in, but I'm not aware of ATA style cases with that type seal. Have you heard of such a beast? Greg
From: Eeyore on 15 Sep 2008 07:31 Greg Cameron wrote: > "Phil Allison" <philalli...(a)tpg.com.au> wrote: > > "Greg Cameron" > > "Phil Allison" > > > > Well, I was finally able to remove the Perspex strip. Up-ending the > > console didn't quite to do the trick even with WD40. The key was to > > lay the board down on a level flat surface and carefully remove both > > side plates so that the Perspex strip could be coaxed out with a > > rubber mallet on one end whilst pulling on the other. > > > > ** Looks like the corrosion and other damage locked the Perspex strip in > > place. > > > > Here are some pics of what I found inside: > > > > http://www.cameronproaudio.com/gl4000meterpod/ > > > > ** Horrible. > > > > Not pretty. Amazingly the meters still lit up, though the needles were > > completely frozen and the driver circuits were toast. All the caps had > > tons of oxides oozing from them, some falling off. The PCB's were a > > lovely rust color on the face instead of tan/yellow. I'd estimate that > > the meter pod must have been full of water for several months. > > > > ** Rain water is fairly harmless to un-powered electronics - but must be > > cleaned off and gear dried out within a few hours or very bad things begin > > to happen. > > > > Always amazes me how folk store valuable electronic in shed and garages that > > are not water tight and where condensation in cold wet weather will slowly > > but surely destroy them. > > Actually, it was a paid storage facility of fairly recent vintage. > Depending the cost of replacement parts, I'll consider filing a claim > against them and/or with insurance if it's worthwhile. Sometimes the > headache of dealing with the bureaucracy just isn't worth if the > repair isn't too expensive. We shall see... I'd certainly consider that looking at the state of damage there.. Graham
From: Eeyore on 15 Sep 2008 07:37
Greg Cameron wrote: > Eeyore wrote: > > Greg Cameron wrote: > > > Greg Cameron wrote: > > > > "Phil Allison" <philalli...(a)tpg.com.au> wrote: > > > > > "Rupert". > > > > > "Phil Allison" > > > > > "Greg Cameron" > > > > > > > > >I have a GL4000-848 with water damage in the meterpod. The rest of the > > > > > > > desk is operating fine. I've opened it up to go through and check > > > > > > > everything out, reseat cable, etc. But the innards of the meterpod are > > > > > > > a loss with lots of oxidation on the PCB. I was wondering if anyone > > > > > > > has had experience getting into the pod for repair/replacement. > > > > > > > > ** The GL4000 looks much like a GL3000 in a pic I found on the web. > > > > > > > > With a GL3000, you remove one of the metal end plates and then slide out > > > > > > the Perspex strip covering all the VUs mounted on their long PCB - which > > > is > > > > > > held in by a number of screws. > > > > > > > I did try to give that a go, but that strip didn't want to move. Could > > > > > be because it's a 48 channel desk. The strip is a bit over 6 feet long > > > > > so there's a lot more friction in the groove to deal with. > > > > > > > ** Try a little spray lube on the groove. > > > > > > > Did the > > > > > GL3000 have a one piece side plate that covered/supported the pod and > > > > > the main cavity, > > > > > > > ** Yep. > > > > > > > The GL4000 has a single > > > > > piece side plate for both. I suspect removing the side plate might > > > > > have allowed the console to flex a bit the way I had it positioned and > > > > > could have caused the groves to tweak and exert more force on the > > > > > strip covering the meters. The desk is 170 lbs. and difficult to > > > > > maneuver. I'll try with the desk laying on it's backplane to see if > > > > > that does the trick. > > > > > > > ** Just stand the desk on one end. > > > > > > > Maybe wiggle it a bit while you yank out the Perspex strip. > > > > > > Makes sense upending it to prevent frame torsion. I'll give a squirt > > > > of WD40 too. Thanks for the advice. > > > > > Well, I was finally able to remove the Perspex strip. Up-ending the > > > console didn't quite to do the trick even with WD40. The key was to > > > lay the board down on a level flat surface and carefully remove both > > > side plates so that the Perspex strip could be coaxed out with a > > > rubber mallet on one end whilst pulling on the other. Care must be > > > taken in this state to not flex the frame too much. Here are some pics > > > of what I found inside: > > > > >http://www.cameronproaudio.com/gl4000meterpod/ > > > > > Not pretty. Amazingly the meters still lit up, though the needles were > > > completely frozen and the driver circuits were toast. All the caps had > > > tons of oxides oozing from them, some falling off. The PCB's were a > > > lovely rust color on the face instead of tan/yellow. I'd estimate that > > > the meter pod must have been full of water for several months. It acts > > > like fairly water tight trough when the mixer is stored in it's ATA > > > case so the back end it down. Thankfully the rest of the console was > > > relatively unscathed. Hopefully A&H still has inventory on the PCB > > > assembly. Thanks for the help Phil. > > > > Oooh nasty. If A&H no longer have the pcb, it would be possible to 're-create' one > > from an old example (something I could do for example) but the frozen needles will > > be the biggest problem. Hopefully A&H used Sifam meters in which case they'd be > > replaceable - but not cheaply. > > I suspect they still have inventory as it's only been out of > production for a couple of years. That said, the new GL4800 is > virtually identical with the same chassis and layout. They made some > circuit changes for summing I believe. But the backplane, meterpod > connection and channel strips and master sections are identical. It > looks like the newer pod meters have peak LED's on the L/R/M meters. > Heck, if it will work I'd probably like to have the newer version of > the pod PCB. I'll check with them tomorrow. That would likely be your best solution if possible. Graham |