Ok, so I got a P500 power plant on Ebay just now. The seller states that the regenerated out lets(2 of them) are working, but the one outlet, which is simply a filtered outlet does not. I did notice that on the back the unit has two fuses, and one is a main fuse, and the other is for the filtered outlet. I’m betting that this may be the problem, but if not, do any of you guys own one of these units, and what troubles have you encountered?
A little update. I found that a 5 watt resistor in the filtered outlet power board was the only thing wrong with the unit. Makes me wonder why it wouldn’t have blown a fuse instead of burning up (or maybe it did, and I wasn’t informed before hand). Anyway, the unit is up and running, and I plan to use it in my present system for awhile. More to come…
Not that anyone cares, but what would cause a P500 to flash ‘fault’ and then never again(so far).
4krow, maybe it’s better to contact PSA technical directly.
As I recall, the P500 used to be somewhat prone to overheating due to the inefficiency of the earlier units.
I know that there is a modification on the P500, where the caps that are drying out are replaced with ceramic versions less likely to have any problem due to heat build up.
But I do not know if that is the cause of your problem. Best is, contact PSA.
Thanks for the advice. I have already attempted to contact them with no response. As it stands, I seemed to have put a bandaid on the symptom by using an exhaust fan on the rear of the unit. It runs quite cool now. I will look into replacing the internal fan, as I suspect it is not performing up to spec. Thank you for your reply. Even though this is an old unit, I still feel that it is worthy of further use.
Last update. I have replaced a faulty fan, and even found that securing it on the outside of the rear of the unit gives better performance for cooling. I also replaced the power capacitors which were SO bad and dry that they rattled! I increased the voltage rating from 100Volts to 160 volts. Of course the caps were much bigger, and I had to mount them off the board and run 14 guage jumpers to them. It is just as well, because now they are not square up against the heat sinks. The unit is in service and runs quite cool. I am looking at the P300 that I own and think maybe new caps are in order there as well. I will acquire a service manual, allowing me to see what other things might be maintained.
Nicely done!
Well ,here it is May of 2015, and the same resistor as mentioned before, failed. This time around, I will contact PS Audio directly to see if they will repair the unit. Might cost a bundle, but this isn’t going to fix itself, and I am not able to do much without schematics.
One last bit of info. This unit failed W/O being on. There was a power amp connected to the filtered, but not regenerated outlet, but it was not on. I did use it maybe an hour prior. I am deciding whether I really want to use this unit anymore if there will be more problems. My wife was in office, and actually heard it pop, and then a smell from the unit. This makes me uncomfortable, plus, neither fuse was blown. I just hope that I can use maybe even the transformer or something. This was a cool unit. If I decide to build a simple unit using some of the parts in this unit, I will post a photo here.
While PSA may not want to repair a modded unit, I would contact them. They may be able to provide some advice or suggestions. Obviously, something fundamental is wrong.
Elk,
Thanks for the reply. I am now considering exploring the unit as a transformer only, with filtering, and then on to AC outlets. Thinking about all that this unit has been through (it was damaged when I received it last year, and had already been repaired by PS A). I know that there will be more work than I would care to do, but I can’t just let this unit slip out of sight, seeing how most of the components are still in great shape.
It really depends how butchered the P500 is inside by the mods. We do repair them, of course, but much depends on its state. I would recommend contacting our service department by phone next week for an estimate.