[michaelb]

Recently I moved my Cube back from another room. After I'd plugged in the power brick and powered on, I saw a bright spark come from the power brick and then it was dead.

Finding out what Apple Australia's replacement charge was, and not willing to be shafted for $330 for what is essentially a 28V power supply, I decided to pull it apart to see if a repair was possible.

When I got to the circuit board, I found a whole bunch of (dead) ants in several places, including the fried area, where a circuit track had been blasted.



I replaced the vaporized track but the power brick is still dead, so it looks like one of the hard to identify electrolytic capacitors has blown.

It looks like my mighty Cube has been brought down by a little ant.

I'll need to replace the power supply one way or another. I know they go on eBay and the Dr Bott ADC converter comes with one, but these are both in the US and difficult to get to here, and even if they'd sell it, the postage would be steep for a heavy item like this.

I might instead try to make my own 28V power supply. So here's the favor I need:

Can someone with a Cube and a voltmeter measure the pin-outs of their power brick?



There are four pins which I assume distribute the load of the rated 205 Watts of the power brick (this relatively high current is probably because there could be ADC Cinema Display, FireWire devices, USB speakers, etc plugged into the Cube).

I need to know which pins supply the +/- 28V.

Anyone help?

[Maflynn]

While I don't have a voltmeter to check the pin's voltage, I did see a power supply on eBay
It ends Aug 03 8:00pm. so if you want it you shouldn't delay.

Good Luck
Mike

[Angus_D]

You see, this is why you need to debug your computers

(Actually, it's things like this that actually were the origins of term).

[:XI:]

Originally posted by Angus_D:
You see, this is why you need to debug your computers

(Actually, it's things like this that actually were the origins of term).

Wasn't that a moth?

[The Placid Casual]

Originally posted by Angus_D:
You see, this is why you need to debug your computers

(Actually, it's things like this that actually were the origins of term).

Off topic, but this reminds me of a story I remember reading about the early days if Intel, and some of the first batches of chips they produced...

They left the line working perfectly, but when they got to clients they were all broken/not functioning correctly...

They spend a stack of money investigating the fab, materials, design, and found nothing...

One day, after they had given up looking for the problem, they went to the shipping department to witness the employee in charge of shipping giving the batches of chips the 'once over' with a wet rag and polish "to be sure they weren't dusty" before they were sent...

[michaelb]

Originally posted by Maflynn:
While I don't have a voltmeter to check the pin's voltage, I did see a power supply on eBay
It ends Aug 03 8:00pm. so if you want it you shouldn't delay.

Thanks for the tip, I've looked it up. Unfortunately, like most eBay'ers with good stuff, he only wants to sell within the US. I've emailed him anyway to see if he'd consider Australia. But it'd be about $30 USPS international parcel post on top anyway, so it's getting a bit expensive.

If only I could find the pin-outs...

[BugsyJA]

If you haven't tried yet, go to http://www.cubeowner.com/

They're a very helpful bunch of people, and a great website for Cube owners.

[michaelb]

Originally posted by BugsyJA:
If you haven't tried yet, go to http://www.cubeowner.com/

They're a very helpful bunch of people, and a great website for Cube owners.

VERY good advice, BugsyJA! Thank you.

I did go there, and very quickly got exactly what I needed.

Here's the topic in case someone searches in future for a similar need:

http://www.cubeowner.com/forums//ind...=19&t=3061