Play5 Gen.1 high temperature ( 55 degrease) on Capacitors

Why did you replace the capacitors?

Hi buzz,

thanks for your question.

They were all lifting their heads, and had only have of their capacity.

What do you mean by “lifting their heads”? And do you mean “half of their capacity”?

Hi 106rallye,

they were just bulged and i could measure around 300-400 uF only.

the two on the backside of the coils, i changed as well.

You obviously have some instruments. Have you measured the voltage and ripple?

​@106rallye: “Electrolytic” capacitors are two long layers of aluminum foil separated by a thin layer of insulating paste. The assembly is sealed in an aluminum can. A common failure mode is for the paste to vaporize and create pressure inside the sealed can. Typically these are cylinders with one flat end that is deliberately weakened so that the vapor can safely leak out rather than exploding the can. As the pressure builds, the flat end of the can will visibly bulge as the seal breaks. It’s often easy to spot bad capacitors by looking for bulges. As vapor escapes, the paste degrades, capacitance decreases, and short circuits can develop.

Modern, good quality Electrolytic capacitors in a properly designed circuit can last 20 years or more. A gradual decrease in capacitance is typical — but this does not result in the bulge. The bulge indicates that the capacitor was damaged by external causes. This could be poor circuit design or failure of another component.

ok, so the DC voltage measured on the capacitors is about 25V and the AC part measured with an oscilloscope is at 0,3V. I think that is what you mean by ripple voltage ?

Yes, “ripple” is the AC component. What is the frequency? I don’t know how these capacitors are used, but 0.3V seems odd to me. Does it vary with the audio signal? Do you hear any noise or see any ripple at the speakers? At zero Volume, I expect very low output. Since this is a switching amplifier I expect that there is a little high frequency ‘trash’ at the output.

No clue about your specific issue but many electrolitic capacitor failures are a result of an upstream issue which subjects them to too much ripple vooltage and current causing the overheating. Things like a failed diode in a rectifier.

Hi buzz,

the ripple does not change.

I attached a picture of the oscilloscope Display 

I can hear no noise at the speaker. Even at zero volume everything is fine.

problem is, that there is no schematic available for this Sonos Play 5.

The frequency is beyond anything humans can deal with. Are you using a 10x probe? If so, this could be 1.0V/cm.

I’ve not opened one of these units and can’t offer much more insight. 55°C is within the capacitors operating range, but I share your concern. Have you explored the main power supply? Electrolytics are not so good at absorbing high frequency junk.

That isn't ripple (50 / 60 Hz or the switching frequency of the supply) but noise, not likely from the power supply.

Very impressed to say the least!!!

You guys should go into business as a Sonos 3rd party repair option 😊

That might be a more tempting option if anyone has found a good way to make a decent profit on Sonos repairs.

Aside from possibly that one place in England somewhere has anyone heard of any?

There is an EU company.

My Sonos Play5 Gen1 gets hot in standby mode, and there's a background noise when I put my ear close to the speaker, just like when I first paused playback. Normally, the device enters deep standby mode after a few minutes of pause, and the back of the device doesn't get hot. If the back of the device gets hot when you touch it, then there's still a problem.

By the way, when I unplug and restart my overheating Play5, there's a loud popping sound after about ten seconds, followed by background noise. I think it's because the device isn't in deep standby mode, and the amplifier is constantly running, causing the capacitors to bulge and overheat.

Since the amplifier is not 100% efficient, warming of the rear cabinet is normal during music play. After the music stops or is muted for a while, power will be removed from the amplifier resulting in lower case temperature.

There is always some residual amplifier noise, even when there is no input. Typically, at the listening position residual noise is unnoticed because it is much less than room noise. Unfortunately, if the human notices the noise, it will never go away because the human obsesses.

Hi all,

i just saw in this Forum a post from user „JuSo“

he described the same behavior like i have.

unluckily he did not get any response to his post.

i contact him and hope he can give me the answer.

i will come back, with hopefully good News.

thanks to the Community for now😀👍🏻