Play 3 Powersupply fault.


Userlevel 3
Hi,
My Play 3 died the other day and I am just outside my warrenty period 😞 I contacted sonos customer services who did not help me in the slightest. I have now looked at the power supply board and seen that the board around one of the input capacitor has burnt out and or the cap itself.

As customer services won't even sell me a new power board, does anyone have a circuit diagram for this board so i can attempt to repair it myself. ( I am competent with electronics).
P/N: RN-002657 (board number)
Date: 08-04-11

Also has anyone else experienced this fault. I am assuming a power surge has done this.

Many thanks

Jamietaylor13

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103 replies

Sadly I've replaced the capacitor but my circuit board is damaged and shorting, it's getting beyond my meagre skills to repair.
Hey guys did this fault cause the main RCD for you house to trip when it started
Yep FYI mine just blew and I have a cap blown and the track burnt after the bridge rectifier. It's the same board RN-002657 with a date of 08-04-11. Seems to be a common theme here now.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
I don't think 3-4 people make it a common theme.
I have the exact same problem. RN-002657. Date 08-04-11
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
5 year old unit, many things could contribute to a power issue.
Mine has a burn mark in exactly the same place as on the pictures. Must be just a coincidence we have the same board and symptom.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Most rarely happen. Don't know actual cause.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Most rarely happen. Don't know actual cause. Maybe that part is susceptible to power surges.
Mine has a burn mark in exactly the same place as on the pictures!!! It is not a coincidence We Have The Same board and symptoms !!! SONOS Should take responsibility for this before it happens a accident, a home burn down ...... In Sweden we have strictly laws about this and the the label can be prohibited to be sold! But there is no one who wants to know about the problem at SONOS in SWEDEN!
Very sad if it should happen an accident, before SONOS reacting. Especially when the products are so incredible in itself!
Hi All,

Bearing in mind only a few of us will take these units apart and then only a few of that number will take the time to come on here, I am certain this is a design fault with the Sonos 3.

I have the same board in my Sonos 3 P/N: RN-002657
Capacitor C306 has blown exactly as others have experienced and destroyed part of the circuit board, due to over heating.

As an electronics engineer of some 45 years standing I can confirm there is something very wrong with this product and Sonos should be dealing with it and accepting the fault.

I will attempt a repair but think the circuit board may be too far gone. We shall see.

Best regards


Chris
Mine blew yesterday. Guess what;
RN-002657
Date: 08-04-11

I don't think 3-4 people make it a common theme.
Are you sure about those numbers. We might get more and more people replying to this thread every day.

jamietaylor13,

First post! Welcome to the forums.

SONOS does not support DIY service in any way. I know that this policy chaffs some, but it probably eliminates some legal risk and saves a lot of time supporting DIY's of various skill levels. SONOS is not unique for establishing this policy.

Burnt traces and capacitors are usually the victim of a larger drama.

Hi my sonos 3 fell and the transformer on the power board snapped off the base, do you know of a replacement transformer I can use?
Thank you.
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Hi everyone, interesting discussion but I want to make sure that anyone who gets to this thread knows not to open your Sonos products if you're looking to do any sort of replacement or repair with us.

Sonos products are not designed to be opened and repaired out in the world, and we do not provide any resources or replacement components for doing this. The warranty services for Sonos components also does not cover units that have been opened in any way.

Even if your player is outside the standard warranty time, we can probably still assist with a replacement as long as it hasn't been opened. There will likely be a fee for the replacement if it's out of warranty.

Anytime a unit fails, we want them to come back to us when possible so that we can review what happened and make adjustments if there's need.

If you have a PLAY:3 that's not powering up, or think there's any other hardware issue for that matter, feel free to give us a call on our support line before trying to open it up.

Thanks!
Same issue: dead PLAY:3 and scorched PCB trace between the bridge rectifier and C306.

Thanks to mave64 for sharing their troubleshooting procedure - remove C306 and add a jumper from the + lead of C319 to the + terminal of the bridge rectifier to bypass the blown PCB trace. I was then able to measure ~5V on the supply output and verify that everything else was working. After replacing all three filter caps, my PLAY:3 is up and running again!

Also thanks to Sonos for hosting this forum and keeping this thread around. They're not the only equipment manufacturer to be bitten by a bad batch of electrolytics (that failed 6 years down the road).
Userlevel 1
Me too, same BS with the same capacitor blown. Its on a Trip-lite surge protector that runs my wifes MAC and printer. I have 2 PLAY 3s getting up around 5 years old. Thanks for the great write up... I talk Sonos up to all my buddies and I have to say this is disappointing. My flipping OG xbox got the red ring 3 times, thing was 8 years past its "Warranty" - MS sent me a box that i used a few times and repaired it free of charge and shipping... So even though i wanted to switch back to Playstation - I did finally upgrade to the Xbox_One... Very disappointing that Sonos cant stand behind the product! Really makes me consider another option instead of continue to add speakers that last 5 years.

Just in-case you are smarter than me- hear is the patent, maybe we can add a flexcapacitor to smooth out the power supply switch fault

http://patents.justia.com/patent/8867761

To facilitate the description of the present invention, FIG. 3A shows one embodiment 300 employing two power supplies 302 and 304 alternatively to energize an amplifier 308. The power supply 302 is designed to have a voltage 14V, and the power supply 304 is designed to have a voltage 36V. In operation, when the power supply 304 is turned off, a diode 306 is on, thus the power supply 302 is applied to the amplifier 308. When the power supply 304 is turned on, the diode 306 is off, thus the power supply 304 is applied to the amplifier 308. It should be noted that the use of the diode 306 is one of the exemplary switch mechanisms that may be controlled to switch between two power supplies. Other examples of the switch mechanisms may include, but not be limited to, a solid-state switch and a mechanical switch.
Userlevel 1
Most rarely happen. Don't know actual cause. Maybe that part is susceptible to power surges.
8===} Seagul !
What's it take- Cool I know how to fix them now! Maybe I can score a few "non-functioning units" and outfit every room .
Shame Shame - if you search you will notice the "no power phenomenon is not restricted to just the sonos play 3... I did notice the play 1 had a different diode - but that one failed as well and had the same burn marks- I referred them to this splendid post!
Sonos Step up and earn my respect back! I'm pissed I won't be able to continue backing your product. I'm sure you have this powersupplies ready to go! You (sonos) should be looking at this as an optotunity to solidify your reputation and build loyalty!

Shame shame Shame

Take that Chris from Virginia

Good luck To all, waiting on Sonos to step-up

Cliff
Same thing happened to me. The C306 is fried:

RN-002657
Date: 08-04-11

Great to read that it may be possible to fix it by replacing the capacitors. I am not an electronics expert but I know how to do basic soldering. Could you please recommend some good replacement parts to get? eg. from RS:

@sonos I know you don't recommend opening the Play 3 but it is 5 years old and you will not replace it anyway. My only alternative is to throw it out and buy a new one so I might as well try to fix it first....

Thanks in advance
Userlevel 1
Same thing happened to me. The C306 is fried:

RN-002657
Date: 08-04-11

Great to read that it may be possible to fix it by replacing the capacitors. I am not an electronics expert but I know how to do basic soldering. Could you please recommend some good replacement parts to get? eg. from RS:

@sonos I know you don't recommend opening the Play 3 but it is 5 years old and you will not replace it anyway. My only alternative is to throw it out and buy a new one so I might as well try to fix it first....

Thanks in advance
Userlevel 1
well after being quoted a large amount just to look at it (out of warranty) I have opened up and checked. I am very competent with electronics and repair although the more modern the electronics the more tricky this can be. The exact same capacitor blew on mine C306 , same burn marks everything. It has burnt it's way through the board too so I'm sorry there is a definitive risk of fire hazard there. Considering we're advised to leave the devices running in the manual I don't think this can be right. Even if it's a bad batch with the same capacitors used. My part number for the PSU is RN-002657 Dated 08-04-11. I will be checking my second Play:3 to see if I can prevent the issue there.
Yes, shouldn't Sonos provide this service - Don't care what the warranty says, if I wanted to build a solid customer base I would resolve the quality or design failure and replace them -free of charge and shipping. They clearly know they have a problem and are not providing the needed service, I am so disappointed in Sonos Support and understand why they are struggling with the added competition in the wireless speaker market.
From all the images of burn out on the power switching pcb, it seems like an overheating issue. Maybe due to the vibration reduction glue creeping down onto the contacts, resulting in PCB trace shorts-
A good company that is in it for the long hall would replace these power supplies free of charge with new designed power supplies.
Hi all.
I too have a faulty Play:3. No power. But my caps are fine. I will replace the switch-IC (FSQ0765R). But if that fails i will try with another powerunit. Do anyone know what voltage the unit puts out?
Best rgds
Same problem here.
P/N: RN 002657
Date: 08-04-11

Judging from the board, would it work if I replace the burned capacitor?
Well what do you know, same problem here and same board. This is NOT a coincidence as someone said earlier! This is a design flaw and SONOS knows about this.

P/N: RN-002657 (board number)
Date: 08-04-11

I have unsoldered the three 33uf caps and the fuse (tested with an ohm meter and its dead) I hope that it works after replacing these, the burnt track will be replaced by a 14awg cable. I hope the rectifier is ok otherwise I just replace that also. I have cleaned the board with a toothbrush and alcohol.. Ill get back to you with the results. Funny thing is that I havent used that Play 3 so much but when it broke I played it quite loud. The circuit board track wasnt sufficient for the amps going through I guess? It would be fun to see a newer board and compare the design..
Hi I just had the same problem, my play 3 with same board number just went off last weekend. The play 3 was one of the fist to hit the market and had the same board as yours. What happened to the board was a good question the ESR of the caps was out of specs for all three c306 was the worst with 2,8 ohms and had leaked, but it was not the only one the capacity was either the way still within specs. I would recommend that you replace all thee with some quality Japanese caps as Panasonic as I have bought the pay are long life high ripple and have an ESR of less than 1/4 of a the jackcons. I did as well incremeted the capacity to 46uF http://www.jackcon.com.tw/admin/uploads/LPS%20Low-Impedance%20&%20Long%20Life%20105°C%203000-10000%20Hrs.pdf
If anyone is interested I bought this 3 pack for 2.99$ inc shipping:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3pcs-33uF-400V-16x31-5mm-Nichicon-VZ-wide-temperature-range-Capacitor-/252457991196?hash=item3ac7ab3c1c

And they have been working fine for a few months now.