On 11/23/2013 10:44 AM, Danny D'Amico wrote:
On Fri, 22 Nov 2013 21:19:06 -0600, The Daring Dufas wrote:

The link is to the newer transformers which have PTC "Positive
Temperature Coefficient" fuses.

Ah. I see. Mine is at least ten (maybe twenty?) years older.

The old transformer you have has a short piece of tiny wire attached
in series to the secondary winding of the transformer

That would explain why it blew once, and then died.
I did smell burnt plastic; but the garage doors were open so it
dissipated too quickly for me to identify from where. It was only
a while later, after testing it, that I realized the power
transformer had blown.

I believe the blue electrolytic capacitor is defective and the module
may not work. It could have presented a short circuit to the power
transformer which popped the fusible link.

I guess the good news is that the newer transformer will survive that,
if when I put it in, that's the case of the shorted power circuit.


That module attached between the battery and the panel is a battery
saver module. The panel will work without it and I believe it's shorted
out and is what blew the transformer. If you or one of your friends can
repair circuit boards, get him/her/it to take a look at it because it's
a fairly simple circuit. I would remove the module and hook the panel's
power leads directly to the battery. Hopefully, the battery charging
circuit on the panel's circuit board is not damaged. ^_^

TDD