Dear AMMRLers:
Many thanks to everyone who responded. All of the suggestions and
comments were interesting and useful. Several others have had trouble
finding these power supplies. Several people suggested solutions,
ranging from repairing the existing power supplies to buying new power
supplies and wiring them in myself. I also got a response from a vendor
(NMR Associates), saying that they have these power supplies in stock.
Overall, my feeling is that it will always be possible to find power
supplies, but it will become more difficult, and Bruker will probably
not be able to support this generation of instrument for too much longer.
Here is the original post:
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Hi everybody,
It seems that Bruker is running low on power supplies for DRX AQX racks.
The last two times I've had to replace a "12 amp" power supply, Bruker
has been (initially) unable to locate one. In both cases, they had the
entire "power sled" in stock (it has a 5 volt PS, a 12 amp PS, and the
power supervisor board), but no 12 amp PS alone. Allen Wan told me that
these power supplies are no longer manufactured, and that they don't
know of any others that match all the specifications (size and shape as
well as current and voltage, etc), and that even the eompany that
repairs these for Bruker is running out of parts. I'm getting worried
that soon Bruker won't be able to support DRX systems.
Has anyone else run into this problem? Does anyone know if there are
other power supplies out there somewhere that can be used in the AQX
rack? The power supply in question is made by TDK-Lambda. On the power
supply is written:
Omega
MML 400
COUTANT LAMBDA
and it's part number E25372.
Thanks in advance.
-Robert
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And here are all of the replies:
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For reference, in case any of you are having overheating of this AQX
rack power supply, I have just found and repaired such a problem. The
supply kept overheating after several hours of use. Upon removal and
inspection, I found that the output terminals on the large supply were
not torqued tightly. The wires are very large, and the tight wire bends
were keeping the nuts from being easily tightened. I suspect this is a
common problem in this rack, so the output terminal tightness is worth
checking if you have any problems in the AQX power supply.
Cheers, -Hirsch
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We recently replaced one of these. We ordered the "power sled" from
Bruker and what was sent was instead an alternate power supply that
matched the electrical, but not physical, specs of the original. The
replacement was not too difficult -- we drilled some new holes in the
existing "power sled" to mount the new power supply.
You can also get these power supplies off of ebay. Unfortunately it is a
modular power supply, with many different modules available. Finding the
exact same modules is difficult, although you can mix and match.
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We have worked on the power supply ourselves. See the forwarded email
from our electronics person.
We had to swap out the entire MML power supply. The new modular
power supply we used was the Xgen by Excelsys. They can be ordered from
Digikey.com.
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We (at University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus) had that problem.
In our case was a DRX-500 and a DPX-300. The power supplies for both
instruments looks alike but are not the same. In the case of the DRX-500
we got a repaired one. It was working, but we had to turn OFF the
console because our 500 magnet suffered a quench like two months ago.
With respect to the power supply of the DPX we received two repaired
ones but both failed. In the meantime, an engineer from Bruker that was
helping us, found a new version of the power supply for the DPX (please
see the attachment), and ordered it for us. It was installed and it is
working fine (we installed it like two to three weeks ago).
My question is if that upgrade was possible for the DPX, why not for the
DRX series?
Soon I will ask to my friends in Bruker about it.
If you get a any info about alternatives to the DRX let me know.
(and in a second email):
Robert, I forgot to mention that the power supplies for the DRX series
were discontinued in 2002 (see attachments).
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maybe
http://www.acsindustrial.com/repair-catalog/item-16240.html
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I have not had problems with the AQX powersupply, but I had trouble
getting a power safety box replaced, and ended up with a workaround
fix from a third party vendor. In that case it was even hard to get
trouble shooting assistance from Bruker, which confirms that it will
get harder and harder to support DRX/DPX style instruments.
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Hi Dr. Paterson,
We do have these power supplies in stock.
Although they are in most cases used.
I do belive we have an ample supply feel free to notify anyone who asks.
We do offer the exchange power supply for $ 1,730 on the sled ready to
install.
According to our pricing information this is the same price as Bruker.
Please advise if you would like a formal quotation.
OK, all the best
Arnold Itkin
*NMR Associates Inc.
Professional NMR Products and Services
*150 River Street
Fitchburg MA 01420
TEL: 978.852.8316
FAX: 978.665.9090
*email: info_at_nmr-associates.com
* www.nmr-associates.com <
http://www.nmr-associates.com/>
(incidentally - you'd think he would've been more careful to spell my
name right. -Robert)
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A simple solution might be is to just buy an appropriate power supply
and enclosure (box) and then run a cable to where the voltage is needed.
We did this for our BLT – the capacitors on the bottom of the little
control cards in the BLT power supply have a tendency to fry. Instead of
replacing these every couple of years, we bought a brand new power
supply and stuck it in a box and then ran a cable. It was much cheaper
than swapping with Bruker.
I do not know if it would be as easy with the AQX rack though. I have
not tried it ... yet.
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A common failure in these supplies is the fan. It can be replaced,
although it is a bit of a bear to get at. It is a standard 12V fan that
can be obtained from electronic suppliers. I've had to replace them in
two systems.
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I am going to suggest an untidy solution. Find the specs and then find
another power supply with at least those specs, and then hot wire it in.
The only bad thing is that it won't be part of the sled. Then it
probably sits on top of the console (the untidy part). There is also the
matter of interfacing it with the power supervisor board.
I don't know that I would want to do that, but it may come to that.
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Thanks again to everyone!
-Robert
--
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Robert Peterson, Ph.D.
Facility Manager - NMR Technology Center
UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics
UCLA Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry
phone: (310)825-1816
fax: (310)825-0982
peterson_at_mbi.ucla.edu
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Received on Fri May 27 2011 - 09:00:27 MST