I managed to blow my Apogee MiniMe for the second time. I think I plugged the wrong power supply into the unit and heard a sizzle and a burning smell (never good with electronics).

Last time this happened, I sent the unit back to Apogee for repairs. $130 later I had a reconditioned MiniMe back … well, at least until I did it again.

So after almost 1.5 years later I was about to mail it off again, but had recently purchased a multi-meter trying to learn how to test components – no I didn’t get that far.

I purchased a Torx screwdriver and opened the MiniMe up. I’ve always been inquisitive about the insides of things so this process doesn’t bother or scare me at all. After complete disassemble I had the circuit board in my hands.

After about 6 weeks of having taken apart and trying to figure out what was busted, I decided to use my nose..

I could smell the general area where the damage was, so I started looking at the components in the area. I noted the components soldered through the board, and then started focusing on the surface mounted components. I noticed one such component which looked ‘replaced’ as well as the surrounding area to the connections.

After digging around online for an hour or so I figured out what part it was, and found some on eBay! Not one, but 25 of those suckers for $4 + $3 shipping! Hey what’s $7 compared to $130!

I heated up the soldering iron and went to work disconnecting the component. After re-soldering a new one back in it’s place, I checked to see if it had done anything. POWER!!! Plugged in an XLR microphone, and flicked on phantom power. BAM!!! Signal.. OMG fixed!

Total cost:

  • $0.07 – component
  • $6 Torx screwdriver

I have 24 more lives ready to go and knowledge of what to replace next time I blow it!

 

“A rectifier diode lets electrical current flow in only one direction and is mainly used for power supply operation. Rectifier diodes can handle higher current flow than regular diodes and are generally used in order to change alternating current into direct current. They are designed as discrete components or as integrated circuits and are usually fabricated from silicon and characterized by a fairly large P-N-junction surface. This results in high capacitance under reverse-bias conditions. In high-voltage supplies, two rectifier diodes or more may be connected in series in order to increase the peak-inverse-voltage (PIV) rating of the combination.”