Cut right through the cap. Remove all the pieces. Then solder a new one right to the face of the top board, or pull the leads out of the hole with an iron and tweezers.
To everyone. Had one in the wall and let flash always for weeks. Had a quick power outage and it worked again flawlessly. Something defiantly to do with the cap.
This video prompted me to take a look at my dead switch. Caps were fine, but the fuse had blown. It's a 500mA 250V slow blow axial fuse. 75c at Mouser.
I've repaired a bunch of these switches over the years myself using the same procedure. Didn't know that Jasco/GE had the extended warranty thing until I saw this video. All of mine are from 2014 era, so long since out of that extension. Just FYI, the dimmer version of these switches has a similar failure, with a similar fix, except that it's the two 220uF caps (C8 and C9) that die. Replace those and you're good. I've also had one of the relay switches fail due to the 220uF cap right next to the 10uF one fail. Of course if you're in there for that one, replace the 10uF one as well!
Thanks for the video! I have a bunch of GE ZW4003 (12727) switches which basically is the same as the switch in this video except it has a regular light switch instead of a rocker switch. All of mine failed the same way, they do not switch the load on, either via manually using the switch on the wall, nor via Z-Wave. There is no audible click at all. I thought the relays failed but after reading online about this known problem, I was lucky that the C7 10uf 25v capacitor was indeed the culprit. After removing the C7 cap I checked it with a meter and it reported 7.3 uf which was kind of surprising, I would have figured it to be much lower to cause the switch to totally fail but I guess the circuit they created is very sensitive. The new cap measured 10.4 uf. The old cap looked perfectly fine on the outside also, no bulging or venting. I didn't have a 25v cap around but I had a bunch of brand new 10uf 50v capacitors which fit and worked fine. The 50v cap is about twice as tall but it fit fine bc there is plenty of vertical space. It might be a smidge larger in diameter but it still fit no problem and was actually easier to hold in place while soldering bc it was taller. I had a hell of a time with the 6 pin connector but eventually all the heat from my solder iron allowed me the bend the circuit board just enough so I could access the capacitor solder points on the back side. So I ended up not even unsoldering the 6-pin connector. Also, the ZW4003 has an additional large solder post on the other end of the board so it doesn't flop around like the board in the switch in this video does. It appears this takes a lot of stress off that 6 pin connector by anchoring the other end of the board. That was easy to unsolder. I was very happy to get some broken switches back in service and it was very satisfying to fix myself. I do play around with electronics so I had all the tools already.
One point that I didn't hear you mention is that these capacitors are polarized. The replacement must go in with the same orientation as the original. Be sure that the stripe on the side of rhe capacitor points the same way.
Just to add, after another power failure 4 more switches died, some blinking, one completely dead, tried the fix on all of the and they all work for couple minutes, after that the relay will click randomly couple times and than will stop responding only the led turns on and off. Tried to replace the relay in one of them, no change. Changed all caps, no change. Every 10uF removed measured virtually the same 8440nF Vloss13% ESR 10 OHM if you disconnect the power to the switch, wait couple minutes it will again work for couple minutes and fail again ( you have to leave the switch on) In OFF state the failure does not happen until you energise the relay for the first time. Would love to hear your thought on this.
That's strange. Every one I have repaired has worked and still continues to work to this day. While I have more failures on every power outage, these are older switches I haven't repaired yet, I have had no repaired switch re-fail.
Well, unfortunately not working for me It starts working fine first couple minutes but after while starts randomly turning on a off again :( For good measure changed all the caps but no change.
The ZWave reset may also be up (on) 4 times and then down (off) 4 times fairly quickly. Wish I'd have found this video before throwing out the 4-5 of mine that went bad (esp. now they're getting $50 [!?!] a piece for them...)
Very good video. At 9:27 you are spot on...a hot air station is almost required. While I was able to do it with my Hakko iron and flux pen, it was very difficult and the traces were damaged but not severed. Did it work? Yes. Will I put this switch in service? No. Although probably on the low voltage signal side, I don't trust the damaged traces in my house wall. What hot air station are you using? Is the paste you are using flux paste or solder paste? Do you have links for the hot air station and flux? Thank you for a helpful video.
Hey David-What temperature do you run your soldering iron and what temperature do you use for your hot air station? I've ruined two switches already and need help.
What do you think of putting a 6 pin socket on the high voltage board where it connects to the low voltage board to make it easier to separate the boards for future repairs?
Hey David-I just ran into another problem. The problem is that my switch no longer has two pcb's, but only one. The remaining pcb seems to be both hv and radio wave. Do have any info on this type?.
I’m new to this so please be kind. Does anyone know the part number of the six pin bridge between the two boards? I broke a couple when trying to separate.
I tried this without a hot air station and messed up the pads. A hot air station or low melt solder is probably a good idea. I also really like the idea proposed by @tomsimbron609 which is to not separate the boards at all and just cut the old cap out and surface mount the new cap. Much easier that way. I have a broken one right now, will try this out.
Fix worked! The surface mount approach is so much easier. You don't even need to remove the board from the plastic shell. I did have trouble cutting away the old capacitor due to the limited amount of space in that area but I ended up rocking the capacitor back and forth until it broke off the board.
Cut right through the cap. Remove all the pieces. Then solder a new one right to the face of the top board, or pull the leads out of the hole with an iron and tweezers.
Good idea. I had thought about doing something like that.
To everyone. Had one in the wall and let flash always for weeks. Had a quick power outage and it worked again flawlessly. Something defiantly to do with the cap.
Great video and worked like a charm, thanks!
This video prompted me to take a look at my dead switch. Caps were fine, but the fuse had blown. It's a 500mA 250V slow blow axial fuse. 75c at Mouser.
Very well done, I can't say how many of these I have bought not knowing it was either in warranty or could be repaired . Thanks for doing this!
Thank you. I have 6 of these needing repair as well. I’m ordering the Capacitors now.
I've repaired a bunch of these switches over the years myself using the same procedure. Didn't know that Jasco/GE had the extended warranty thing until I saw this video. All of mine are from 2014 era, so long since out of that extension.
Just FYI, the dimmer version of these switches has a similar failure, with a similar fix, except that it's the two 220uF caps (C8 and C9) that die. Replace those and you're good. I've also had one of the relay switches fail due to the 220uF cap right next to the 10uF one fail. Of course if you're in there for that one, replace the 10uF one as well!
Thanks for the video! I have a bunch of GE ZW4003 (12727) switches which basically is the same as the switch in this video except it has a regular light switch instead of a rocker switch.
All of mine failed the same way, they do not switch the load on, either via manually using the switch on the wall, nor via Z-Wave. There is no audible click at all. I thought the relays failed but after reading online about this known problem, I was lucky that the C7 10uf 25v capacitor was indeed the culprit.
After removing the C7 cap I checked it with a meter and it reported 7.3 uf which was kind of surprising, I would have figured it to be much lower to cause the switch to totally fail but I guess the circuit they created is very sensitive. The new cap measured 10.4 uf. The old cap looked perfectly fine on the outside also, no bulging or venting.
I didn't have a 25v cap around but I had a bunch of brand new 10uf 50v capacitors which fit and worked fine. The 50v cap is about twice as tall but it fit fine bc there is plenty of vertical space. It might be a smidge larger in diameter but it still fit no problem and was actually easier to hold in place while soldering bc it was taller.
I had a hell of a time with the 6 pin connector but eventually all the heat from my solder iron allowed me the bend the circuit board just enough so I could access the capacitor solder points on the back side. So I ended up not even unsoldering the 6-pin connector. Also, the ZW4003 has an additional large solder post on the other end of the board so it doesn't flop around like the board in the switch in this video does. It appears this takes a lot of stress off that 6 pin connector by anchoring the other end of the board. That was easy to unsolder.
I was very happy to get some broken switches back in service and it was very satisfying to fix myself. I do play around with electronics so I had all the tools already.
One point that I didn't hear you mention is that these capacitors are polarized. The replacement must go in with the same orientation as the original. Be sure that the stripe on the side of rhe capacitor points the same way.
Nice detailed video, thank you. I have been collecting a pile of these switches too and was about to toss them in the trash.
Just to add, after another power failure 4 more switches died, some blinking, one completely dead, tried the fix on all of the and they all
work for couple minutes, after that the relay will click randomly couple times and than will stop responding only the led turns on and off.
Tried to replace the relay in one of them, no change. Changed all caps, no change.
Every 10uF removed measured virtually the same 8440nF Vloss13% ESR 10 OHM
if you disconnect the power to the switch, wait couple minutes it will again work for couple minutes and fail again ( you have to leave the switch on)
In OFF state the failure does not happen until you energise the relay for the first time.
Would love to hear your thought on this.
That's strange. Every one I have repaired has worked and still continues to work to this day. While I have more failures on every power outage, these are older switches I haven't repaired yet, I have had no repaired switch re-fail.
Well, unfortunately not working for me
It starts working fine first couple minutes but after while starts randomly turning on a off again :(
For good measure changed all the caps but no change.
The ZWave reset may also be up (on) 4 times and then down (off) 4 times fairly quickly. Wish I'd have found this video before throwing out the 4-5 of mine that went bad (esp. now they're getting $50 [!?!] a piece for them...)
Very good video. At 9:27 you are spot on...a hot air station is almost required. While I was able to do it with my Hakko iron and flux pen, it was very difficult and the traces were damaged but not severed. Did it work? Yes. Will I put this switch in service? No. Although probably on the low voltage signal side, I don't trust the damaged traces in my house wall. What hot air station are you using? Is the paste you are using flux paste or solder paste? Do you have links for the hot air station and flux? Thank you for a helpful video.
Thanks!
Hey David-What temperature do you run your soldering iron and what temperature do you use for your hot air station? I've ruined two switches already and need help.
What do you think of putting a 6 pin socket on the high voltage board where it connects to the low voltage board to make it easier to separate the boards for future repairs?
I wouldn't use a socket given the two boards aren't physically attached to one another using standoffs.
Hey David-I just ran into another problem. The problem is that my switch no longer has two pcb's, but only one. The remaining pcb seems to be both hv and radio wave. Do have any info on this type?.
Boss May i know the value of U1 and U2
David, my switch looks different… date code 1324. A few more caps to choose from. I have a photo. Is it C7? Thanks for your help! TP
Oh yes my model says ZW4001…
Also look for any caps that look bulged on the top, as they are certainly bad or soon to bad.,
I’m new to this so please be kind. Does anyone know the part number of the six pin bridge between the two boards? I broke a couple when trying to separate.
I would just use wire to rejoin
I tried this without a hot air station and messed up the pads. A hot air station or low melt solder is probably a good idea. I also really like the idea proposed by @tomsimbron609 which is to not separate the boards at all and just cut the old cap out and surface mount the new cap. Much easier that way. I have a broken one right now, will try this out.
That's exactly what happened to me before I had the hot air station
Fix worked! The surface mount approach is so much easier. You don't even need to remove the board from the plastic shell. I did have trouble cutting away the old capacitor due to the limited amount of space in that area but I ended up rocking the capacitor back and forth until it broke off the board.
Thanks!
Whats the appx temp to set for the hot-air gun ?
@@arjunprabhu I was running it at 760 degrees (F). Thanks!