Generic RGBW par problem.

I have a generic rgbw par 64 that started out functioning just fine. After a few shows the white leds quit working in dmx mode. They would work in other modes properly but everytime I put it back in dmx, nothing. Yesterday, I turned it on and now the whites are staying on and I have no control over them. All other colors work fine. I patched it straight in the console and same thing, I tried to readdress it but nothing is helping.

Has anyone had a similar problem?
 
Sounds like the main driver board has an issue.

If it's not under warranty crack it open and see if anything needs to be resoldered.

This is one of those cases where you get what you pay for and always buy extras to swap when something like this happens.
 
Well that is good news for you. Crack 2 open at the same time so you can compare and contrast.
 
This seems like an excellent time for my favorite reminder:

$16,000 HP servers are manufactured by Foxconn... in China.

So are $1,000 iPhones.

China will build anything you want, to any price point you ask for. If that price point gets below a certain level, things will start to go to hell, with the MTBF trending semi-proportionally down past "ship to customer" time. :)
 
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Couldn't find any loose solder joints?
 
Sometimes it doesn't look like it's broken. So once you do get it apart find the led driver board and start with just heating up joints and working systematically from one direction.
 
So, I finally had a chance to take it apart. Here are some pictures. Everything looks solid. Maybe someone will see something I don't.
 

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Looks good.

So if you are willing to do some resoldering.

You can take those 4 wires in 696 and swap the white one around. Then plug it in and run it and see if everything works. If it does then you know the reflow of those joints were the issues. That would be the most ideal.

If the new color works like the white used to then you need to trace the wire to the next place is goes. Which looks like 690 to that clip. Which could have a faulty pin on the white(not likely but worth pulling and wiggling ) Follow the white path down to the second board underneath the main PCB. Reflowing everthing in its path.

That's as far as I can go with advice. I'm not a component expert. I hope this helps.
 
Looks good.

So if you are willing to do some resoldering.

You can take those 4 wires in 696 and swap the white one around. Then plug it in and run it and see if everything works. If it does then you know the reflow of those joints were the issues. That would be the most ideal.

If the new color works like the white used to then you need to trace the wire to the next place is goes. Which looks like 690 to that clip. Which could have a faulty pin on the white(not likely but worth pulling and wiggling ) Follow the white path down to the second board underneath the main PCB. Reflowing everthing in its path.

That's as far as I can go with advice. I'm not a component expert. I hope this helps.
Thanks, I'll give that a try
 
I got the U1 cleaned up but it didn't help then I noticed this. Looks like a pretty bad solder job compared to the rest.
From the picture it looks like it's been re-worked before but it doesn't look shorted or "cold". You may need to start swapping wires as Amiers suggested if simply reflowing anything suspicious doesn't solve the problem.
 

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