Help replacing obsolete power supply

Pyrotech

Member
As an unintentional follow up to the 'Do you let inexperienced people use your light board' thread, our pastor recently allowed a community group to use our Fellowship Hall.

They were informed NOT to use the light board (an ETC Express 48/96) in the tech booth...

Later that day, I got a call from the pastor saying several of the lights were 'acting funny'. Which, when I got there, was because the board was completely non-functional (not sure how that happens if you don't fiddle with it, but I digress...). I had other commitments, so I killed power to the lights themselves to stop the flashing from no control signal and left.

Yesterday I had time to do more trouble shooting. Fuse was good, etc., etc. Then I unplugged the power supply cord (shakes head). For whatever unknown reason for whatever they were trying to do (with the light board they weren't supposed to be touching), someone apparently unplugged it and then apparently didn't spend much time trying to properly align the pins in the DIN connector before reinserting it.

Two of the five pins are severely bent. I am going to try to straighten them as best I can with needle nose pliers (unless anyone has a better suggestion on how to straighten the pins) but am assuming I will likely need a new PS.

Unfortunately, the ETA-USA Model DTA27-0512FWX-W-3-OC4-8 is listed as obsolete. I have found it on Digi-Key and other sites, but all show it as 'Out Of Stock'.

Does anyone have any sources that may carry one - or, failing that, has anyone opened the 'brick' of one before and is it possible to solder in a new DIN cable/connector?

Thanks!

PS: To answer the 'other' suggestion, yes, I am in the process of building a lockable cover for the lighting board to be installed once I have it functional again...
 
You can get mini-din 4 connectors pretty easily, and then cut off the damaged one and solder in your new one. It's rather tight quarters to assemble, but certainly doable by someone halfway skilled at soldering. The datasheet for the power supply gives the pinout of the plug: pins 1 and 2 are ground, pin 3 +5V, and pin 4 +12V. If it's actually a five-pin mini-din or other five-pin connector, you may have to ask ETC or look in your manual or something to get the proper pinout--and, of course, get the correct connector rather than the four-pin mini-din the power supply came from ETA-USA with.

It seems pretty silly to me to replace the whole power supply, maybe having to wire up a connector to a new power supply anyway, rather than simply replace the damaged connector on the perfectly good power supply. If you do replace the power supply, it's a pretty common sort of +5V/+12V supply; there are many available that have the appropriate voltages and adequate current ratings.
 
Thanks, yeah, I'm looking for connectors and/or cables to hopefully repair it, rather than spend the $$$ for a whole new unit.

Not the actual problem connector, but the same configuration that I'm dealing with. It's an 8 pin, with only 5 pins installed. Pins 8 (top row, far right) and 3 (center row, far left) are the ones that are bent. Pins 1, 2 and 5 aren't installed in the ETC connector.
 

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Good luck sourcing the PSU. They used to run about 135-85 bucks with a few weeks lead time preCOVID. Your best bet would be to change the din8 and then tar and feather the person than jammed it in wrong.
 
Good luck sourcing the PSU. They used to run about 135-85 bucks with a few weeks lead time preCOVID. Your best bet would be to change the din8 and then tar and feather the person than jammed it in wrong.
@Pyrotech You may want to check the open circuit / non loaded voltages of the supply with the damaged connector and confirm it's still putting out DC rather than AC before you replace its damaged connector.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
The power supply in question is currently stocked in the ETC parts store: https://shop.etcconnect.com/express-console-power-supply-8-pin/

Here is a thread on finding a less expensive replacement: https://www.controlbooth.com/threads/iso-etc-express-console-power-cord.48093/#post-424508

As mentioned, the cheapest approach is to replace the 8-pin mini DIN connector but will take some soldering skill.
Here is the Mouser listing (out of stock of course until late November!). NOTE: Also available on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/114974497439?hash=item1ac5039a9f:g:x9IAAOSwgrthNnh6
 

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