In our continuing effort to bring you everything you need to troubleshoot & do your own autoclave repair, here is an unusual problem we encountered recently
Despite walking our client through the normal troubleshooting process, he was still unable to get his Statim 2000 to power up.
So, he took the lead and not only did he find the problem, he was able to fix it! And, he was kind enough to share his experience with us, which we are now sharing with you.
The Statim 2000 is Getting Power, but It’s Still Dead….Now What?
After tracing the power from the wall outlet following our “No Power Troubleshooting Guide” (Click Here to see the procedures), our client was able to determine power was flowing all the way to the PC Board
Now, I have to admit, when there is problem with the PC Board on an older Statim 2000 (which appeared to be the case here), we usually encourage people to either buy the Digital Electronics course and try to repair the board themselves (you can view the course offering by clicking here), or to replace the autoclave
But, the Dentist believed it had to be something simple, and he asked a patient of his (who is also a retired electrical engineer) to take a look a look at it.
Where Does It End?
The Electrician first retraced all of the steps we had given him, confirming that there was electricity present from the wall to the Terminal Block on the PC Board, where it simply stopped. There was not any power present anywhere on the board itself
Knowing the power was making it to the board, but not flowing on from there, they knew it had to be the power connections to the board. They placed a jumper wire on the power connections to bridge the connection and tried a cycle. The power came back on and it completed the cycle successfully
The Case of the Powerless Statim is Solved
So, they removed the board from the Statim & inspected the back of the board
Sure enough, they found a broken solder joint where the power lines connect to the board. So, the Dentist got his soldering gun and carefully put more solder in place. He then re-installed the board
Click Here For A Larger Image
After putting everything back together, he ran another test cycle. The power was restored, it completed the cycle, and now the Dentist’s Statim is once again sterilizing his instruments
Had he not taken the initiative, the Dentist would have ended up replacing the autoclave. Even if he sent it off for repair, most repair facilities would have stopped at the board, and not taken the extra step of removing and examining it. They would have simply recommended replacing the autoclave.
Lessons Learned From This True Story
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help (and that includes asking us!)
- Don’t give up easily. Use logic and your critical thinking skills (if this, then that) to think it through
After all, if the Statim 2000 Autoclave is destined to become a boat anchor anyway, what can you hurt?