TP-Link TP-W8960N ADSL Router repair

Electron1

Electron1

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My TP-Link TP-W8960N was hit by lightning. I was on the net at the time, and it seemed that the lightning was not close (normally I would unplug the ADSL line in a storm - Murphy's law). A good bang from the router and the lights tripped. Router and it's power supply were blown. Fortunately the PC's ethernet port was fine, and this got me thinking that maybe the Router could be repaired.

I opened it up, removed 2 screws under the feet caps, and carefully pried the top cover off. No visible damage to the components on the board. Tested and found 2 surface mount fuses blown labelled L11 and L12. I soldered a blob of solder over each blown fuse (see pics) and the router works perfectly!

Interesting thing is that it is sensitive to input voltage. One spare power supply gives 12.09V which is too little for the router as it just flashes it's led's. It works fine with a power supply voltage of 12.17V.

Pic of the repaired board below:
8960 fuses web.jpg
 
Never simply bridge fuses, allways replace them with the same rated fuse, you can get them from RS.co.za ,with bridge fuses the next time lightning strikes not only is your modem a dead, but everything els that connected to it.
 
Thanks for the advice, this was done last night just to see if I could get it going. I will replace the fuses, just need to find out how do I find the rating?
Also I think I was lucky as the surge must have traveled down the line from a distance away. A bigger surge would have taken out the modem and everything connected to it anyway.
 
Electron1 said:
Tested and found 2 surface mount fuses blown labelled L11 and L12. I soldered a blob of solder over each blown fuse (see pics) and the router works perfectly!
Click to expand...
It could be chokes and during production replaced by 0Ohms resistors (cost saving). These resistors (or fuses) do not protect against lightning strike, as they blow too slow. It means you are lucky that surge went equally on both + and - inputs. Differential surge would destroy device, common surge put at stress anything connected to it. You might find which device received a hit after next couple of months...
Also I think you don't have to look for fuses replacement. Not critical, your charger has overcurrent protection.
 
Hi There,
Well done on the repair and it seems you were lucky.
I would suggest that maybe this modem becomes a spare in a few months after you replace it with a new one.

And yes I think you were very lucky a bigger strike could have done more damage.

Regards

Tim
 
I unsoldered the old fuses, but there are no markings. Even tried with a magnifying glass.
Just resoldered a blob over the tracks and closed it up now.

Will rely on a surge protector for line and mains from now on.

Thanks Tim for the suggestion, I'll see how it goes.
 
Electron1 said:
Just resoldered a blob over the tracks and closed it up now.
Click to expand...
Even a 1 amp fuse is a massive increase in protection of human life.

Meanwhile damage was because a surge was all but invited to hunt for earth destructively inside the building. Surge protectors do not do the protection. Earth ground averts damage. You had damage on a path that was incoming on one wire (ie AC electric) and was outgoing on another wire (ie telephone wire).

Direct lightning strikes without damage was posted here entitled "DSL Lightning Protector".
 
westom said:
Even a 1 amp fuse is a massive increase in protection of human life.
Click to expand...
If you mean human body protection, 1A is far to much. Check your in house leakage protector unit and its rating.
 
sajunky said:
If you mean human body protection, 1A is far to much.
Click to expand...
The fuses do nothing for leakage. Fuses do today what they were designed to do when Thomas Edison patented it. Fuses disconnect damaged electronics so that a fire does not result.
 
westom said:
The fuses do nothing for leakage. Fuses do today what they were designed to do when Thomas Edison patented it. Fuses disconnect damaged electronics so that a fire does not result.
Click to expand...
Do you still talk about human body protection? I wonder...
 
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