What causes power supply boards to sometimes fail?

[Joellandin]

My FM3 unit recently had an incident where it stopped working during a jam session. It wouldn’t turn on again. Fractal has fixed it and replaced the power supply board. They were very quick and helpful. My unit comes back home to me tomorrow. But I was just curious on why this happened. And if maybe I did something to it. I run the FM3 through the return on my Boss Katana 100s effects loop, due to not being able to invest in an FRFR speaker yet. Maybe too many things were plugged in? Not sure.

 

[Will Chen]

Only 2 things possible, just luck of the draw component failure or a surge burning something out. However, if the later it's near impossible it would be isolated to just the FM3. At a minimum, anything on the same circuit would experience the same surge and be damaged as well.

 

[wesleyamltd]

My FM3 Mark II turbo occasionally powers off but I believe it’s due to the IEC power supply, because it is slightly less snug when it happens.

I have to push the IEC in and then reset the power.

I’m not a fan because the IEC port doesn’t appear to have much room for failure.

How do I mitigate this problem?

 

[CK][]

My FM3 Mark II turbo occasionally powers off but I believe it’s due to the IEC power supply, because it is slightly less snug when it happens.

I have to push the IEC in and then reset the power.

I’m not a fan because the IEC port doesn’t appear to have much room for failure.

How do I mitigate this problem?

Try a different power cord. There are certain combinations of IEC sockets and plugs that just don't match well. At work we got new monitors and the supplied power cords only make a snug fit at the very last millimeter of travel. As soon as people move their monitors, problems arise and you have to give thr plug a push.

 

[wesleyamltd]

Try a different power cord. There are certain combinations of IEC sockets and plugs that just don't match well. At work we got new monitors and the supplied power cords only make a snug fit at the very last millimeter of travel. As soon as people move their monitors, problems arise and you have to give thr plug a push.

I’ll give it a shot, thanks.

 

[skolacki]

Try a different power cord. There are certain combinations of IEC sockets and plugs that just don't match well. At work we got new monitors and the supplied power cords only make a snug fit at the very last millimeter of travel. As soon as people move their monitors, problems arise and you have to give thr plug a push.

Yeah I’ve retired a few that just got too loose over the years.