Tektronix 2445 repair. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: Kibi
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 19, 2014, 09:51:03 pm
content: A couple of weeks ago I demonstrated how I repaired a 2445A that I had found. At the same time I also got hold of a 2445 which is the older brother of the 2445A. This one also includes option 5 (TV triggering) because it is from a television station.This 2445 powers up, but although there is a beam it is horribly scattered. The entire screen lights up dimly but it does respond to the intensity control. When I took the back off of it my heart sank when I discovered that the fan impeller would not turn indicating that the motor had seized. Unlike the 2445A, the 2445 does not employ a "PC" type fan. It uses a special type of brushless motor with hall effect sensors in it. The fan motor secured along with the capacitors on the power supply.I got the fan assembly out.I then removed the motor and dismantled it.Unfortunately, the shaft cannot be removed without unwinding the coils. I could have done it, but I knew of an easier way. Earlier in the week on my travels I had rememberd seeing a Tektronix 475 which seemingly had suffered a face plant at some point.These use the same motor, so as this unit seemed to be loosing parts day by day, I revisited its last known location to see if the motor was still inside. I was lucky, it was still where I had last seen it and the fan motor was still inside.So out it came.Back home again, I soldered the 475's motor in, but it would not turn. It transpired that the transistor array which is actually an MPQ2222 had one of it's transistors with an open junction and the 2N2907 can was also open circuit. the MPQ2222 had got really hot in its lifetime, probably more recently due to trying to turn a stalled motor. The heat had affected the PCB badly and although I was careful, I still lifted some tracks getting it out.I replaced the 2N2907 with it's plastic counterpart and the MPQ2222 just got substituted with four PN2222's.Once this was done the fan started turning.Next, whilst the power supply was out I inspected the capacitors. One of the input filter capacitors did not look too great, so it and it's brother were replaced.I then swapped out all of the output capacitors. I already had these capacitors in stock from the 2445A repair.I put the oscilloscope all back together again with only a feint hope that it would work.Alas, as I kind of expected the problem was still present. The screen was still lighting up all over but no visible trace. On the bright side, at least the fan was turning!Fearing the worst I headed straight for the horizontal section. I set up the 2445A (which I still hadn't put back together at this time) with the same input signal to use as a reference when making measurements.I could measure the horizontal signals all the way up to the ubiquitous U800 horizontal amplifier. The U800 drives the horizontal plates directly and one plate had no signal and the other had a signal but it was clipping and riding at about 40V instead of about 25V.This is the very reason my heart sank when I first discovered that the fan had been stationary. The U800 is usually the first to "do one" when the ambient temperature gets too high.To prove my findings, I disconnected the horizontal plates and just let them flap about in the breeze to see if I could get the beam to strike the phosphor.Success! We can now see the beam displaying the input signal from the generator only without any horizontal deflection of course.Even the menus appear to work!Here the 2445A is displaying the same signal as the 2445 is but with horizontal deflection (and some attenuation dialled in on it's V/Div selector).The 2445 is displaying the voltage pretty accurately though which is good I suppose.Now I have to go off and find a replacement for U800. This will not be easy unless I can find another 24xx 'scope to pull it from.On my travels some time ago I did see a smashed 2465 lying around somewhere but it has since disappeared unfortunately. I shall have to keep my eyes peeled and perhaps explore a bit harder to find one.

author: electronics man
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2014, 09:58:24 pm
content: Thanks for that Great repair.

author: grumpydoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2014, 10:21:14 pm
content: Nice work - when you've got these 'scopes out on the bench the usual advice is to make sure you have a fan directed at the hybrids to make sure they don't overheat.qservice.tv claims to have a U800 in stock, although they want $139 for it.There's a whole main board listed on ebay including the hybrids. Again not cheap - £135 (inc postage)Good hint about the fan, didn't know that.

author: Kibi
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 19, 2014, 10:40:55 pm
content: Quote from: grumpydoc on January 19, 2014, 10:21:14 pmThank you for the advice.If that smashed 2465 was still around I would have had the A1 board out of it. I'd also have had to repair it's front control panel and use that with the A1 board to turn my 2445 into a 2465.I will also keep an eye on eBay for something more reasonably priced. It may be worth paying a bit more for parts if it means a bandwidth upgrade although a higher bandwidth control panel on eBay is unlikely to include TV triggering, so I would loose that. All swings and roundabouts at the end of the day.

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2014, 03:02:54 am
content: About the U800 replacement, if you feel adventurous and in the mood of diy ->Tektronix 2465/2467 series U800 IC replacement design

author: Kibi
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 20, 2014, 10:01:19 pm
content: Quote from: BravoV on January 20, 2014, 03:02:54 amThanks for the link. I may well have to build one of those if an original doesn't show up.

author: sync
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2014, 10:23:20 pm
content: Found this on Ebay:eBay auction: #400649513877. Maybe this is interesting for you.PS: I don't know the seller.

author: Kibi
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 20, 2014, 10:36:56 pm
content: Quote from: sync on January 20, 2014, 10:23:20 pmThank you very much. That is now on my watch list.He says that he's not sure if it is working or not, but it's well worth a bid if the price is low.

author: Kibi
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 21, 2014, 06:30:35 pm
content: Some say that good things come to those who wait. Well, we have a junk room similar to what Dave has in his office block only it is much bigger. Like Dave, I keep checking this room at regular intervals just in case something tasty shows up. Earlier this week a beat up 2445A showed up in the junk room.It had no outer casing and it did not show any signs of life when plugged in. It did however have the ubiquitous U800 present on it's main board.I thought it would be well worth taking a chance that this chip was still singing and dancing.I got the A1 board out without much hassle and got it on the bench to commence works.The delay line needs to be removed in order to access the underside of the board where U800 lives.I spent as much time as I liked clearing all the holes so that the device would come out with minimum force.I then repeated the procedure on the donee 2445 oscilloscope, soldered the "new" U800 chip in and re-assembled.Much to my delight, preliminary checks prove that it works!Here it assumes it's rightful place on my bench. I can't really find much wrong with it's accuracy. It's missing a knob which I will be able to replace easily.My next oscilloscope project will be getting a 465B up and running.

author: w2aew
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2014, 09:16:28 pm
content: sweet! Maybe the old one also has the missing Scale Illumination control knob too! Nice to have a carcass to cannibalize for parts!

author: grumpydoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2014, 09:21:43 pm
content: QuoteNot clear it has the knobs under the CRT but the trigger/position knobs are the same IIRCActually I wouldn't mind buying one or two - PM me with a price if you're interested in sharing your junk room find.

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 22, 2014, 12:01:45 am
content: good repair, enjoy the scope.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2014, 09:36:11 am
content: Congratulations for a great repair thread, mint photos and dialogue and most of all the successful outcome. And a parts donor for the future. Nice.

author: Kibi
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 22, 2014, 05:59:20 pm
content: That 2445A 'scope will be nothing but a box of parts once I am done with it.As far as I remember, all of the knobs were present when I found the instrument. The CRT control knobs need to be removed in order to get the front bezel off.

author: grumpydoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2022, 11:04:17 pm
content: OK Hi folksYes this is a*very*old threadI'm in the middle of trying to rescue a 2445 that definitely has PSU problems and probably has U800 problems and I happened upon this old thread (last post 2014).All fairly normal so far, but the odd thing is that I can't see the photos. I remember the thread from way back and definitely *could* see the photos at the time.That does happen when people have used hosting services which go offline or decide to start charging but Kibi seems to have hosted them himself - if I look at the HTML source for the page I can see the links, and it looks like they are self-hosted - here's the first pic of the fan motor assembly:http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Tek2445/IMG_2543.JPGBut I don't see them inline in the post.Does anyone else see them?Interestingly if I try to add them to *this* post they don't show up eitherAnybody seen anything similar on other posts.Is Kibi still around?