[LAU] Audio interface for newbies ?

[Fernando Lopez-Lezcano]

On 08/27/2016 12:44 AM, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
> On Fri, 26 Aug 2016 20:08:54 -0700 (PDT), Len Ovens wrote:
>> On Sat, 27 Aug 2016, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
>>
>>> On Fri, 26 Aug 2016 17:51:25 -0400, jonetsu at teksavvy.com wrote:
>>>> On Fri, 26 Aug 2016 22:50:27 +0200 Ralf Mardorf wrote:
>>>>> Why isn't it happening all the times, if the capacitors are dried
>>>>> out?
>>>> There would be a transition time I think.
>>>
>>> This could be possible.
>>>
>>> If they are dried out, then capacitance got lost. If the the oxide
>>> coating is broken, they short.
>>>
>>> What is a capacitor used for, that could cause delayed trouble, if
>>> it's broken, instead of causing the trouble all the times?
>>>
>>> IIUC you hear the crackling only, if there is an audio signal,
>>> there's no crackling, without an audio signal.
>>
>> This page indicates that the power supply caps.... well the whole
>> power supply, is less than adequate already.
>
> Again guessing. This card is not an amplifier that requires a big
> reliable power supply, neither it's comparable to a CRT, that has got a
> high power consumption.
>
> I do not own this card,

Hi Ralf,

We do own several of these cards but don't use them anymore. The 1010 
card was the first magically affordable 8 channel solution for our 
needs. There was even a smaller box that could intercept the digital 
signals and provided digital multichannel connections. We still have 
them around lying in plastic bins (some were recycled). Such a shame.

For old timers in this list the power supply issue on the 1010 is well 
known. The voltage doubler (or quadrupler?, I forget) capacitors in the 
power supply blow up after a while due to bad design. The 5V rail is 
still there but the analog voltages go down or disappear, so the card 
still "works" but all audio is gone or badly distorted. Replacing the 
capacitors fixes everything (visual inspection can easily reveal if that 
is the problem).

-- Fernando



>so I ask questions to perhaps provide more than
> just guessing. I didn't find a circuit layout, but already tried to
> read on a photo what is printed on the large TO-220 package component.
>
> I didn't find a photo where I could read what's printed on it, but
> while searching such a photo, I found this
>
> https://offog.org/notes/delta-1010lt-repair/
>
> So the two capacitors close to the large TO-220 package component are
> reservoir capacitors. Note, my PCI Envy24 cards have a voltage
> regulator were the delta seems to have one, too. At the further end of
> the large TO-220 package component, there are two small capacitors and
> something that looks like a miniature edition of a TO-220 package. On my
> cards it's a 1117 voltage regulator.
>
> However, assuming that the provided power by the computer's power
> supply should be too fluctuating, to feat the stabilisation of the
> delta, I would suspect more dramatic effects. If the stabilisation
> should be the reason for the issue, then I would expect broken
> capacitors on the audio card.