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    #1

    Powerline Adapter Mods

    I didn't want to clutter up the other powerline thread, so I started this one.

    What we have here is a set of 4 Netgear Xe120 14 Mbit Powerline adapters:



    Two of them I recieved as a birthday gift 5.5 years ago; they were snared for cheap from a Circuit city that was going out of business. The other two were part of a recent shipment of freebies.

    One problem I noticed was that they like to overheat and quit working, even at idle. Well, I think I found a cheap and effective fix.

    first the guts:



    this was one of the two I bought brand new... all the caps are either UCC (no KZJ or the like) or nichicon PW. the other two had a mix of tailcon and ltec... . these are not easy ones to recap, since you have to desolder the wall connectors before you can remove the board; I have not recapped the other two...

    Back to the overheat. The culprit for the overheat:



    How to fix the issue:



    What I did was I took a stick-on vRAM heatsink and mounted it on the chip, which is the same package size. These heatsinks are part of an 8 piece zalman kit I bought for $10 at Fry's.

    After some testing, I found that they didn't get nearly as hot and they seemed reliable... the only issues I found were that DHCP can fail if:

    1. you connect the device to the adapter before you plug it in and then plug it in
    2. if you are using debian installer (I know, odd)

    Any Questions/comments?
    Attached Files
    Last edited by ratdude747; 01-24-2012, 02:26 AM.
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    #2
    Re: Powerline Adapter Mods

    hah awesome. I noticed it was one of those gpu vram heatsinks i've seen here and there

    I would still go with some low-esr caps, some of the power filtering might be causing the problems you've been having
    Cap Datasheet Depot: http://www.paullinebarger.net/DS/
    ^If you have datasheets not listed PM me

    Comment

      #3
      Re: Powerline Adapter Mods

      I would also drill a few small holes (even very small ones) on the sides of the plastic case and maybe 1-2 small holes above, for air circulation.
      That heatsink would have minimal effect, if there's no air circulating to dissipate some of the heat.

      Don't see any harm in doing that other than voiding warranty and maybe getting water in it (but then if you have so much water it gets inside you have more serious problems)

      Comment

        #4
        Re: Powerline Adapter Mods

        after 5.5 years? there is no warranty.

        you could try a bigger heatsink, take one off a northbridge. use some arctic silver adhesive.

        better yet--try to figure out where the power circuts can feed you a 12v line and cut a big hole in front, mount a small 12v fan and put the leads in there, blowing out, and put a big heatsink with holes in top, so it blows INTO on top, right into the heatsink, and out the front. then again, i'm on sleeping medication and havent been to sleep in 3 hours, so even though I think thats a cool idea right now, I'll probably look back at this when I wake up and realize how high I was
        Cap Datasheet Depot: http://www.paullinebarger.net/DS/
        ^If you have datasheets not listed PM me

        Comment

          #5
          Re: Powerline Adapter Mods

          Originally posted by Uranium-235 View Post
          better yet--try to figure out where the power circuts can feed you a 12v line and cut a big hole in front, mount a small 12v fan and put the leads in there
          tny264pn = Enhanced, Energy Efficient, Low Power Off-line Switcher ~ 5.8v 4-5.5w

          no 12v there... besides, the lid is kinda flat, no room for a 12v fan, and kinda pointless.

          Comment

            #6
            Re: Powerline Adapter Mods

            Originally posted by mariushm View Post
            I would also drill a few small holes (even very small ones) on the sides of the plastic case and maybe 1-2 small holes above, for air circulation.
            That heatsink would have minimal effect, if there's no air circulating to dissipate some of the heat.

            Don't see any harm in doing that other than voiding warranty and maybe getting water in it (but then if you have so much water it gets inside you have more serious problems)
            I was aiming to make it look stock... plus, the chimney effect will circulate it some.

            no warranty... I just like mods that are "invisible." You know, like a sleeper (vs a ricer).
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            Comment

              #7
              Re: Powerline Adapter Mods

              performing the first long-term-ish test... I have my new bench PC (poly'd Imac G5) connected to one... so far, the warmest it has gotten was equivalent to a wall wart... if it stays reliable, then I won't do anything further; if not, then it may be hole drilling time.
              sigpic

              (Insert witty quote here)

              Comment

                #8
                Re: Powerline Adapter Mods

                Good job. Hope it is still working.

                I did kinda the same thing with my 10/100/1000 switchbox. It would lock up every so often. I just used an infrared thermometer to find the hottest part. Only one hot part so I sinked that chip and made more vent holes. Now it runs happily 24/7.

                Comment

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