[time-nuts] Z3816A Control and Cleaning

J. L. Trantham jltran at att.net
Fri Jan 24 12:12:39 EST 2014


Larry,

Thanks for the info.  What is 'RO'?  I am not familiar with that
abbreviation.

Joe

-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On
Behalf Of Larry McDavid
Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2014 10:34 PM
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Z3816A Control and Cleaning

I recommend against using tap water on any electronics. Use RO or distilled
water; that won't leave behind minerals when it evaporates.

Most IPA is only 70%; the balance is water. For flux removal, use 99% or
anhydrous IPA, available at most industrial hardware stores.

And, I surely would not use "soap" of any kind. You can use a detergent but
only a tiny amount is needed to reduce the surface tension. If you don't get
it all off by flushing, residue after evaporation of any surfactant is not
good...

Larry


On 1/23/2014 7:13 PM, paul swed wrote:
> Joe
> Been a while. Sounds like a reasonable approach with the soap and water.
> The key is not to force water into the inductors. I take soapy water 
> and a tooth brush it works wonders. Then dry in an oven at about 100 
> degrees just to drive off the moisture. Very gentle.
> I guess the other point is to get a better feel for the gunk. Does 
> soap and water do it. The fact that IPA didn't is interesting. It may be
oil based.
> Good luck
> Paul
> WB8TSL/1
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 9:41 PM, J. L. Trantham <jltran at att.net> wrote:
>
>> I recently acquired a Z3816A as a 'spare' and it does not work reliably.
>> The ALARM LED sometimes comes on and sometimes doesn't.  Sometimes it 
>> tracks and locks appropriately and other times it goes into HOLDOVER.  
>> The main PCB is very dirty and has the appearance that it has been in 
>> a humid and dusty environment.  I am suspicious that there are some 
>> 'leakage' issues related to this dirt and would like to wash the 
>> board.  What would the group recommend for cleaning the board?  I 
>> sprayed it with 91% IPA and used a paint brush to try to clean the 
>> board.  Some improvement but still dirty.
>>   I
>> was thinking of warm soapy water with a paint brush followed by warm 
>> water followed by 91% IPA followed by a hairdryer then an hour or two 
>> in an oven at about 100 to 150 degrees F.  Thoughts?  I'm a bit 
>> concerned about the inductors and the possibility of water leading to
problems with them.
>>
>>
>>
>> Also, I seem to recall a command that can be sent by SatStat to 
>> change from GPS time to UTC time but I can't find it in my files.  Is 
>> there such a command or am I hallucinating?
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>>
>>
>> Joe
>>
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--
Best wishes,

Larry McDavid W6FUB
Anaheim, California  (SE of Los Angeles, near Disneyland)
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