1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Combination meter capacitor

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Mebeksis, Aug 4, 2018.

  1. VFerdman

    VFerdman Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2017
    1,148
    1,171
    3
    Location:
    Western Massachusetts
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    It's not a punishment, it's just to keep things organized.
     
    edthefox5, Raytheeagle and DLC82SV like this.
  2. DLC82SV

    DLC82SV Member

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2018
    241
    118
    0
    Location:
    81212
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    ----USA----
    I can tell you from personal experience. Barking at me and reporting my posts hasn't helped me learn. It has just made it so I can't even find my own threads and I have stopped asking questions because I'm afraid I'm creating duplicate posts and getting my head bit off.
     
  3. DLC82SV

    DLC82SV Member

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2018
    241
    118
    0
    Location:
    81212
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    ----USA----
    Thanks. I am sorry I misinterpreted things. I was just trying to keep other contributors from feeling like I've been made to feel. I did not mean to upset anyone.
     
  4. Brian in Tucson

    Brian in Tucson Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2016
    981
    453
    0
    Location:
    Tucson AZ
    Vehicle:
    2003 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    And your pic illustrates why we don't like it. It takes so much heat to flow, you can damage the board. Or the component.
     
    VFerdman and DLC82SV like this.
  5. VFerdman

    VFerdman Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2017
    1,148
    1,171
    3
    Location:
    Western Massachusetts
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Yes, electrolytic caps can suffer from over-heating. But if technique I described above is followed, very little heat is applied to the parts. Tinning the leads and pads is key as is a well tinned and well functioning soldering iron.

    Electronic soldering is one of those things that needs to be done just so or it will not last or damage something. It's not difficult or complicated, but certain principles need to be followed.
     
    Brian in Tucson likes this.
  6. Brian in Tucson

    Brian in Tucson Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2016
    981
    453
    0
    Location:
    Tucson AZ
    Vehicle:
    2003 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    As I almost always post in the Gen 1 subsection, I don't know the politics of the Gen 2 area. Your kind of butt soreness almost never occurs in the Gen 1, where people ask questions and we give our best shots at answering. Almost never does anyone get critical or report others, except when there's spam or a post in the wrong subsection. I'm no moderator, but I'd counsel you to have a bit thicker skin and resist whiny criticism. This isn't the ADV forum after all.
     
    #46 Brian in Tucson, Aug 6, 2018
    Last edited: Aug 6, 2018
    m.wynn, Raytheeagle and DLC82SV like this.
  7. Brian in Tucson

    Brian in Tucson Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2016
    981
    453
    0
    Location:
    Tucson AZ
    Vehicle:
    2003 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    I rescued a 1080 Hi def tv out of a dumpster once. Wouldn't start, read up on it and replaced all the bad caps with new Panasonics. I think it cost about $5, total. 10 years later still works, tho I've moved on to bigger fancier sets.

    I didn't learn in a military training program and certainly wouldn't try electronic repairs as a job. But I learned all those things, and I have about 8 different irons and half a dozen spools of solder. As usual, the correct tools and materials make all the difference in a repair or project.
     
    VFerdman likes this.
  8. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 31, 2018
    7,035
    2,784
    0
    Location:
    USA
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius c
    Model:
    Four
    AND that is YOUR problem, not ours.

    And simply suggesting that you could do something a different way that is better is not "barking at you".

    You need to get that stick out of........wherever it is.
     
    edthefox5 likes this.
  9. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 19, 2006
    11,317
    3,588
    1
    Location:
    Northern VA (NoVA)
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Really good they way you showed us this repair!!
     
  10. OBJUAN

    OBJUAN Member

    Joined:
    Aug 17, 2017
    164
    74
    0
    Location:
    canada
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Original cap was an SMD soldered to the board.
    A higher temperature and voltage is better than more capacity.

    Yours will likely fail mechanically in time with the cap soldered like that,
    it's flopping in the breeze on brittle solder.

    They use RoHS compliant solder (lead free) due to new manufacturing standards for toxicity.
    You can use 60/40 to repair.

    So when it does fail...
    If you can't find an SMD cap, digikey/mouser. Bend the leads 90 degrees to the bottom
    of the cap body. Do not allow the bent leads to touch the cap body, including the insulating plastic jacket.
    Trim the length so the leads do not extend past the solder pads on the PCB.
    If you cannot see the leads to solder them, the cap is physically too big....
    Carefully clean the solder pads with 99% isopropyl alcohol (Costco) .
    Put a little rosin flux (never use plumbers flux or solder on electronics) on the pads and with a low
    power soldering pencil, solder the cap to the board. The white band has a "-" negative mark on it.
    Only takes 1-2 seconds of heat to make the joint, then clean again with Isopropyl.
    60/40 will be nice and shinny if done properly.
    Then a dab of silicone or hot glue to secure the cap to the board.

    Good luck
     
  11. xamza

    xamza New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 7, 2019
    16
    1
    0
    Location:
    lahore
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    I have also the same issue /my trip/disp button no working and i'm getting B1504 lost communication with steering SW code on scan tool. could you please guide me is there any fuse of this or anything else.
     
  12. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 19, 2006
    11,317
    3,588
    1
    Location:
    Northern VA (NoVA)
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Welcome to Prius chat!
    Well this thread above is a bit rambling at the end, but the thread orginally concerns repair of the Gen2 model years 2004-2009 combination meter, which was a common problem for the Gen2 Prii. If you have a Gen3 2012, there was not a similar problem, so you should probably make new post under Gen3 topic area.
     
  13. KeepPriusGoing

    KeepPriusGoing New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 24, 2019
    1
    4
    0
    Location:
    Knoxville, TN
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    I
    Thanks for this advice. The "feet" idea made it possible for me to get this done by myself, and tinning the pads and feet made it so I didn't need to add much solder during the attaching step. (I am terrible at soldering, but for 45 seconds or so, I was tolerably competent, and my combination meter works again.)
     
  14. chronon

    chronon Active Member

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2007
    601
    105
    3
    Location:
    here and there aint be in frozen wasteland no mo..
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    ----USA----
    I have several SMD 220uF 16V capacitors if anyone is interested in these surface mount devices, I would send to you far nominal amount.
     
  15. Joseph Artone

    Joseph Artone New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2022
    9
    3
    0
    Location:
    Iowa city, iowa
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    16579147542785641253918740880816.jpg
    So I replaced the capacitor initially with a 220 UF 16 v and after three months it failed. I opened it up and it looks like this. The outside layer burned up and there are dark spots on all corners of dash panel. Is this all ruined now?
     
  16. OBJUAN

    OBJUAN Member

    Joined:
    Aug 17, 2017
    164
    74
    0
    Location:
    canada
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Probably a low grade cap or over heated, just clean with isopropyl and replace with 105C grade.
     
  17. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2020
    3,276
    1,373
    0
    Location:
    NJ-USA
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    Is the capacitor leg on the right side of the pic touching another trace on the board?

    Really, there's no reason not to try a different cap and see how it does. I use "name brand" (Nichicon, Rubycon, Panasonic, etc) surface mount caps from digikey.

    After soldering in the new cap, just plug in the CM and other parts- just enough to see if it will power on correctly before reassembly.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.