Computers & Electronics

Receiver keeps making a *clicking* noise

  • Last Updated:
  • Jan 10th, 2011 5:23 pm
Tags:
None
Deal Guru
Apr 11, 2006
12388 posts
6570 upvotes
Vaughan

Receiver keeps making a *clicking* noise

I have one of those Onkyo mini-system components. Model is R-805X, which is just a basic mini tuner/amplifier/receiver (http://reviews.cnet.com/av-receivers/on ... 50625.html)
Anyways, once plugged in it will making a *clicking* sound constantly non-stop. So it won't even reach stand by state but it's trying to. Anyone with technical knowledge have any ideas what's wrong.

I've searched around the internet and usually when this symptom is present in the receiver, it's only when they power it to the "On" state and the problem is caused by the speakers causing a short in the circuit (because the negative and positive wires have somehow made contact) and the receiver is in a protect state - disconnecting all speakers would resolve the issue and reconnecting one by one would find the cause.

But in my case it's different because it does this immediately upon plugging in. I don't even get the chance to power it to the "On" state. And it continues to happen even with everything disconnected now.
3 replies
Deal Addict
User avatar
Aug 4, 2003
4403 posts
103 upvotes
Seems obvious that there's something wrong with your receiver. Is it new enough that you cna return it?
Yes I do have heatware. Look over here! Yes, here! Heatware: fitbrit
Deal Guru
Apr 11, 2006
12388 posts
6570 upvotes
Vaughan
fitbrit wrote: Seems obvious that there's something wrong with your receiver. Is it new enough that you cna return it?

No, unfortunately, it's several years old (5+). The model is discontinued too.
It just seems a waste to toss it. But if repairing it is going to cost a lot, then I wouldn't bother either - that's why I thought I'd ask to see if anyone knows of this issue. I don't want to just bring it to a repair shop and have them tell me it's going to cost $X-hundred dollars simply because they see it's an "Onkyo" brand.
Deal Fanatic
Feb 21, 2006
5148 posts
101 upvotes
The clicking you hear is undoubtedly the main power relay. It controls the main power to the amplifier section, because a relay is still the easiest way for low power electronics to switch a high-power circuit on and off. Normally only the low-power part of the receiver (including the remote control) is always-on when plugged in. The relay primary circuit would be turned on when you press the On button on the remote control, but it's possible that it normally turns on when you plug the receiver in initially (do you remember if it did that before?).

What could cause the relay to click off again is a current drain that overloads the power supply, possibly caused by a short circuit in the wiring, or by a shorted-out output stage transistor.

However there's another likely cause: capacitors are the most common failure point in most electronic circuits, especially the big electrolytic power capacitors that tend to decay over time inside a hot chassis. When the relay is first turned on, it takes a big surge of current in the first few milliseconds to build the magnetic field. Normally a big power capacitor supplies that current so that the voltage to the rest of the electronics doesn't dip. But when that capacitor fails, turning on the relay sucks away all the current available and causes the voltage to drop to near zero. That causes a reset, the relay turns off, the electronics re-initialize, and then try to turn on the relay again. The result: relay clicking on and off continuously.

How can you tell which is which? Easy: look at the display. If the display turns off when the relay clicks off, it means that the electronics have reset due to low voltage. If the display stays steady, it means the protection circuit has tripped. The former is probably due to a bad capacitor. The latter is probably due to a short circuit.

The capacitor is likely easy to identify and replace if you know what you're looking at when you open the chassis. A shorted transistor would be a bit more difficult.

Top

Thread Information

There is currently 1 user viewing this thread. (0 members and 1 guest)