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Branson ultrasonic cleaner - troubleshooting

PeteM

Diamond
Joined
Jan 15, 2002
Location
West Coast, USA
I picked up a 5.5 gallon Branson ultrasonic cleaner in non-working condition. The heater is fine, but the ultrasonic is non-existent. All the unit does is lightly hum when the timer is on. Any idea how to troubleshoot or, better yet, repair this?

Couldn't find any help in the way of schematics or troubleshooting on the Web, other than a factory repair. Did open it up and there are no obviously friend components inside and the two fuses on the circuit are OK.
 
I bought a new Branson ultrasonic cleaner years ago. After a while, the transducer, which was epoxied to the bottom of the tank, cracked and the wire came off. Branson said it could not be repaired and offered to sell me a new cleaner. So I bought a new L&R ultrasonic, which has worked fine for the last twenty years or so.

You must have water in the tank to test whether the unit is working prperly. Never run it dry.

Larry
 
I too have a Branson ultrasonic cleaner that no longer works. I called Branson and they wanted something like $200 for the repair/schematic manual. No wonder all the American manufacturers are going out of business. Their customer support sucks. Couldn't cost more then $20 to photocopy it and have someone put it in an envelope.
 
I have ten schematics for some Branson USCs. Basically the 1220, 2200, 3200-5200 and 8000 series. Lemme know if you want one of them. JRouche
 
I fixed a couple of cleaners for my wifes work and they weren't hard. The circuits are very simple. I just opened them up and traced out the circuits in my notebook. I worked harder than I needed to figureing out the feed back paths in the oscilator as the it wasn't related to the problem but I finally figured it out.

Mine were smaller 250 watt units but there could be similarities so I'll post what I know and see if it helps. These units generate high voltages when on so be carefull. The output forms a resonant circuit with the transducers. Added capacitance on the output can cause spurious oscillations and damage the output transistors so don't probe there with anything but a high impeadance probe. I learned this the expensive way. My units had a fuse soldered onto the circuit board so check this. The unit first rectifies the AC so check the ouput of the diodes for about 250 VAC. This feeds a cascade pair of large FETS. If you have B++ and no output then the FETS are the likely suspect. My units used feedback from a small series transformer on the output to drive the FETS into oscillation. After the transformer was a large choke coil to resonate the transducers. The 250 W unit used two transducers connected in parallel. At the operating frequency the transducers look like a large lossy capacitor. Thats all the circuitry that was on the PCB. Very simple. Either there is an open somewhere, possible a loose wire, or one of the FETS is blown. Pretty simple.

starbolin
 
Coincidentally I took a brand new 5100 model out of the box on Tuesday last week which didn't work.

As you do, I looked at taking it apart but the big makers label on the front was stuck over two of the cover screws. So not wanting to screw up any warranty I called Branson, who in the UK no longer have anything to do with Ultrasonic, but have sold the rights on. The new company told me to send it straight back as this happens enough for the guy on the phone not to quibbble.

This model was made in Mexico.

Al
 
These guys have repaired my Branson unit several times.

Very good service. (no affiliation, just a satisfied customer).

Alpha Omega Ultrasonics Corporation
2821 National Drive
Garland, TX 75041
Tel: 800-540-4967
Fax: 972-840-3668

They are one of many listed on the branson web site.
 
I too have a partially functioning Branson - model 8200. When I turn on the power, the digital display scrolls from zero to 99 and one LED is illuminated but none of the controls works. Just by coincidence, I discovered that if I depress the start-stop button while the power is switched on, the cleaning circuitry works but not the heater or other mode controls.

So I know the transducer circuitry works but it sure would be nice to have the heater....

Like Pete, no visually obvious damage to the electronics and electrical troubleshooting is beyond my simple understanding. The external fuse is good - will check the circuit board for any thing looking like a fuse. I presume the control circuitry is defective. Any other suggestions for things to check?

Anyone possibly have a defective 8200 for parts?

JRouche, will send you a PM.

Thanks, Jim
 
Thanks to all who responded, especially JRouche (pm sent) and Starbolin.

Metal_twister -- any idea of what your repairs have been costing? Are we talking sub-$200 or a few hundreds for your typical repair? I'd live with the smaller capacity of the tiny L&R I have that's working, rather than put too much into an apparently repair-prone Branson.
 
pete i have a brason it was bad i installed new trasistors in it 5.00 a pc and then found that you must tune the coil .. by removing loops of wire to get max power what we did is hooed up to amp meter and removed or added coils till we had max amps out of unit ..please do this dead the will buzz you bad. but my unit kicks but .. enyone that has a larger unit thats dead and you want to get rid of it let me know im going to make a bad ass out of one bought a big set of transdusers and a power supply jim
 
These guys have repaired my Branson unit several times.

Very good service. (no affiliation, just a satisfied customer).

Alpha Omega Ultrasonics Corporation
2821 National Drive
Garland, TX 75041
Tel: 800-540-4967
Fax: 972-840-3668

They are one of many listed on the branson web site.
Do you know if they will service any ultrasonic cleaner? I have an older, almost NOS Sonicor that died. It's a huge tank with a remote sonic generator. The generator appears dead. While they were very helpful on the phone as far as tech support (actually put me on with an Electical Engineer!) their overall answer was "Can't get parts for it, maybe we can sell you a new generator?" (for $1,500 I'm sure!)

I'm sure it's nothing more than a few $5 parts from DigiKey but I'm no EE myself. I got a great deal on this unit and it worked when I bought it, but a month later when I got to hooking it up it was DOA for some reason. I'd REALLY like to get this unit running (about 20 gallons) but it certainly isn't worth a G-note plus to me at this point.
 
We have a 2 gallon and a 5 gallon Branson.
Alpha guys would turn it arournd in a day or two.
Seems like each time repairs were $140'sh?
I think they repair any brand cleaner.

Ours run 12 hours a day. We have found no brand to be better than any other. It's the nature of all those vibes to evientually play havoc on the electronics.

Go on the Branson sight there are many independant repair people listed.
 
Schematic

Hi JRouche,

Please can you send me a schematic for the Branson 3200 - mine in the lab wont even switch on, so our on-site technicians are really going to need the schematics to troubleshoot and see if they can fix this one...

I am a lab manager in South Africa, so making use of Branson specialists isnt an option... my email is [email protected]

your help is greatly appreciated!
P Steyn
 
sonicor sc-400t11 or ii

does anyone have a wiring schematic for a sonicor sc400t11 or ii. it has a 5 gallon tank. when I got it 1 of the transducers had fallen off of the tank and blew the main resistors. I re mounted the transducer and replaced the resistors . I left the transducers dossconnected to see if there was still a short in the system and the main resistors popped.
 
could you send me one of the diagrams that would be equal yo the 5 gallon sonicor sc-400t11 or ii. or if you have one for the sonicor that would be great.

thanx.
 
I have always found the units made by Sonicor to outperform the ones from Branson on a watt by watt basis. As some of the other posters have done, I would pitch the defunct Branson and get another brand.
 








 
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