Re: Rep1 Voltage Regulator Mod

[Scott Lichtsinn]

Its really not that difficult, the hardest part is removing the stock regulator, but it can be done pretty easily as long as you have a decent soldering iron.  

I've used over a dozen of these switching regulators now to mod the Rev E MightyBoards.

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/OKI-78SR-5-1.5-W36-C/811-2196-5-ND

Also, just modifying the voltage regulator is not the end all, i would also recommend you remove the 5v power to each of your endstop switches, the only purpose it serves is to light the LED on them when the switch is tripped, they still function fine without the 5v, but it removes the 5v supply from being in the endstop switch cables, more specifically the X-Axis endstop which when that cable fails from flexing it can short out the 5v inside the cable or put 5v on one of the other wires.  The easy way i fix this is to take each of the endstop cables at the Mightyboard end and unplug them one at a time and remove the white wire from the connector by removing the contact and then clipping the white wire flush with the heatshrink tubing at the end of the cable.  But you can also just clip the white wire flush with the back end of the connector and then tape it back or clip it off completely from the end of the cable.

I actually have a picture from one i just modified a week ago.  The oldest one i have modified is nearing 6,000 hours of printing since the mod was done, still no issues.  The voltage regulator is in a little 3d printed part that i make to hold them with a bit of epoxy or hot glue, the regulator doesn't even really get warm, you could just put a piece of heatshrink tubing over the regulator like a sock and just cable tie it off somewhere also but i like this so i can get to it easier if i need to, though i havent had to yet!

The only problem is the pinout of the switching regulator, and any TO-220 type replacements you will find, is different then the stock regulator.  But the pinout is easy to manipulate by just using some wires to tack them on where needed and i can elaborate on the pinout if you decide to do it.

On Monday, April 9, 2018 at 7:49:58 PM UTC-5, Jonathan Wukitsch wrote:

Hey everyone,

I've been meaning to get to doing the voltage regulator mod on my Rep1 Dual for a little while now, but I'm not too well educated in terms of soldering. Is there anyone who would be willing to do the mod on my board for, say, $20 over PayPal? I'll pay shipping for the Mightyboard as well. Would normally do something along the lines of this myself but considering the cost of a new board, I don't really want to screw this up. My email is jona...@insleep.tech -- if you're willing to do it, please contact me.

Thanks!

[Rich Webb]

Scott, that DigiKey link almost certainly leads to the right regulator -- since it returns 7,417,366 parts (as of this morning)   ;-)  The URL was probably tied to your session at the time. $%$@%@ internet.

I'm guessing that this is the one? https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/OKI-78SR-5-1.5-W36-C/811-2196-5-ND

On Wednesday, April 11, 2018 at 4:00:33 AM UTC-4, Scott Lichtsinn wrote:

Its really not that difficult, the hardest part is removing the stock regulator, but it can be done pretty easily as long as you have a decent soldering iron.  

I've used over a dozen of these switching regulators now to mod the Rev E MightyBoards.

https://www.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&itemSeq=257546763&uq=636589826716732251

[Scott Lichtsinn]

Yep, thats the one.  My bad, i was quite tired when i posted that.... LOL