WARNING: Ubee Cable Modem Died (heat related)

Ubee used to be called Ambit. They have a web site.

The power adapters aren't necessarily made at the same production facilities as the cable modem. The power adapter could be straight from China, from the lowest bidder.

If you Google the model number of your modem, there may be reports from other people of power adapter failures. On some products, these failures are an epidemic. That is the best way to spot a design or material quality problem.

Paul

Hi Paul,

Today I called my internet service provider. A man told me I could swap the defect power adapter at a local store for free.

I will do/try so later today, I think it's a good idea to have a backup power adapter.

I also asked them if they could send me a backup cable modem.

The guy said they had two models available, however maybe the model numbers werent completely correct.

A cisco epc 3928 (I think this one might be junk because there is a fan/ventilator inside of it I don't want that.)

A ubee evw3221 or evw321 (e for europe I guess).

So I researched the options, and said I'll call back. Then a women phoned me if I wanted to do a tv deal, but rejected cause digital tv receiver never worked and don't wanna pay extra.

I joked they could send me a new digital receiver, maybe they not too happy about that joke.

Then later I decided I wanted the ubee, so I phoned back.

This time I got a guy on the phone... he didn't sound to happy about me trying to select what cable modem they would send me lol.

Then he said the only had the cisco's left and lots of em... but ubee out of stock and weren't going to purchase them... to bad I like ubee, I never had a problem with them until the adapter died.

Maybe in the future they will buy netgear 6300, a weird looking modem, I wonder if there is a fan/ventilator inside of it. It seems to stand up.. I don't really like the design at first glance, it seems weird.

Anyway I thought about the reason why the power adapter could have failed and I think I may have figured it out.

Not so long ago the ISP increased the internet speed. This is probably causing the cable modem to process more packets per second.

I just felt the cable modem today, it seems kinda hot. This additional processing probably taxed the power adapter so much that it failed.

My guess is the ubee cable modem will soon fail as well because of overheat. However winter is coming so it might just make it through the winter.

For now we agreed I would call back in january or somewhere begin 2015 to see if there are any good new cable modems available.

Maybe I will only call if my current cable modem fails.

I had the right to ask for a new cable modem because my current cable modem does not have wifi capabilities.

So that's why they would send me a new cable modem. So then I could have two, a main one and a backup.

I already have some older cable modems lying around.. but I would need activation codes, maybe I have those somewhere... but they don't have phone capability.

That's the main thing though, I don't wanna loose phone capability.

For now I will see how it goes.

Bye, Skybuck.

You can measure the power used by the cable modem, with a Kill-A-Watt meter. There are versions for Europe, with the right plug hole on the front. By using such a meter, you can determine the power used when the modem is idle versus when the modem is busy. My guess is, the power is close to constant (as the broadband interface needs to be processed no matter what traffic is carried on it). But your meter readings will tell you whether it is true or not.

Generally, you won't find fans on things like this. Fans break easily, and the cheap ones can fail in as little as one day of operation. Instead, they try to make circuits which can take the heat.

Keeping the exterior chassis cool, is about the best you can do for them.

Paul

Why would increased processing show at the power wall socket.

Doesn't really make too much sense to me.

The device could have been created to draw constant power, and simply leak away unnecessary power.

For example I'd guess my CPU would use max watt if it's at 80% processing power, yet it generates even more heat at 100% processing power.

Without at least the voltage going further up...

Do you believe that each % of cpu usage would translate into noticeable more wattage usage ?

If so I'd like to see that proven with a youtube video ;) just to be sure ;)

Bye, Skybuck.

If you buy the $20 meter, you can find the answer to all of these questions you have, by yourself. No Youtube video needed.

Paul

An example of some meters here.

One of them uses an Analog Devices chip. This helps explain how the chip can make accurate measurements of power.

Paul

11:27 minutes for one lousy blown power supply? You are obsessed. You also make terrible videos, mumble excessively and don't know how to do video editing. The cursing and swearing doesn't improve what is left of your image.

Take it apart and replace the blown capacitor. It's a common problem. This is a similar Netgear power supply: Replacing the obviously blown cap fixed it. It's easy, if you remember to unplug the power supply before soldering.

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com 
Skype: JeffLiebermann     AE6KS    831-336-2558

On Sun, 26 Oct 2014 06:46:43 +0100, "Skybuck Flying" Gave us:

*YOU* seem to think that something gets taxed more.

Would there not be a cost?

You sure taxed the letter w with that sentence.

I think it is youw wee wittle bwain.

On Sun, 26 Oct 2014 02:53:13 -0400, Paul Gave us:

I use these. They work *real* good.

It measures my cubox-i4Pro between idle consumption after boot, which is about 3 Watts... All the way to full HD rendition with sound and pumping a full HD HDMI display, which carries it to about midway toward a whopping 6 Watts.

It tracks it. Now, mind you, this is all the way over onto the input side of a wall wart supply feed to my machine. I think I might "Silver Up" that 2 meter DC link. Maybe even shorten it a bit, and interweave the lines, instead of what we get... mini-zip cords.

I am surprised the feeds from dongles to devices are not getting warm these days. I mean hell, it is like 24 or 26 Ga in there.

Naw... can't be. It has to carry a couple amps just to feed a USB standard. It has to be 22 or even 20 Ga at the very minimum.

And my mil TFE sheathed SPC wire will be great for it. That little bit of silver will shave a few millivolts off of the drop on that line, not that there is any to speak of, but every little bit helps in this low consumption project.

Yep, gonna shorten and braid that link, and maybe even can the dongle.

I wonder how many tin hat folks out there have a canned dongle.

I don't... yet.

With a thought toward my current TV show to get into, "The Walking Dead" (cool show)... "There be gremlins out there" "They likes gettin' into airplanes too. Causes pilots to lose their hair.

Damned gremlins!

On Sun, 26 Oct 2014 01:11:17 -0700, Jeff Liebermann Gave us:

Awww... man! You shouldn't have told him that part.

Unplug it? that takes the fun out of it..

Jamie

If your electronics feels, "kinda hot", you should have no problem what

experience noticeable failure rates near that temperature. If it were

you need to open the box and measure the temperature of the chip making the heat.

"Kinda hot" usually means it is working well within its parameters and should offer long service. After all, if you don't want the temperature to rise some it will need a fan to get rid of the heat. By the

a long life.

As others have pointed out, an increased data rate does not imply that the unit will get noticeably hotter.

--

Rick

Two points... the first is that there is no reason to draw power that is not being used by the CPU and other parts. There is waste heat from the inefficiency of the power supply, but they don't draw "constant power" regardless of the CPU draw.

The other is that it doesn't matter what part is drawing the power. All power dissipated by components in the box will make the box hotter which is what you are feeling when you touch it.

--

Rick

"Skybuck Flying" wrote in news:a86c0$544a0c16$5419aafe$ snipped-for-privacy@news.ziggo.nl:

Hi Skybuck.

I know I'm responding to an old post, please overlook that. I recently subscribed to a few of these newsgroups and this thread came up. [g]

I have checked out your video. It's much longer than is needed to show us a bad power supply. It's probably just killed a resistor or something inside of it. You could probably fix it.

I did find the case you have to be interesting though, and not a bad sized monitor either. Icons all over the place too. Looks something like my primary setup here, but yours is much much newer.

The swearing and lack of video editing doesn't help you though. I'm a but of a cuss like a sailor person myself, but I try not to do that in public or in videos that I'm going to give to the public.

In the states (TN specifically in this case), using Charter, We actually have two entirely seperate cable modems. One is tied into this network to provide it internet access and the other is tied into the telephone lines for the house. The only one with an external power adapter is my cisco cable modem; that provides internet for the LAN here. The other cable modem has a normal 120volt power cord that plugs into the back of it. It has a small internal transformer and supporting AC to DC switching circuitry.

Nah. We have cell phones too. I've never depended on voice over IP for critical things.

Just be sure it provides the proper voltage, amperage, and is the correct polarity. You don't want the previous one to be positive on the tip and the next one to be negative on the tip. Your device won't appreciate that.

Which is what usually kills electronics. ;p

Physical size doesn't guarantee longevity. The internal components and circuit designs do.

Why? Just ask for another cable modem, it'll come with another power supply if it needs it, or a cable to plug it directly into your

220volt (You aren't from the states and your power plug isn't blade style, but round prong, so I'm assuming your 220volt on your outlets. We're 110-120volt here).

Your computer if improperly used is no different. [g]

How so? I suppose if the battery pack exploded and you had it to your head at the time, and the explosion was violent, it could possibly.. injure or kill you... but, I haven't actually observed this nor have I read about it happening from reliable sources.

Radio waves probably aren't exactly beneficial to be so close to your head either, but.. I don't have anything solid either way on that.

I really have trouble understanding you at times. It could just be a language barrier issue though.

--
My truck does not leak. It's just marking its territory!

Skybuck is a persistent troll. Most of us only see him when someone replies to one of his posts.

" Skybuck is a persistent troll. Most of us only see him when someone replies to one of his posts. "

Just cut out my name "Skybuck Flying" and he'll never know and nag ! LOL.

Bye, Skybuck =D

On Thu, 11 Dec 2014 14:07:26 +0100, "Skybuck Flying" Gave us:

If only the "bye" part were true.

Go the f*ck away. In ALL of your incarnations!