Effects Of Repairing A Damaged Printer Adapter
Office printers have their own adapter that usually comes along with them from the manufacturer, using the adapter will ensure the safety of the printer than using any other adapter due to the current and voltage rating of the adapter which corresponds to the power board rating of the printer.
Common printer problems can be resolved easily such as paper jam, incompatible cartridge, out of paper, etc. but the problem of a power board of a printer is not an easy one because it can render the printer useless if the printer model is an old one.
Besides that, printer manufacturers do not make provision for the selling of the complete parts of printers in the market which has made it difficult to repair some of its serious electronic problems.
The adapter of my friend’s HP printer recently got damaged while using it in a generator light, we thought it is a minor issue so he needed to drop it off with a nearby electrician for repair.
After some days the electrician succeeded in repairing the adapter and told him that it was some capacitors and resistors that got damaged due to the high voltage coming from the generator but he had changed all of them, and the adapter was tested with the printer and it worked perfectly.
After settling him for the workmanship, we thought the case has been resolved but never knew that the action taken will be the starting point of the printer problems.
The printer worked perfectly for months until one evening it was used with a public power supply and suddenly it turned itself off.
When taken to a printer servicing office, it was confirmed that the power board of the printer has been burnt.
The sad news is that; the printer power board is no longer sold in the market because it is an old model except if one sees any condemned printer of the exact model so that the power board can be transferred to the printer, we had waited for months now without any sign of getting a new power board of the printer.
Based on the checking conducted on the printer, it was concretely found that the board got burnt due to the adapter that had been repaired with inaccurate capacitors & resistors ratings thereby creating room for excess current to flow into the power board of the printer and getting it burnt.
The experience has made me drop this post in a way to discourage repairing of the printer adapter since it creates conditions that can make the power board to be condemned and potentially render the printer useless.
WHAT IS A PRINTER POWER BOARD AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT
The power board of a printer is the board that receives the current from the power supply and the same board has all the accessories attached to it for the processing of the printer functions and issued commands.
It can be referred to as the heart of the printer because it is where the whole actions of the printer are processed before the main printing, scanning, or photocopying can be carried out by the printer.
If the power board of a printer gets damaged and its replacement cannot be found then the printer may become condemned.
