Towerstat RF receiver failed?

[Neal]

I have a Towerstat RF thermostat controlling my central heating (about a year old).

the summer (when it never started because the temperature did not drop), I have now noticed it is not working

The transmitter bit seems to be fine, but the reciever has no light on it, and reading that doc above suggest it should. No idea when it failed.

There is an on/off switch on the receiver, but this has no effect. I have inspected the electrical connections and they are all still fine, and the boiler itself works fine for hot water, so it is getting power.

Is there a fuse of some sort inside this receiver unit? Or any other obvious reason for failure?

[JimK]

sure you haven't switched the CH part of the (seperate) programmer off for summer and not turned it back on for winter? - that would show the symptoms you describe...

JimK

[Neal]

No, the transmitter part shows that it thinks the heating is on. (little fan symbol)

[Harry Bloomfield]

on 21/10/2009, Neal supposed :

Read the instructions, it may have lost its 'pairing'.

[Dave Liquorice]

That doesn't answer the question that was asked. Have you checked that any programmer/switch before the *reciever* is also on.

I'd check any batteries first then check the pairing (or more likely just go through the pairing sequence).

I expect the light on the Rx only comes on when it has correctly received a call for heat from the Tx.

[JimK]

mmm yeah i don't mean the towerstat transmitter thing i mean the programmer next to your boiler that the towerstat receiver is connected to..... you with me?

JimK

[JimK]

my similar sounding Towerstat RF jobby turns from red led to green led when heat is called. ...and of course when CH channek of programmer is "off" no LED at all...... that's my guess--- OP??

JimK

[Neal]

apologies for slow response - internet failure

1) boiler and bolier controls all set ready to turn on when called by the swiched live from the thermostat 2) Thermostat transmitter part is callling for hot water (fan symbol) 3) no lights AT ALL on thermostat receiver. From reading the manual I posted I am expecting a permament red light, and a green light only when heating is actively on.

So, as I said, it appears the termostat receiver has failed.

[JimK]

or there is no power getting to the receiver perhaps because the CH channel of your central heating proogrammer is switched off for summer.... or maybe a wiring fault.... or maybe the receiver has died ...

So deducing from what you have said :- the receiver bit was showing a red LED since the weather warmed up in spring (and your transmitter stopped calling for heat)? until it stopped showing a red led? if that's the case and NOTHING ELSE has been changed, then yes I would tend to agree the fault may be with the receiver.

Cheers JimK

[The Natural Philosopher]

My sunvic did the same. They wouldn't sell me a receiver, or fix it, so I bitched and moaned that I would never by sunvic again. They sent me a free replacement.

I did fiddle with ity a bit and found the rail voltage was too low. Something had shorted inside as when I set it up on a 9v supply it worked, just not from the mains.

[Jeremy]

replying to JimK, Jeremy wrote: I have had several Towerstat RF receivers fail and I am writing here with a fix. The problem is a capacitor that becomes faulty. It is a large yellow capacitor labelled Tenta 0.56uF on the circuit board. I was unable to find this particular capacitor available online. A similar one from another manufacturer was too large and stopped the unit fitting back together properly. I solved it by using a 0.47uF Tenta capacitor which was physically small enough that it worked. The small difference in value seems not to make any difference to the operation.

[Brian Gaff]

These dry out or go open circuit with age and heat. Don't make em like they used to, obviously. Brian

[Graham.]

I imagine it was the capacitive dropper He was wise to use the smaller value but it was unnessasary to source the same make. As long as it was X2 and 275vAC rated he would have been OK. I'm saying this to you Brian, because Homewreckers rarely return.

[charles]

They made them like that in the 1960s. I used to be a maintenance supervisor at BBC TvC. "Change C1" was the standard cure to one particular fault. (they were yellow, too)

[Jeremy]

replying to Graham., Jeremy wrote: Yes of course it was not necessary to use the same make. However there are not many options available for this value and specification (X2, 275V as you say). I tried a Panasonic ECQU2A564KLA which is widely available but it was a couple of mm too tall and it turns out that the couple of mm meant that it pushed against the tops of the electrolytics on the other board and prevented the unit from assembling properly. I did spend some time trawling for a replacement before I discovered the 0.47uF ones, and I hoped it would be regarded as a useful post in case anyone else has the same difficulties as me in sourcing a capacitor that is physically small enough to fit.

[Graham.]

Sorry I was rude Jeremy, but it was more frustration at Homeowners Hub than you personally.

Hopefully this should explain why.

[Jeremy]

replying to Graham., Jeremy wrote: Accepted, and I know that this thread was started in 2009 which I guess is what you were referring to. But while I have seen plenty of questions on various fora about this fault in the Towerstat RF receiver, I have not seen any adequate solutions proposed. Most people wrongly assume that it is a pairing issue and point people to the dip switches. This was the only way I could think of to share my experience that there is a relatively straightforward fix that would get picked up by search engines.

[Greg McCawley]

Hi, I can confirm that Jeremy is absolutely correct about the 560nF capacitor (equivalent to 0.56 micro Farads). I had exactly the same symptoms of the Receiver failing, found this thread and when I disassembled the Receiver I found the exact same capacitor as described ( I ordered a new one

replaced it and the Receiver immediately worked. I had checked the dimensions on the Wurth website and it is 1mm less in the critical height. Thank you, that has saved me £55 less the cost of the capacitor - Keep up the good work!> --