Klaudio LP200 Ultrasonic Record Cleaner - Driver Board Replacement

[RoadDawgWest]

If you experience an issue with your Klaudio LP200 ultrasonic Record Cleaner where the ultrasonic transducers don't turn on, but the machine goes through a wash and drying cycle. Klaudio support may ask you to check the wiring harness to the ultrasonic transducers on the rear, and front of the machine, and confirm the wiring had not melted from the connections on the transducers. Also to confirm the version of the driver board before sending a replacement.

First - REMOVE THE POWER CORD & Drain the unit.

Also use your camera and take photos along the way.

Get ready. There are (18) Phillips heads screws to remove before you can remove the back panel of the LP200



Once the back panel of the LP200 is removed. The inside of the LP200 looks like this.



Klaudio support will ask you to inspect the wire harness to the transducers on the rear of the LP200 to make sure the leads have not melted from the transducers.
Here is a close up if the rear transducers. As you can see no melting, and everything is good.



Now you need to remove the (12) 3mm Allen head screws from the front of the LP200 to gain access to the two transducer in the front of the LP200.
You need to confirm the leads have not melted from the transducers.



Here is a close up of the transducers in the front of the LP200. No melting, and everything is good.
Put the front panel back on the LP200.



Before replacing the driver circuit board. you will want to remove the Fan Cover on the back of the LP200
To remove the Fan Cover. When looking at the back of the LP200 look on the left side of the LP200, and remove (2) Phillips head screws which are closest to the back of the LP200. In the image below on the left, remove the (2) Phillips screws on the right side of the LP200.




I found it difficult to remove the driver board with the rear fan in place. Therefore I removed the (2) Phillips screws in the image above on the left.
NOTE: Do not remove the (4) Philips screws on the left side of the LP200 in the image above on the left.
After the (2) Philips screws on side of the LP200 are removed. Remove the silver Phillips head screw that secures the rear fan, and silver metal tray that includes the Driver board. See the above image on the right.


The wiring assembly that is connected to the rear fan is long enough to allow you place it on the top of the LP200.
Remove the cable header connectors from the Driver Board before removing the Driver Board.

Remove the (2) Phillips screws along the bottom edge of the back frame. Far left and right of the photo.
Then remove the silver Phillips screw in the upper left corner of the Driver Board. This will allow the green wire to be removed. See image below on the right.
This will allow you to remove the Silver metal tray with the Driver Board.




After the silver tray with the Driver board is removed from the LP200. Remove the (4) remaining Phillips screws that secure the Driver Board to the silver tray. Then secure the "New" Driver Board to the silver tray.



Working backward. Reinstall the driver board in the LP200. Make sure not to forget to screw the Green wire to the upper left corner of the Driver Board.
Reconnect the header connectors back to the Driver Board.
Reinstall the rear fan, and install the fan cover.
Should look like this.



Install the back cover, and test.

[kcin]

Yikes, probably seems more complex than it really is for the average user .Hopefully, this resolves your issue- is your new board marked "Version 3.4"?

[RoadDawgWest]

Yikes, probably seems more complex than it really is for the average user .Hopefully, this resolves your issue- is your new board marked "Version 3.4"?

It really was not that difficult. Before starting I was expecting it to be more difficult. Besides a few basic instructions, and guidelines from Klaudio support there are no instructions for the replacement. Which is why I thought I would post some pics with the steps.

Yes the replacement Driver Board is marked v3.4.

[Bill Hart]

Pretty informative post there Dawg. I assume if the wires are melted, replacing a driver board won't be the answer -smoked transducers?--but this sounds like KL is allowing some field replacement work to save on the time and cost of shipping units back and forth for what amounts to a plug and play repair?
very good news for owners.

[Joe Pittman]

sounds like KL is allowing some field replacement work to save on the time and cost of shipping units back and forth for what amounts to a plug and play repair?

I'm a dealer and Klaudio has not concerned the customers about shipping cost (both ways) at this point that I know of. They consider each repair on a case-by-case basis. In this particular case, it looks like Dawg felt comfortable in doing the board replacement himself.

I have had only a few customers who have had problems with the Klaudio machines so far. Those customers who did not feel comfortable in doing a "simple" repair themselves are not pressured to do so to save shipping costs. The biggest advantage for the customer doing a "simple" repair themselves are the logistics involved and saving the time and hassle of round trip shipping.

When the rollers in my Audio Desk Systeme Vinyl Cleaner failed, it took them 3 months to get the machine back to me.

[RoadDawgWest]

Pretty informative post there Dawg. I assume if the wires are melted, replacing a driver board won't be the answer -smoked transducers?--but this sounds like KL is allowing some field replacement work to save on the time and cost of shipping units back and forth for what amounts to a plug and play repair?
very good news for owners.

Based on the discussion with Klaudio support I suspect the unit would have to be shipped back if the wires to the transducers were melted. but those details were not discussed so I can confirm.

Klaudio support offered the driver board replacement as a time savings.

Collectively, I only spent a total of 1hr / 30min trouble shooting, emailing, getting photos, and installing the replacement driver board. Compared to having to get the shipping container out of storage, draining and drying out the Klaudio before shipping, properly packing, and driving to the shipping depot. I'm glad replacing the driver board was an option.

[rockitman]

I took the liberty to check out my transducer wiring to see if it was melted when I did a water change. I have the first unit production run which appears to differ significantly internally from the newer units. I can happily say no wire melting after over 2000 cycles since 2/2014...here are my pics....

[rockitman]

Looking at my transducer connections closer, it directly appear to be some melting on the taped connections. All seems to work fine. I wonder if I should worry ?

[Alex Siufy]

When the rollers in my Audio Desk Systeme Vinyl Cleaner failed, it took them 3 months to get the machine back to me.

None of my Audio Desk machines, our own or our customer's, have failed. At all.

[rockitman]

My audio deske system failed 2 separate times and had to be sent to Germany for months at a time... under 1000 cycles. 1st time, the cheap plastic roller arms failed, then it was the ultrasonic tranducers that failed. Not woth the money, imo. I would never recommend that machine to anyone over a KL Audio.

[astrotoy]

None of my Audio Desk machines, our own or our customer's, have failed. At all.

My first Audio Desk failed after cleaning over 8000 records, most of them using one of the extended cycles. They sent me a brand new replacement for 1/3rd of retail - used it to clean another couple thousand records so far with no problems. I bought the original one before the KL came out. Larry

[Guest]

None of my Audio Desk machines, our own or our customer's, have failed. At all.

My Audio Desk has worked fine (and regularly) since 2014.

Go around the Audio Forums and whenever you see it mentioned you'll see posts from people (invariably the same people) who have a tale of whoa about the ADS unit. There's some guy on A'gon who tells his story seems like every twenty minutes. What is rarely mentioned is when the problematic purchase were made. It took Reiner Glass several years and multiple iterations of the machine to get it right - he was the innovator of the compact automated wash/dry RCM - and some of the early models had some problems. That's not an excuse, because it is an inconvenience/hassle/cost if it doesn't work, but I wonder if the Klaudio machine would exist if it wasn't for the ADS. Sorry, just tired of hearing this machine knocked. I'll stop ranting now, but I'd buy another ADS if mine wore out.

[rockitman]

I'm fine with the ADS machine when it works... It's the reliability in my case that was the problem.
2 trips to Germany was two too much. I still haven't used it since it's return from repair in early 2015. Holding on to it for back up.

[Alex Siufy]

Thanks guys. Yeah I agree with tima that there's been mad hysteria about the Audio Desk, and I could never understand why, as the thing just works.

[lasercd]

I had the original Audio Desk. Worked OK for the first couple of years, then it made a couple of trips to New Hope PA for repair over the next 18 months. Finally it shit the bed. Robert gave me a deal on the new Audio Desk Pro and its worked flawlessly for the past year. Much improved build. Meanwhile I have a friend who insisted on buying the Klaudio because it was his perception that it was better constructed than the Audio Desk and would be problem free. Two weeks after owning it he had to send his Klaudio in for a major repair. Read the original post in this thread.

None of these machines are perfect.

[tom_hankins]

My first Audio Desk died after several thousand records. It went to Germany and they told me it needed to be replaced for a small % cost of a new one. Long story short, I refused to pay it. They sent me a "hybred" semi PRO machine for free. It's been going strong over a year. I was pretty much decided if this one dies I would get the KLAudio machine. But knowing they too have had issues I will get another Audio Desk.

[MylesBAstor]

I am curious whether this "melting" is due to using the machine for cleaning large quantities of records at one time or something that happens over time. Some might remember -though different - that early VPI 16 machines overheated if used continuously. Hence the 17 with its fan and more robust motor.

[rockitman]

The most I have done in a session was 20 and that was a couple years ago. generally when I'm in buying record mode, I average about 5 per clean session. The insulating tape has clearly melted a bit on my transducer connections. There is no charring however so I suspect I am okay....2000+ cycles so far.