# Fixing a Monster Power HTS 2500 MKII?



## markopolo

Has anyone used one of these that stopped working? I grabbed one of ebay for a pretty good deal. I don't have a problem with inconsistent power in the area I lived, so I got it more for the idea of filtering the power that feeds all my components. It was 2nd hand, but I figured I'd give it a chance. It worked right away and I was happy at that. I noticed a marginal improvement in the image quality, although that could have been me WANTING to see an improvement too. What was quantifiable was the improvement in startup time for my 57" DLP projection TV. It definitely started up quicker plugged into the MP 2500 than just a regular surge protector.

Well, where this whole thing is going to is that is stopped working yesterday. I was just playing a little PS2 and everything just shut off and an annoying alarm sound started coming from the MP 2500. I contacted Monster to be certain and their response was "Power Centers are designed to make the alarm noise that you are hearing when the take a surge which exceeds their capacity". Well, I know I didn't have a surge because nothing else in the house did anything. All my other surge protectors are still functioning fine as well as all my non-protected items.

Here's my question, Monster is stating that the unit is now non-functional. Upon taking the cover off, I can see that the surge protection is on one little circuit board and the power filtering is on a circuit board that follows afterward. It appears that it would be very simple to disconnect the surge circuitry to bypass it and route the power directly into the filter board. A friend of mine works for Ricoh, and he has an industrial surge protector he'll give me for nothing. These are the ones they use to protect their copiers worth over $100,000! My thoughts are, bypass the internal surge protector, and run this surge protector inline before. That way I still have a surge protector, but I get the benefits (believed or true( of the power filtering.

Any thoughts on this? :dontknow:


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## lcaillo

Doesn't Monster have a lifetime warranty on their power products?

What do you attribute a quicker start-up time to? It makes no sense, as this is completely determined by the lamp/ballast relationship and not the a.c. power. The a.c. is rectified and filtered to d.c., converted in a switching power supply, then rectified and filtered again, then converted to pulsed d.c. start the lamp, then drops to a lower level to run it. The startup time is mostly in the lamp developing the arc and coming to temperature. The voltage is regulated by the ballast and not affected at all by line voltage variations...unless the ballast is defective.


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## markopolo

They may have a warranty protecting what's plugged into your Monster device, but not the device itself. To quote the Monster rep "Power Centers are designed to make the alarm noise that you are hearing when the take a surge which exceeds their capacity. Once the alarm sounds the unit needs to be replaced." When it takes a surge it dies to protect the components. However, it's just frustrating that there was no surge and it died.

Upon closer examination of the insides, it doesn't appear possible to bypass the surge protection board. They have integrated the functions of the board into the rest such that you can't simply work around it.

On a positive note, the ebay seller has agreed to replace the unit and has been great to deal with. I fully expected the response of "Well, you bought a used unit, what did you expect?" However, she has agreed that this unit should still be functioning and has been a pleasure to deal with.

As for my startup time, I cannot explain why it did start faster. lcaillo you obviousy know more about the inner workings of how the TV works. All I know is that 8 seconds is certainly faster than 11.


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## lcaillo

I can assure you that unless your ballast is defective, nothing that your power conditioner or line filter can do will affect lamp start-up time. It is very common to perceive a difference and attribute it to something that we expect to have an effect, when in fact the difference may be in the precision of the measurement of the condition, or in some other area, such as a change in the lamp itself. Whole industries are built on building expectations for such improvements that are not supported by the actual performance, the application of the technology, nor theory.

Monster Cabe has a lifetime warranty on some of their smaller surge suppressors and a 5 year warranty on units in the HTS series, as I understand it. If they are refusing to cover something like this without ever examining the unit, I suggest avoiding them in the future. I have not had experience with them on warranty issues, but other vendors such as Panamax and Tripplite simply exchange units with little question, preferring to get them back to examine the failure mode. Any vendor that would assume such a failure to be an uncovered problem is, IMO, not worthy of consideration. I have had Panamax units melted into a plastic blob from a direct hit that would technically not be covered by their warranty (because the unit did what it was supposed to do and sacrificed itself to protect the equipment) and they simply exchange it with no questions asked.


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## KevinG

I had to join this forum just to hop on this thread. I can't seem to find any information on repairing my (rather expensive) HTS 5000 Mk II.

It died the exact same way as describe here. Suddenly, without any surge (other things plugged into the same circuit were unaffected). Now the unit just makes a loud buzzing.

Called Monster. They told me to throw it in the garbage and buy a new one...No thanks.

Anyone have any clue what I might need to do to this thing? I'm handy with a soldering iron, just need a clue as to where to start.

Thanks.
-Kevin


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## lcaillo

No history on these units, no schematics...but for an experienced tech it may not be that complicated. Have you called around to the local repair shops? See the link in my sig.


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## landru

I know this thread is way old, but wanted to share my experience for a possible fix in case any of you still had these units. I have the HTS 5000 unit, and one day it failed in a nearly identical manner described by the first poster. I opened the unit and found a small board which I later identified as a surge protection board. On this board (among many other components) are three thermal resistors identified as TR (or TF) 1, 2 and 3. With an ohm meter, I measured across all three and found one of them measured open. I removed the part (no soldering with these parts, since they can be ruined with heat), got the specs off the part, and ordered a new one for less than five bucks. I replaced the part and the unit has been operating as normal for months.


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## NBPk402

Good to know. :T

Also, just in case no one knows... A Limited Lifetime Warranty has a minimum of 2 years, and a maximum of 5 years in some States. :T You are much better with a warranty that says 5 years, 10 years etc than a lifetime warranty imo.


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## KevinG

Yes, good to know, since I still *do* have a functioning one...that other one actually made it to the curbside trash a long time ago...and I simultaneously vowed to never give monster another cent of my money (which wasn't that hard to do, really...).


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## NBPk402

KevinG said:


> Yes, good to know, since I still *do* have a functioning one...that other one actually made it to the curbside trash a long time ago...and I simultaneously vowed to never give monster another cent of my money (which wasn't that hard to do, really...).


:T


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## mallaki

landru said:


> I know this thread is way old, but wanted to share my experience for a possible fix in case any of you still had these units. I have the HTS 5000 unit, and one day it failed in a nearly identical manner described by the first poster. I opened the unit and found a small board which I later identified as a surge protection board. On this board (among many other components) are three thermal resistors identified as TR (or TF) 1, 2 and 3. With an ohm meter, I measured across all three and found one of them measured open. I removed the part (no soldering with these parts, since they can be ruined with heat), got the specs off the part, and ordered a new one for less than five bucks. I replaced the part and the unit has been operating as normal for months.



Hello and thank you for your suggestion. I have HTS 5000 MKII myself that had the same symptoms of humming noise and what you explained in your post helped me a lot. I was able to duplicate that one FUJI TF S089 is now open and need to be replaced. I have searched for this Thermal Fuse with same specs but am not able to find it... You mentioned that you bought it for few bucks, can you be so kind and share where did you buy this part from?

to remind, this is Thermal Fuse FUJI TF S083 87 degrees Celcius, 15A, 250V 

Thank you


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## seniorcounselor65

Hi, Folks --
New member here, hoping to possibly assist somebody having a similar issue with a Monster Power HTS 2500 MKII. Had worked fine for years, but recently shut itself down (due to my error), emitting a continuous singing noise (an audible signal of some sort that persisted anytime the unit was plugged into a wall socket), and the reset button did nothing. Opened it up and saw no TR or TF resistors, but did see a 250vac 15a slow-blow fuse, which checked out as blown. The interior appeared otherwise perfect. By-passed fuse while unit unplugged, and then plugged unit back in, and there's no more singing noise, all the lights are back on, and the unit seems back to normal except for needing a new slow-blow fuse, which will be installed asap before returning the unit to service.
An example of what the fuse looks like is shown in this link: 
http://static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/1CL96_AS01?$mdmain$
Thanks to this forum for inspiring me to take a look inside before tossing the unit.


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## typ44q

Good advice on checking for a fuse. 
I had a problem with an old HTS 3600 (I think) It was the one with the analog meter on it and after a phone call to monster they replaced it with a 3600 MKII which has the digital meter no questions asked. 
Their products are expensive (but easy to find discounted if you look) but they have excellent customer service.


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## beta14ok

Old thread I know, but I'm still nursing / using these Monster HTS 2500 things. I can confirm the service above. My unit went into alarm as indicated and it was the Thermal fuse designated TF3. I replaced the stock TF with an NTE8085 87degree C opening temp and 15 amp. All seems well. Cheers!!


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