Onkyo TX-NR 5009 - defect main relay STD-S-109DMR2 - switching itself off - no sound - no image

I have already fixed an 809 and a 515 recently. The 809 had the famous DSP problem and a reflow of the chip fixed it. The 515 had a defect main relay.

I have been using the 809 for a while. It replaced the Marantz SR7007, because its spacial sound representation was much more impressive.

When I saw the former top range 5009 on eBay I just had to have it. The seller said that it did not produce any sound. Thus, I was confident to find a familiar fault. I was wrong.

When I plugged it in cold straight from the box it started with a strange rattling noise from one of the relay. That couldn't be right. A check of the software versions showed that the DSP was ok. Good.

A few moments later - KLACK - the mains fuse triggered. This was reproducible. I unplugged the huge analog transformer and the fuse stayed on. A relay was acting up though. So, this relay switched the transformer on and off in a too quick succession. This triggered the fuse due to the inrush current.

First I suspected a defect relay. However, with time and warm-up the problem disappeared. I went ahead, connected the TV and got no image. Not even the Onkyo logo. Sound from analog and optical inputs was basically ok, albeit a little too silent. The HDMI input and output seemed to be completely dead. My PC did not recognize it as a sound device via HDMI.

So it had to be the HDMI board, which controls and digitally processes everything in this device. That's intimidating to begin with. So let's focus on the basics first. What improves with increasing temperatures? Capacitors! Although the measurements of the various DC supplies looked fine, I pulled off one of the SMD electrolytics and its ESR was abysmal!

All of those suckers had to go. Seven super low ESR Nichicon HD took their place. I have plenty of them in stock specifically for Onkyo HDMI board rework.

On the top side I mounted two heatsinks on the DSP (right corner) and on one image processor to keep those two under better working conditions. Five caps had to be replaced there.

After putting the board back in the image was still missing. What the heck? A factory reset and the monster was good to go!

The 5009 is a huge piece of hardware and on a much higher level than the cheaper ones. The sound compared to the 809 is a lot smoother and more natural. Onkyo has put more effort into the digital domain, obviously, because the analog amplifiers are identical, with a little more juice in the power section.

Update - Relay Trouble

The receiver worked fine for a while and one evening it went pop! and the sound was gone. Everything else was normal. I noticed that it cooled down and my immediate suspicion was that the main transformer had switched off.

The main relay died. Its coil was open. What is it with those Onkyos that their relays die like flies?

Finding a replacement turned out to be difficult. The original part in the 5009 is a STD-S10DMR2. Notice the 2 at the end! Smaller Onkyos use the SDT-S-109LMR2.

Both types are designed with a reduced power consumption in mind. Let's look at the data sheet:

In forums I read that the voltage is too high. I soldered in a resistor with the specified value of the coil and measured more than 10V until the speaker relays clicked. Then it went down to a little more than 9V.

It was impossible to find the original DMR2 part, only the DMR. Also, the 9V types were unobtainable except from Aliexpress. On eBay I ordered 12V STD-DMR. In the meantime I found a spare 10A 12V relay for testing. After adjusting R9109 it worked fine, the receiver is back alive. The voltage is now between 11.5 and 10.5 volts.

So, the relays are not plug and play when you replace the low power with the normal types! You must adjust R9109 to bring the voltage to the proper range. Also, take notice if it is a LMR (5A) or DMR (10A) type! The size is the same, so, if you are planning to put some on stock, the DMR will fit all receivers.

The DMRs have a higher inrush current rating of TV-8. In that sense, they are quite unique. During my search for a replacement I only found TV-5 ratings.

I think that the low-power DMR2 / LMR2 relays were garbage and Onkyo hit them with a little too much voltage. It does not surprise me that I could not find any of those types. Only the normal ones.

Surprisingly, only the main relay got too much voltage. The ones for the secondary transformers were all inside the spec.

Update Dec 2019

Still running almost every day without problems. I love this machine! The sound is smooth, colorful and detailed. The distance to the 809 that I've used for a while before is substantial.
I have sourced relais with the TV-8 inrush current rating in the meantime. So far my replacement relais is working fine, so no hurry there.

Update August 2021

Still running perfectly fine. Besides the 55 inch Panasonic plasma TV this repair is giving me the most joy.

More IR6500 tweaks - silencing fan - fixing flipped polarity of thermocouple socket - adjusting temperature offset - run bottom heater independently

Silence the fan

The fan is annoyingly loud. It is a line voltage fan, so you cannot just put some PC fan in there. The remedy is simple. I used four rubber mounts I had left over from my last PC build. I dumped the grill. It is unnecessary.

What a relief!

Non-standard K-Type socket polarity

This device is full of surprises. I damaged the original thermocouple recently and plugged in another K-Type I had lying around. Surprise! The temperature figures were going down instead of up when I heated it.

Why was that? For what reason ever, they managed to flip the polarity of the K-Type socket. It is non-standard! The original sensor also had the polarity wrong. Dafug?

It is easy to fix though. Just open the bottom cover, unscrew the wires and put them back on in reverse.

To make positioning of the sensor possible without fiddling with tape, I bough an adjustable holder HERE. The integrated magnet is too weak. I glued a powerful neodym on top of it. This thing sticks!

Very nice, sensitive, yet a little fragile sensors are THESE. They need a readjustment of the controller, which I will address next.

My sensor setup looks like this:

Adjusting temperature offset

The new sensors were off by a few degrees and I investigated possibilities to fix this. Thankfully there is a decent manual available for the controller. The manual that came with the IR6500 is utter useless.

It works like this:

• Measure the temperature in boiling water to get the difference to a reference  My new sensor was 6°C off in reference to 100°C.
• Press PAR/SET and hold until the controller switches to configuration mode. You will see some text instead of the usual temperature reading.
• Press PAR/SET until OFSt appears.
• Use the arrow keys to offset the difference.
• Press PAR/SET until the normal display returns.

Run bottom heater independently

It always annoyed me that it wasn't possible to use the preheater alone, without running a program. I like to have the bottom heater at its max temperature and the board pre-heated before I even start the reflow process.

It is easy. All you need is three wires and a toggle switch.

The bottom controller's terminals 4 and 5 output the control voltage for the heater power relay. Terminal 5 goes straight to the relay. Terminal 4 is looped through the main controller's terminal 7, which gets connected to terminal 6 when a program starts. Terminal 6 goes to the heater relay.

• Remove the wire between main controller terminal 6 and the bottom heater switch.
• Wire the toggle switch to choose between terminal 4 of the bottom controller and terminal 6 on the main controller. The common wire goes to the heater relay.

In ON position the bottom heater controller works independent from the main controller. With the temp set to 300 I get around 110°C on the upside of the boards.