Anonymous said:

I just wanted to add another success story regarding the capacitor replacement fix. After reading this forum and the stories about the bad capacitors, I opened my Slingbox Solo and found evidence of the same problem. Two bulging capacitors with one of them leaking through the vent in the top. There was a third capacitor rated at 25v that looked fine, so I left it in place.

I got two 470uf 35v capacitors. a soldering iron and some rosin solder (60% tin/40% lead) from Radio Shack (total cost about $12), watched a couple of u-tube videos on how to solder and went about fixing the Slingbox. It was pretty straightforward, but a little nerve-wracking for a novice to take a hot soldering iron to the circuit board of the Slingbox, but once I made up my mind to fix it or trash it, I was all in. The existing solder is pretty hardened and did not melt too quickly for me (30-watt soldering iron), but it did and I cleared as much of the solder as I could using a solder sucker (probably wasn't really needed … the solder on the existing joint was very small and I never really cleared it all anyway) and then pulled the old capacitors out with the iron in place to keep the solder liquid. Once I got those out, getting the new capacitors in was pretty easy. They are larger than the originals, but they fit fine. Been streaming for about 30 minutes now, which is about 30 minutes longer than it was doing before applying this fix!

Thanks to everyone for posting about this issue. I never would have tried anything like this without having a clear path to follow.

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Glad to year of your success!  
Your story is about the same as mine — I have the RadioShack dual 15/30 watt iron and I think 30 watts is a bit low for melting the original solder, but it does work.  I recently fixed a HP m8200n desktop computer by replacing 12 (8 bulging) large motherboard capacitors and had the same issue you describe.  I learned a lot doing the first few.  The hardest part of fixing these is clearing out the hole (or keeping the solder liquid) while inserting the new capacitor.  You were smart to get the solder-sucker thing, it's possable without that but much easier if you have the right tool.  I need to get one of those.

 

TIP: Instead of trying to melt the old soler immediately let the iron get good & hot (e.g. for 5-7 minutes) then, while touching the iron to the old joint, ADD a tiny bit of fresh solder to the old joint.  It will melt MUCH faster that way — I'm not sure if it's the increased contact area from the new moltin solder or if it mixes with the old solder but either way it works.

 

P.S. Don't do this on sleep deficit and try to grab the business end of the iron (or forget to unplug it) like I did.  Trust me, it's hot.  If you do get burned, I can recommend Aloe gel available at most drug stores.

Well, as I posted above, I was locked out of the Sling Forums and had my two posts deleted. On a whim I tried to get in the other day and I was able to post; but, it was a short-lived success -  yet again, my posts have been deleted and now Sling has decided to terminate the topic! Check it out here: http://answers.slingbox.com/message/25922#25922.

My reading of the referenced support article revealed NO MENTION of any out-of-warranty repairs by Sling. So, as I and many others have surmised, Sling is sweeping the bad cap issue under the rug and leaving their suckers customers high and dry. Let me repeat that – if your Solo is 367 days old and has defective capacitors that prevent it from working properly, Sling has no provision in their new support article/policy to take care of you. Sling has abandoned you knowing that they have a hardware issue.

Until such time as that oft mentioned lawsuit against Sling and their faulty product(s) is a reality, please join me in telling the truth about Sling's treatment of its customers and its faulty products by writing reviews on Amazon, Newegg and any other such site. I have written reviews on each site as well as on PC World.

Brandon C said:

It may not be up for long but if it is you can reply there.

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      Thanks, but I don't think that I'll waste my time – I've had 4 posts deleted so far! And all of them were decorous posts; now, they wouldn't be!  

      Like you, I've been a Slingbox owner for a long time and remember the time when they cared about me as a customer – not so today, so it is time for me to become a Vulkano customer when my repaired Solo bites the dust.

 

      That said, I'd be willing to do my share in a class action proceeding, however. 

BTW – My Solo with the replaced caps probably has 25 +/- streaming hours on it without a drop; and not a wasted minute or dollar with Sling tech support! Also, NO HELP from Sling – the only help that I received was from this site!

Best of luck and let us know!

Terrific!