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Fixing Clicking Noise Problem on Apple 27" Display

By rihuang (/member/rihuang/) in Circuits (/circuits/) > Apple (/circuits/apple/projects/) 2,971 2 9

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Ever have one of your beloved display start to make a lot of noise when you are using it? This
seem to happen after the display has been in use for several years. I debugged one of the
display thinking there was a bug trapped in the cooling fan, but it turn out the root of the failure
is a lot more complicated.

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Step 1: Power Supply Design Overview

Here is the instruction on how to identify and x the clicking noise problem experienced on
certain model of the Apple Thunderbolt display and IMac computer.

The symptom is usually a fairly annoying noise coming from the display that sound like crashing
leaves. The noise usually comes on after the display has been in use for a while. The problem
tend to go away after the machine is unplugged for a few hours but will come back in minutes
after using the device. The problem does not go away if the machine is put into suspend state
without being unplugged.

The source of the issue is caused by the power supply board as I'll try to walk though the process
of identify the issue. With enough knowledge, it is an issue that can be xed for a few dollars
worth of components.

WARNING!!! HIGH VOLTAGE!!! WARNING!!! DANGER!!!

Working on power supply unit is potentially dangerous. Lethal voltage exists on the board
even after the device has been unplugged. Only attempt this x if you are trained in
handling high voltage system. Use of isolation transformer is REQUIRED to prevent
ground short. Energy storage capacitor takes up to ve minutes to discharge. MAKE
MEASUREMENT OF THE CAPACITOR BEFORE WORKING ON THE CIRCUIT!

WARNING!!! HIGH VOLTAGE!!!

The design of the most majority of the Apple display's power supply module is a two stage
power converter. The rst stage is a pre-regulator that convert input AC power into a high
voltage DC power. The AC input voltage can be anywhere between 100V to 240V AC. The output
of this pre-regulator is usually anywhere from 360V to 400V DC. The second stage converts the
high voltage DC down to the digital voltage supply for the computer and displays, usually from
5~20V. For the Thunderbolt display, there are three outputs: 24.5V for laptop charging. 16.5-
18.5V for LED backlight and 12V for digital logic.

The pre-regulator is used mainly for power factor correction. For low end power supply design, a
simple bridge recti er is used to convert the input AC to DC. This cause high peak current and
poor power factor. Power factor correction circuit correct this by drawing a sinusoidal current
 waveform. Often, power company will place a restriction on how low the power factor a device
is allowed to draw from the power line. Poor power factor incur extra loss on the power
company's equipment hence is a cost to the power company.

This pre-regulator is the source of the noise. If you disassemble the display till you can extract
the power supply board, you will see there are two power transformer. One of the transformer is
for the pre-regulator while the other transformer is the high to low voltage converter.

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Step 2: Problem Overview

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The design of the power factor correction circuit is base o the controller produced by ON
Semiconductor. The part number is NCP1605. The design is base on boost mode DC-DC power
converter. The input voltage is a recti ed sine wave instead of smooth DC voltage. The output
for this particular power supply design is determined to be 400V. The bulk energy storage
capacitor consists of three 65uF 450V capacitors running at 400V.

WARNING: DISCHARGE THESE CAPACITORS PRIOR TO WORKING ON THE CIRCUIT!

The problem I observed is the current being drawn by the boost converter is no longer
sinusoidal. For some reason, the converter shuts o at random interval. This leads to
inconsistent current being drawn from the socket. The interval where shutdown occurs is
random, and is below 20kHz. This is the source of the noise you hear. If you have an AC current
probe, connect the probe to the device and you should be able to see the current draw by the
device isn't smooth. When this happens, the display unit draw a current waveform with large
harmonic components. I'm sure the power company is not happy with this kind of power factor.
The power factor correction circuit, instead of being here to improve the power factor, is actually
causing a bad current ow where large current is being drawn in very narrow pulses. Overall, the
display sounds awful and the power noise it throw into the power line will make any electrical
engineer cringe. The extra stress it places on the power components probably will cause the
display to fail in the near future.

Combing though the datasheet for NCP1605, it appears there are multiple ways the chip's
output can be disabled. Measuring the waveform around the system, it become obvious one of
the protection circuit is kicking in. The result is boost converter being shut o in random timing.

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Step 3: Identify the Exact Component That Cause the Issue

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To identify the exact root cause of the issue, three voltage measurements should be performed.

The rst measurement is the voltage of the energy storage capacitor. This voltage should be
around 400V +/- 5V. If this voltage is too high or low, the FB voltage divider is drifted out of spec.

The second measurement is the FB (Feed back) pin's voltage (Pin 4) with respect to the (-) node
of the capacitor. The voltage should be at 2.5V

The third measurement is the OVP (Over voltage protection) pin's voltage (Pin 14) with respect
to the (-) node of the capacitor. The voltage should be at 2.25V

WARNING, all the measurement nodes contain high voltage. Isolation transformer should
be used for protection
If the voltage of the OVP pin is at 2.5V, the noise will be generated.

Why does this happen?

The power supply design contains three voltage dividers. The rst divider sample the input AC
voltage, which is at 120V RMS. This divider is unlikely to fail due to the lower peak voltage and it
is consists of 4 resistors. The next two dividers sample the output voltage (400V), each of these
dividers consists of 3x 3.3M ohm resistors in series, forming a 9.9MOhm resistor that convert the
voltage from 400V down to 2.5V for FB pin, and 2.25V for the OVP pin.

The low side of the divider for FB pin contains an e ective 62K ohm resistor and a 56K ohm
resistor for the OVP pin. The FP voltage divider is located on the other side of the board,
probably partially covered by some silicone glue for the capacitor. Unfortunately, I don't have a
detail picture of the FB resistors.

The trouble occurred when the 9.9M Ohm resistor start to drift. If the OVP trips under normal
operation, the output of the boost converter will turn o , resulting in sudden halt of the input
current.

Another possibility is the FB resistor start to drift, this can result in output voltage start to creep
above 400V, till the OVP trip or damage to the secondary DC-DC converter.

Now comes the x.

The x involve replacement of the defective resistors. It is best to replace the resistors for both
the OVP and the FP voltage divider. These are the 3x 3.3M resistors. The resistor you use should
be 1% surface mount resistor size 1206.

Make sure you clean the ux left over from the solder as with the voltage applied, the ux can
act as a conductor and reduce the e ective resistance.

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Step 4: Why Did This Fail?

The reason this circuit failed after some time is due to the high voltage applied to these resistors.

The boost converter is on all the time, even if the display/computer is not being used. Thus, as
the way it is designed, there will be 400V applied to the 3 series resistors. Calculation suggest
133V is applied to each of the resistors. Maximum working voltage suggested by the Yaego 1206
chip resistor data sheet is 200V Thus, the designed voltage is quite close to the maximum
working voltage these resistors are meant to handle. The stress on the material of the resistor
must be great. The stress from the high voltage eld might have accelerate the rate the material
deteriorates by promoting particle movement. This is my own conjuncture. Only a detailed
analysis of the failed resistors by a material scientist will fully understand why it failed. In my
opinion, using 4 series resistors instead of 3 will reduce the stress on each resistor and extend
the life of the device.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial on how to x the Apple Thunderbolt display. Please extend the
life of the device you own already so less of them end up in the land ll.

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9 Discussions

(/member/taptronic/) taptronic (/member/taptronic/) 3 days ago

Reply / Upvote
Really sad that I didnt come across this sooner because about 1 year ago I tossed away a March-2009
iMac 24 for making a really REALLY loud snapping sound. First time I didnt know what happened as I
was not in the room. I thought someone outside threw a coin at one of my windows. Took forever for
me to look around for a cracked window or something that fell - it was a most disturbing noise at
11:30PM... Second time it happened with me right in front of the machine and I immediately turned it
off. I took the hard drive out of it and I searched for what it could be. Someone told me that they
thought some of the power supply capacitors were going bad. After a while, I realized I could not fix it, I
tossed the machine out on recycle day.

(/member/grrivera7/) grrivera7 (/member/grrivera7/) 3 months ago

Reply / Upvote
Hello,

Do you recommend powering off the display when not in use, via power strip etc. ?

"The reason this circuit failed after some time is due to the high voltage applied to these resistors. The
boost converter is on all the time, even if the display/computer is not being used ... The stress on the
material of the resistor must be great."

Thank you,
Gus
1 reply F

(/member/AvneeshS4/) AvneeshS4 (/member/AvneeshS4/) 5 months ago

Reply / Upvote
Hey, can someone share a HQ image of the NCP1605G area or maybe the schematics of the
board(this would be much better). I have attached an image showing the burnt part of the board . I
need to know the values of the components around the Power Factor Controller . Thanks in advance
guys.

(https://content.instructables.com/ORIG/F0W/05LE/KDX3PU6A/F0W05LEKDX3PU6A.jpg?
fit=bounds&frame=1&height=1024&width=1024)

(/member/Xellers/) Xellers (/member/Xellers/) 1 year ago

Reply / Upvote
This worked great for me, thanks!

Attached are pictures of the resistors I replaced on the top and bottom side of the board (in total, 9x of
the 3.3Mohm 1% 1206 resistors marked "3304"). On the top side I used a small flat head screwdriver
to pry off the white goop that was covering the divider. I also used a spray-on flux remover to clean the
area after removing the old resistors and after installing the new resistors.

Hope this helps someone.

 (https://content.instructables.com/ORIG/FNX/YT1A/K5AB96RX/FNXYT1AK5AB96RX.jpg?
(https://content.instructables.com/ORIG/FGL/NVFG/K5AB96UZ/FGLNVFGK5AB96UZ.jpg
fit=bounds&frame=1&height=1024&width=1024) fit=bounds&frame=1&height=1024&width=1024)

(/member/Cortex42/) Cortex42 (/member/Cortex42/) Question 1 year ago

Answer / Upvote
I’ve been trying to find a good replacement for the 330k resistors.
Would this one work?
https://uk.farnell.com/panasonic/erjp08f3303v/res-330k-1-0-66w-1206-thick-film/dp/1750870
(https://uk.farnell.com/panasonic/erjp08f3303v/res-330k-1-0-66w-1206-thick-film/dp/1750870)

Although it says 3303 instead of 3304 (as the resisitors on the board does).
Although I’m not 100% sure of how these resistors are marked, shouldn’t 3304 actually mean 3 300
000 ohm and not 330 000? But I suppose I’m missing something here.
1 answer F

(/member/hans311/) hans311 (/member/hans311/) Question 1 year ago on Step 4

Answer / Upvote
Hello,
Do you have any outputs manuals for the power board PA-3251-3A?
Thank you,
Hans
1 answer F

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