Help！ Cat peed on my 14B...

amblin · « **on:** 24 Jun 2016, 06:18 pm »

Well the unthinkable happened and it hit hard...

So I was away for almost 40 days , covered all the equipments with linen cover and asked my wife to keep an eye on the fuss balls, but today when I finally got time to sit down and enjoy some time, the fuse got blown the moment I switched on the 14B2.

So I opened the cover and shocked to discover some strange oxidation on the bottom left part of the PCB (see picture) and it's clear that the cat peed on it at some point when I was away , and it got onto the PCB...... I'm sure something got damaged by the oxidation.

Edit: wife just admitted that she used my equipment several times and left them uncovered for maybe 3 days... She thought it's better to let them 'cook' for a while because it rained all the time:duh:

My question is, can this be repaired? If so, any estimates?

p.s. And yeah, I'm aware of the new SST3 series...

James Tanner · « **Reply #1 on:** 24 Jun 2016, 06:23 pm »

Where are you located?

james

amblin · « **Reply #2 on:** 24 Jun 2016, 06:32 pm »

GuangZhou PRChina , there's an authorized dealer in the area but I'm not sure about their ability on mending things...

the oxidation seem quite bad and I guess I'd better leave it there and not to test my luck on new fuses.

amblin · « **Reply #3 on:** 24 Jun 2016, 07:17 pm »

Btw, just cleaned the innards, the input stage, and the two separate amplifying PCBs on both sides and all the chips, expensive looking capacitors including the two huge donuts are visually free from urine damage.

The stupid cat chewed the power cord aswell ..

avahifi · « **Reply #4 on:** 24 Jun 2016, 07:22 pm »

Has a similar problem with one of my local client's amplifiers many long years ago.

Evidently his girl friends' little Chiwawa came in from the cold and peed into the top perferated cover of his Dyna ST-400, which immediately went ark, flash, pop, and died. (Not the dog, just the amp - - - but should have been the dog.)

Unfortunately he waited about two months to contact me and bring the amp in.

I pulled the cover, backed away from the stink. The internal metal surfaces were all covered by green fuzz.

I put it on the back porch, dumped nearly a full spray can of DeOxit D5 into it and waited a few days for the stink to die down.

Brought it back in, put all new fuses in it, turned it on, and amazing it was playing again, good as new except for the residue remaining stink, never could get rid of that.

Hope you can get your amp running again too. Regarding the cat, I heard rumors that some four legged friends make good eating in China.

Just saying.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

amblin · « **Reply #5 on:** 24 Jun 2016, 07:53 pm »

Thanks for the info, my main concern is to stop the oxidation from spreading, and good lord cat urine is 50000 times worse. I'm hoping it's just the oxidation causing a temporary short circuit and will go way after a good cleaning . So far I spotted no PCB separation or individual part damage.

And yeah, they eat certain four legged friends in some part of China, there's even a local festival of sorts which caused quite a stir in the news and some harsh conflicts with animal rights organizations , but not the cat, cats are useless, they never learn, and they never liked anyone , they just wanted a roof ,some food and some nice expensive stuff to pee onto.

Quote from: avahifi on 24 Jun 2016, 07:22 pm

Has a similar problem with one of my local client's amplifiers many long years ago.

Evidently his girl friends' little Chiwawa came in from the cold and peed into the top perferated cover of his Dyna ST-400, which immediately went ark, flash, pop, and died. (Not the dog, just the amp - - - but should have been the dog.)

Unfortunately he waited about two months to contact me and bring the amp in.

I pulled the cover, backed away from the stink. The internal metal surfaces were all covered by green fuzz.

I put it on the back porch, dumped nearly a full spray can of DeOxit D5 into it and waited a few days for the stink to die down.

Brought it back in, put all new fuses in it, turned it on, and amazing it was playing again, good as new except for the residue remaining stink, never could get rid of that.

Hope you can get your amp running again too. Regarding the cat, I heard rumors that some four legged friends make good eating in China.

Just saying.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

BobC · « **Reply #6 on:** 24 Jun 2016, 08:04 pm »

I had a Marantz receiver that died. I sent it in to the mfr for repairs. Going from memory here, but when I got it back the service report noted a fluid, likely cat pee in the unit. I thought WTF!?! Stupid cat liked to sit on top of my gear in the winter because its warm. Also liked to chew through wired. So I cut a piece of plexi glass plastic to keep her from walking around and over my stuff. Also wrapped my wires. Did the trick.

Thankfully she never took to sitting on my Odyssey Stratos amps - always seem to run nice a cool I guess

Side comment: I use to have a friend with a cat that started acting weird. Like stumbling around and having seizures. Eventually she had to put it down. The vet said this was classic symptoms from electrocution. Sure enough, my friend found a lamp cord that the cat had gnawed through.

Buy a fish.

Letitroll98 · « **Reply #7 on:** 24 Jun 2016, 08:24 pm »

So amblin, how far can you throw a cat?

CanadianMaestro · « **Reply #8 on:** 24 Jun 2016, 09:00 pm »

I could use some new violin strings....

rif · « **Reply #9 on:** 24 Jun 2016, 10:02 pm »

You abandoned your property. The cat took advantage and marked his territory. Possession is 9/10th of the law. So the amp is the cat's now, no longer yours.

Seriously though, im sorry about your gear. Seems like there are some reasonable recovery options.

JerryM · « **Reply #10 on:** 24 Jun 2016, 10:32 pm »

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #11 on:** 24 Jun 2016, 11:22 pm »

Well seems the cat is just 50% guilty, the amp had its cloth cover removed for many days which led the feline to investigate the abandoned property.

CanadianMaestro · « **Reply #12 on:** 24 Jun 2016, 11:25 pm »

twitch54 · « **Reply #13 on:** 25 Jun 2016, 12:53 am »

Quote from: avahifi on 24 Jun 2016, 07:22 pm

Regarding the cat, I heard rumors that some four legged friends make good eating in China.

Just saying.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

I agree with Frank............that cat is toast !

thunderbrick · « **Reply #14 on:** 25 Jun 2016, 01:30 am »

Are you sure it was the cat?

thunderbrick · « **Reply #15 on:** 25 Jun 2016, 01:35 am »

Quote from: amblin on 24 Jun 2016, 07:17 pm

The stupid cat chewed the power cord aswell ..

Buy the cat a higher-voltage PC, and rub catnip on it.

Mark Korda · « **Reply #16 on:** 25 Jun 2016, 02:55 am »

I was given a tomcat that I've grown attached to. I had to remove my prized speakers I made and get some Radio Shack Minimus 7's. There the little black steel speakers that are built like little Japanese tanks and they sound great. I got a big moving box from U-Haul and fashioned a giant sub-woofer protector cover that comes off real quick.
On the sides of where my TV is I have some light weight dumbells , one on top of the other that resemble German tank traps on Normandy. I saw the cat take out my TV by getting behind it
I've never had a cat before and thought I could not adapt, stereo wise but there can be Hi-Fi if you work around it.
My cat loves the best of the Ventures coming thru a Heathkit AA-32 as much as I do. 8 watts a side.....Mark Korda

amblin · « **Reply #17 on:** 25 Jun 2016, 03:45 am »

My problem is not just A cat, but FIVE cats. Down from NINE. My wife absolutely adores them....

especially the male Angola , larger and heavier than some smaller dogs he's most destructive and peed everywhere .

I already cleaned all the visible cat pee and working on the oxidated contacts , but guess it's not wise to take apart the unit any further apart from the top plate. I'll let it dry nicely and then try some new fuse. If nothing worked I'll take it back to the AD... It's really heavy...

Panelhead1 · « **Reply #18 on:** 25 Jun 2016, 04:08 am »

Quote from: amblin on 24 Jun 2016, 06:18 pm

Well the unthinkable happened and it hit hard...

So I was away for almost 40 days , covered all the equipments with linen cover and asked my wife to keep an eye on the fuss balls, but today when I finally got time to sit down and enjoy some time, the fuse got blown the moment I switched on the 14B2.

So I opened the cover and shocked to discover some strange oxidation on the bottom left part of the PCB (see picture) and it's clear that the cat peed on it at some point when I was away , and it got onto the PCB...... I'm sure something got damaged by the oxidation.

Edit: wife just admitted that she used my equipment several times and left them uncovered for maybe 3 days... She thought it's better to let them 'cook' for a while because it rained all the time:duh:

My question is, can this be repaired? If so, any estimates?

p.s. And yeah, I'm aware of the new SST3 series...

I agree with Frank that a good solvent should get you going again. My wife is turning into "The Dog Lady". She wants a new puppy all the time. I have a repellant that keeps chewing dogs away. It is Tapitilo hot sauce. Wiped the furniture, carpeted stairs, power cords, speaker cables, even cell phone chargers. One application is lifetime.
Try a little hot sauce on the amp.

PDR · « **Reply #19 on:** 25 Jun 2016, 04:29 am »

There are ultrasonic cleaning companies that can take care of that for you.......really.