I have a Sole F63 Treadmill 2016 Model & it will not power up. The LED light on the Motor Control Board does turn on when power is supplied. The MCB is one of the newer versions with a Red colored 6-pin connector on the board, the main harness going to the display is a 6-wire. I will attach a picture of the board. I do realize it has some discoloration around the base of the big Capacitor. I just can't get to the back side of the board without taking the heatsink off, which I haven't done yet.

 

I think taking off the heatsink would be justified. That discoloration by the capacitor almost looks like it might follow a trace on the underside of the board.

Just a guess..

 

I think taking off the heatsink would be justified. That discoloration by the capacitor almost looks like it might follow a trace on the underside of the board.

Just a guess..

You know what when you try to look inbetween the heatsink and MCB it does look like a edge of a trace has lifted but I cant really tell for sure. I will take the heatsink off tomorrow and post a picture of the underside of the MCB.
Any ideas on why something like this happens? I figured it was the Cap overheated & never thought about it being related to a trace.

 

That looks like either electrolyte or scorch marks on the board. The big capacitor could be blown or something behind the board overheated.
If the capacitor failed it will have taken out the components before it. Hopefully the fuse (top left) blew in time to save other components
The other possibility is that something in the power supply failed and over-voltaged the capacitor. Check the bridge rectifier that is bolted to the chassis, top left.
Check what is behind the board before you do anything else to it..
Regards,
Keith

 

That looks like either electrolyte or scorch marks on the board. The big capacitor could be blown or something behind the board overheated.
If the capacitor failed it will have taken out the components before it. Hopefully the fuse (top left) blew in time to save other components
The other possibility is that something in the power supply failed and over-voltaged the capacitor. Check the bridge rectifier that is bolted to the chassis, top left.
Check what is behind the board before you do anything else to it..
Regards,
Keith

I checked the fuse & it is good. I also checked the Bridge Rectifier & the AC side gradually climbed to 118v & the DC side was at 15v.
When you say behind the board, you talking about the underside? I don't believe there is anything on the other side of the board. It's hard to tell because of the limited space to peak in.

 

I checked the fuse & it is good. I also checked the Bridge Rectifier & the AC side gradually climbed to 118v & the DC side was at 15v.
When you say behind the board, you talking about the underside? I don't believe there is anything on the other side of the board. It's hard to tell because of the limited space to peak in.

The DC side of the rectifier should have been much higher than that. Either the rectifier has a problem or something is drawing far too much current. Try it again and when you switch off and un-plug the mains, check to see if anything feels warm. It might give you a clue.

 

The DC side of the rectifier should have been much higher than that. Either the rectifier has a problem or something is drawing far too much current. Try it again and when you switch off and un-plug the mains, check to see if anything feels warm. It might give you a clue.

I did recheck the Bridge Rectifier and I must of did something wrong the first time. so the AC input voltage is at about 115v and the DC output voltage is 146v. After unplugging it I checked for warmth anywhere and also was using a infrared temp gun while it was powered on and didn't get any red flags either way. I also checked the 6-pin wire harness and that is definitely good as well as I checked the wire connector on the MCB and the Control display board, each pin separately to make sure it has Continuity to somewhere close on both boards whiles it was unplugged and plugged in.
I guess I will take the Heatsink off the board and check the big Cap as well as the others with my ESR meter. I also checked the Bridge Rectifier in Diode mode and it tested good.
I don't know what else to really do :-( Oh Ya the last thing I noticed is when I had the 6-wire harness unplugged from the display console board the LED light on the MCB got brighter as well as more steady/constant. When I plugged the 6-wire harness back into the display console board the LED dimmed and I guess it has a little fluceration in the brightness, it doesn't blink but kinda dims if that makes sense. The only thing I can't think of is that the 6-wire harnesses RED connector on the MCB that has the "Potentially" missing pin which is to the GREEN wire of the harness is actually not supposed to be missing and that the previous owner messed with the board and didn't realize the pin was missing. It was glued in when i removed it so unless the previous owner reglued it back in place, I don't know.

 

Anyone have any other ideas or information?

 

I finally removed the heatsink after a lot of debating if I should send it to someone to repair it or go ahead with the repair myself. I measured the big cap with a ESR & Capacitor meter, and it passed. I did find out from a "Sole Technician" that "pin 4" of the Red Connector should read 14VDC [+/-] 1-2V. I believe I only was reading about 7-8vdc, this "pin-4" is what should be turning on the upper display & in my case it's not on. After I took off the heatsink you can tell something got hot and must of blew some components [I'm assuming a component/s that would cause lower vdc at pin-4 but it must not of damaged something enough to have the fuse blow]. As you can see in the attached pictures the positive pin of the big cap lost some of its solder which I found underneath the board stuck to the heatsink. I also found another spot on the board that had the same issue just not as bad and it's on one of the legs of the Optocoupler [I think that's what the black rectangular with 4 pins are? 817C?]. I tested the diode [D-24] next to the big cap & it tested short both ways, which I think is bad. Any help on what to do next would be appreciated.

 

Adding additional photos for whoever can help or just needs to see the backside of the motor controller board.

 

Adding additional photos for whoever can help or just needs to see the backside of the motor controller board.

Did you ever solve the issue? I have the exact same problem with the same board and same treadmill.

 

Did you ever solve the issue? I have the exact same problem with the same board and same treadmill.

No I never was able to properly troubleshoot/diagnose what was causing the problem. I did take the heatsink off & desoldered the big capacitor [which was a pain]. I believe the big capacitor failed & caused a couple cold solder joints from the heat possibly as well as damaged the tracks under it & possibly the pads. All my learning has been self-taught with youtube & Google search. What I do know is that 1 leg of the big cap must of heated up to the point of melting 1 of the solder joint, which dripped off onto the side of the heatsink due to how it is mounted on the machine.

 

No I never was able to properly troubleshoot/diagnose what was causing the problem. I did take the heatsink off & desoldered the big capacitor [which was a pain]. I believe the big capacitor failed & caused a couple cold solder joints from the heat possibly as well as damaged the tracks under it & possibly the pads. All my learning has been self-taught with youtube & Google search. What I do know is that 1 leg of the big cap must of heated up to the point of melting 1 of the solder joint, which dripped off onto the side of the heatsink due to how it is mounted on the machine.

I’ll send you my results of what fixes this one because this its still under warranty. I’m waiting on parts from the warranty department. I’ll let you know what the root cause for the issue was.