This post covers the last 2 days in that I did all the work yesterday and then finished editing, compiling and posting the video this morning (before heading off to an all-day airshow).

As I removed the right, narrower GNS480 unit’s case for the internal battery swap-out, I found these scorch marks on the inside….

Which were a direct result of exploding capacitors that caused this damage on one of the daughter boards inside the unit.

Thankfully, as bad and nasty as it looks, it’s all mainly residue and the components, while blackened, are most likely undamaged… much like my Mom used to say about the black charred toast I’d often get for breakfast! (this info per my discussion with Chris Short, who saw these pics that I sent him).

Here are the offending capacitors, which there is at least 1 or 2 more pairs of these that need to be swapped out inside this unit to ensure this doesn’t happen again (thus the unit will be shipped off to Chris Short for repair and assessment).

For size reference, here are the capacitors on a small Post-It note.

But the show must go on, right?!  So in lieu of this setback and I went ahead and finished my internal battery swap-out task.  And here is the video to prove it.  Enjoy.

I will note that for the rest of the today I’ll be at Cherry Point MCAS with my little buddy (friend’s daughter) to watch the Blue Angels do their stuff.  Tomorrow is Mother’s Day so I’ll be spending as much time with Jess as possible.

I plan to get back to the build bright and early Monday.