Behringer UB2442FX: something to be aware of

I just lost the power supply on my (original model, non-Xenyx) UB2442FX.

However there is an excellent repair organisation in the UK (prolineaudio.co.uk) who provide a full spare part and repair service for Behringer.

They tell me that they can usually repair PSU faults for around 30 quid (which is, what, 60-something US dollars), and just send a complete replacement for around 65 quid, which isn't outrageous, but the gentleman I spoke to did suggest not leaving the mixer powered on 24/7 (which is what I tend to do, as when turning it off, it does create a bit of a thump through the powered monitors even with the faders all at zero).

He suggested that in time this continual power-up may lead to PSU failure. He did mention that PSU failures appear to be quite rare; they have only had about six failures previously.

So just thought I'd mention that it might be wise not to leave one of these units powered on 24/7, as this may lead eventually to PSU failure - in fairness, I've had it maybe 3 years so that's quite a few hours of running time.

PS: To stem the usual flow of anti-Behringer rants, frankly, it has been an excellent mixer and looking inside it for the first time in order to do the repair, I can say that build quality is excellent with only three circuit boards, all surface-mount fiberglass boards with standard ribbon cables and sockets connecting them together. Even the PSU is fiberglass and I have seen on many much more expensive pieces of kit power supply boards which are just phenolic (cheap and nasty, and also prone to catching fire when something overheats on them).

I can see no evidence of cheap or substandard construction in any way, and in fairness, I think I may have some power surges where I live because my TFT monitor has failed around about the same timeframe. But thought I'd just mention that it might be wise to limit powered-on time based on what I was told by the repair people.

Incidentally, I think that the cost of these is kept low primarily by keeping the number of boards so low, effectively, there are very few internal cables etc with as I said everything on three PCBs, the main one covering all the channel faders and ancillary circuitry. So the actual assembly process can be made very cost-effective. The actual components, including sockets etc, appear to be of good quality and I have not had any problems with plugs, switches or faders in the time I have had the mixer. Indeed, I still have a smaller Behringer unit I use for gigs which I promptly pressed into service while its big brother gets repaired.

PS: The root cause of the PSU failure is likely to be capacitors failing, from a visual inspection.

It looks possible these are part of an enormous problem that plagued the entire electronics industry a few years ago where due to a bungled piece of industrial espionage, vast numbers of flawed capacitors from a variety of manufacturers failed prematurely, affecting companies as big as IBM and Dell, for example. That's a fascinating story in its own right that you can find on the net.

Anyway, just thought I'd post this. There's a lot of anti-Behringer sentiment out there but my experiences have in general been very positive.