Why URO DME Relays Fail Right Out of th Box
 

I bought a URO relay because it was 1/3 the price of the others and I thought how can you screw up a relay? None the less I decided to test it and it didn't work.

The two center 4mm pins were very loose and freely rotated. They look to be silver plated but tarnished. I screwed with it and it started to work. The swaged pins are not tight to the metal jumper strips that go to the PCB.

I decided to fix it by hitting the top of the pins with a punch (see the center bottom pin in the lower photo). Getting the bottom off is not an easy task btw. I hope the profile of the pin has an area to accommodate the plastic of the base and the swaging doesn't also compress the plastic. I'm thinking of adding solder if the plastic will take it.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1468426043.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1468425970.jpg

Junk. Use the Kaehler brand. KAE. German.

That was my first thought but I like to do failure analysis.


EDIT: this is a spare. The original had a bad solder joint.

Well, now we know how to fix them on the fly.

Thanks brother Rick!

Hey URO guy, you watching this, I think you should send this to China to let them know what they need to do. a Super simple fix or manufacturing step. For them maybe .5 cents in cost per week?

URO products aren't worth being a door stop.....why bother?

I'd solder it and be done with it. It'll work fine because the silver-platted stuff wets easily by the solder. And if the plastic gets hot and deforms a little - who cares..... While you are at it also reflow the other solder joints as they look a little thin.

Apparently the swaged top of the pin also compresses the plastic because the pins got loose again after the heat of soldering.

This thing is a piece of junk but if you want to resurrect one I think you could get in and solder the tops of the pins without removing the PCB.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1468475111.jpg

Is there a country of origin on that part? It looks like the crappy is built in

Most URO parts suck, they have the same bad rap when it comes to Saabs.

But they are CHEAP! :p

That is because the company strives to build parts down to a price, not the best part they can make. They know they are not competing with the big companies on quality.

Lots of their crap comes from China but not all of it.

JR

I do not really mind that they make crap, because the price indicates crap.

What I do mind is A brand companies making crap and charging the premium.

EG; The Bosch silver bullit Coil made in the Brazilian Rain Forest by midgets on coke.

^^^^^^Hehehehehehe^^^^^^

When my DME relay failed a few years ago I bought a Porsche branded relay from our host. It was no good right out of the box. I got a Kaehler as a replacement and no problems. I figured the Porsche one would be the best, not so. Maybe they use URO ;)

I think it's unrealistic to expect multiple companies to keep manufacturing a part that is targeting a very small and shrinking market (pre-1990 Porsche and VW). We can be lucky if a company is still willing to make stuff at all. It can't be a very profitable business with these small production volumes.

I've only seen the originals fail due to solder joints cracking, which is easily remedied with a soldering iron and 5 minute of time. Do they fail in other ways?

There is no country of origin on either the relay or the box it came in.

The DME relay is just two standard automotive relays. All we all really need is an adapter that routes the pins of two Bosch relays to fit the Porsche socket properly. Cheap and excellent replacements forever.

Anyone know how to manufacture stuff?

rick-l,
Can you flip that thing over and show the relays?
Bob B

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1468526220.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1468526256.jpg

Relay.
 

Nice pics.

How about one more showing the solder points.

Thanks,

Gerry

They are all junk with weak solder joints. I've had them failed right out of the box too.
Only way to be secure is to re-solder them or have them soldered.
I send mine to Steve Weiner @ Rennsport Systems - do a couple of them and you are good.
Even the Porsche branded parts are starting to be questionable. Though they are still WAY better than the after - market consumer grade crap.
You want cheap you get cheap <junk>.

Like the one in the first post? I cleaned the solder flux off after I resoldered it however.

Reprint
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1468426043.jpg

Should be easy enough just to solder the wires to two standard relay holders to these pins, and figure out a way to mount the two relays separately in a place which is out of the way, off the floorpan (water), but where they are easy to replace.

When repairing these regular DME relays, whether really crappy, or just the poor design of the stock one, you should consider fitting a piece of plastic or fairly stiff foam between the PC board and the plastic case. The Porsche ones fail because those two heavy electromechanical relays make the PC board bounce up and down, and cantilevered as it is - the relay mounts in a horizontal position - the solder joints crack. If you don't add this support, you'd suppose they will eventually crack again.

If anyone has one of these that they are using as a spare could you do me a favor and measure the resistance between pin 30 to 87b and also 30 to 87?

This is the resistance between the open relay contacts and on mine it reads 1-2 MEG Ohms with some indications of a strange contaminant that I can't find on the PCB.

It has to be in the area circled (orange) but getting that relay frame off would probably destroy the board.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1468606105.jpg

URO parts=Chicom parts=the most expensive parts you'll ever buy.

Why is a URO part the most expensive part you'll ever buy?

Because you'll need to replace it 3-4 times and it still won't last as long as a German equivalent.

Something like this?
My effort on a single.
It works:)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1468640715.jpg

The problem with this kind of thing is remembering which wires go to which spades when replacing the relay. But you can purchase relay sockets and wire them this way, which means you only have to do the figuring once.

Can this be done with a single relay, or does it need two?

You don't have much faith in Porsche engineering, do you? A wiring diagram ought to show why two were used, and one assumes they needed to keep two circuits and functions separate.

You need two relays, but you only need two $5 relays which will last forever, instead of a $40 DME relay (which will still probably last a decade).

Most of the time it comes down to the fact that $40 for a relay to get me down the road for another decade isn't a big deal, it's just annoying. Anyone who is willing to cobble together a solution will probably just solder the broken relay properly and be on their way.

That said, someone went far enough to manufacture and sell a solid-state DME relay for the 964/993. To me, it would make a lot more sense to manufacture a fool-proof adapter for a pair of standard relays.

Lack of availability of a new relay prompted my fix. Not cost or reliability.

have 2 test subjects for you, they both read wide-open, or "OL" w/ a Fluke 79III
relays: old obsolete 91161815400 (Porsche branded OE mfr is Stribel) and 'newer' x5401 (Porsche OE branded only)

thanks