Printer Repair - Dell 1320c Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker

[DaveJ-UK]

I know this is straying a little from console repairs but I've always had a good response here and I haven't had any joy from the printer repair forums...

I have a Dell 1320c colour laser printer which worked fine until it suddenly lost power. It turns out it has a built in circuit breaker which had tripped out. When I reset it, it trips out as soon as it is plugged in again. I believe that it is the circuit breaker itself that is faulty because when I remove it, if I connect the circuit breaker to the mains with nothing else attached then it still trips out - I assume that isn't meant to happen?

So I have been trying to source a replacement but it is proving difficult. I contacted the manufacturer (Fuji Electric) and they told me the part number was not valid. So I sent them a picture and they have been passing me between departments ever since.

The part number is EK2Q-N21ZR. I did find one place selling them online but $40 is ridiculous for a circuit breaker.

Can anyone suggest where else I could look? It would be a shame to put a £200 printer into landfill because I couldn't find a £3 part!

[kendrick]

Usually in this sort of situation, I try to source a whole unit and not just the single part. For a lot of computing hardware, especially printers, certain parts are manufactured only for the one model. Sometimes you luck out and different models from the same production run have some parts in common. You might get lucky and find another printer with a busted element, melted paper feeder, and stripped gears, but the power assembly is still fine.

[DaveJ-UK]

Thanks for the reply. That was pretty much the conclusion I had come to.

The site selling the breaker for $40 suggests that it is used in the 2135 and 3130 laser printers. I guess it is common to a few models.

http://www.impactcomputers.com/ek2q-n21zr.html

The hunt begins for a knackered printer... any suggestions other than the bay?