I have a Belkin Conserve Smart AV™ Auto-Off Surge Protector that after working great for many years started randomly turning off even though it had a load that should keep it turned on. I figured I would try and take a look at things inside and see if there was an easy fix. Warning!! Do not open one of these units if you do not understand the dangers of working with power line voltages!! The first challenge is to find the special bits used on the case screws. In a picture below is the screwdriver set I found that has the special Tri-point bit. The picture also shows the wall wart used to get the unit working again.
Once inside, I very carefully took a look at how it works, and monitored some voltages as it turned on and off, both due to load changes, and the random shutoffs. I found what looked to be a little 5V power supply based on a LNK302 chip that looked to be randomly failing. When the output was 5V, the unit worked correctly, when the voltage fell below 5V, the unit would turn off even though it has a load on. So I disconnected the inductor on the output of the little power supply as seen in a picture below.
Then I tacked on the output of a 5V wall wart power supply I had in a junk bin. It has been over a year now and the unit works good as new. Although this a bit of a hack as the wall wart is plugged into one of the non-switched outlets on the unit. Once again, DO NOT attempt repairs on equipment with line level power unless you fully understand the dangers and safety precautions needed when working with potentially lethal voltages. Also, I have no idea if they changed the design over the years so you should trace out the circuit in your unit, confirm the same failure mode, and that you can bypass and substitute a power supply in the same fashion.
