🚀 go-pugleaf

Joel Koltner wrote:
> "Joerg" <notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote in message 
> news:HVMSj.8228$iK6.4910@nlpi069.nbdc.sbc.com...
>> Well, let's see. Recently I have repaired:
>>
>> * A clock radio (solder joint at LED display)
> 
> I have a clock radio that uses the LED display to both tell the time and 
> display the frequency of the radio.  It has a problem where it often gets 
> stuck displaying the radio frequency (even when the radio is off!), and you 
> need to slap it slightly to get it to work correctly again.  I'm planning on 
> just tossing it, since it cost all of $15. :-)
> 

Ours was $9.95:-)

But I repaired it for two reasons. Walmart would certainly have chucked 
it, meaning more waste in the landfills. Then the drive would have been 
60 minutes round trip. The repair took 15 minutes. The diagnostic 
instrument was a toothpick.


>> * Garage door opener (hanging relay)
>> * Remote for garage door opener (cracked resistor)
> 
> Our garage door opener has a range of all of 15', although I think it's just 
> due to the guy who previously owned the house not realizing that that dangling 
> wire of a receive antenna wouldn't work so well if he "neatly" bundled it up 
> into a tiny ball.  (I haven't fixed it yet.)
> 
>> * Several X10 modules (poor quality in general, IMHO)
> 
> Yeah, not worth your hard-earned dollars, Joerg. :-)
> 

But there ain't nothin' else :-(


>> Hint: Don't let your wife see this post or she may get an idea and then your 
>> Saturday's are toast ...
> 
> Don't worry, I won't... I'd rather spend more spare "electronics hobby" time 
> building new stuff rather than repairing old stuff!
> 
> To an extent I'll concede you've proved your point, although I do think the 
> items that many a kid or teen today would be *interested* in repairing 
> (because they do cost a non-negligible sum) would be their Xbox 350, their 
> cell phone, their iPod, their laptop PC, etc... and all of these items are 
> difficult if not impossible to repair at the board level.
> 

That's exactly the point, *interested*. IMHO only a person with a great 
deal of curiosity will become a good engineer. And curiosity includes 
taking things apart. Lots of things. Guess what I did when I bought five 
of those $3 Harborfreight meters? Opened one up before even trying it. 
This was a super lesson in ultra low cost design, something no professor 
could ever teach.

-- 
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

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