💡Thought Shares

c/electronics-repairers

7

ray_martinez82•1mo ago

Spent 3 hours chasing a capacitor issue that was actually a bad solder joint

I was troubleshooting a power supply board that kept shutting down after 10 minutes, and I swapped out three different capacitors before thinking to check the solder. Turns out a cracked joint on the main filter cap was the real problem the whole time. Anyone else ever waste half a day on something that simple?

3

nathan901•1mo ago

Had a guy bring in a toaster from the 1970s last Tuesday and he argued with me for 20 minutes about how 'they don't make em like this anymore' while the heating element was literally smoking.

I had to unplug it mid-rant and show him the charred remains of the wires before he finally admitted maybe it was time for a new one... has anyone else dealt with customers refusing to let go of ancient gear?

23

kelly638•1mo ago

Pulled a 25 year old capacitor out of a TV and it almost took my thumb off

Was working on a 1998 Sony Trinitron in my garage last Saturday and that big 450v cap still had a hell of a charge even after letting it sit for 2 days. Broke a screwdriver trying to discharge it before I finally found my resistor pack. Anybody got a better method for safely draining old CRT caps?

8

the_anthony•1mo ago

Hit 1000 soldered joints in a single shift last Tuesday and my hand still hurts

Was working on a batch of old power supply boards for a recycling place near Detroit. Nothing crazy, just replacing bad caps and reflowing some cracked solder on the transformer pins. But I got into a rhythm and before I knew it I had done 1000 joints by the end of the day. Counted them up cause I was curious. My wrist was killing me the next morning, had to ice it. Made me wonder how those guys in the old factories did this day in and day out for years. Any of you ever track how many joints you do in a day?

34

the_jake•1mo ago

Hot take: I miss having to actually trace out circuits by hand

Ngl, back in 2018 I used to sit there with a sharpie and notebook, tracing every single trace on a dead motherboard to find a short. Took me like 3 hours on a bad day. Now I just pull up a schematic PDF on my tablet and check the voltage points with my meter. It's faster for sure, but I swear I learned more about how boards actually work when I had to map them out myself. Anyone else feel like we lost something by having all the documentation handed to us?

8

victor779•1mo ago

Hot take: those ultrasonic cleaners are overrated for most PCB work

I picked up a fancy ultrasonic cleaner from a shop near Austin about 6 months ago because everyone on here swore by them for cleaning flux off boards. Used it on a vintage receiver board last month and it actually damaged a few tiny SMD caps that had hidden moisture underneath. A friend of mine who repairs guitar amps for 20 years told me he just uses isopropyl alcohol and a soft toothbrush, never had an issue. I get that ultrasonic is great for jewelry or carburetors, but for delicate electronics I think it does more harm than good. The vibration can crack old solder joints or shove contaminants deeper into components. Has anyone else had components stop working after a run through one of these? I'm thinking about selling mine and going back to manual cleaning.

11

angela_harris•1mo ago

Warning: The Capacitor Swelling on My LG Monitor Got Way Worse in Just 3 Months

I had this LG 27 inch monitor sitting in my shop for a while, just a backup screen I used for testing boards. About 3 months ago I noticed a tiny bulge on one of the main power caps near the transformer, figured it was no big deal since the screen still worked fine. Fast forward to last week and I pop the back off to check something else and that capacitor is practically mushrooming out, like the top is pushing against the metal shield. I measured the ESR on it and it went from 0.2 ohms to like 8 ohms over that time, no joke. The heat sink next to it was caked in dust too, probably cooking it slowly all summer. I replaced all four caps in that section yesterday with some Panasonic FMs and the screen runs way cooler now. Has anyone else seen caps fail this fast once they start swelling, or did I just get a bad batch from the factory?

20

mia700•1mo ago

Swapping CRT flybacks in 2005 vs fixing LED backlights today

Back in 2005 I was wrestling with flyback transformers on 27 inch CRTs in my garage. Had to discharge that tube with a screwdriver and jumper wire every single time or you'd get a nice shock. Now I'm swapping LED strips on a 55 inch from 2018 with a multimeter and some tweezers. Whole process takes maybe 20 minutes instead of the hour it used to take me to even get the case off those old beasts. What's the weirdest old vs new repair switch you've noticed in the last decade?

35

miles_hall•1mo ago

I wasted $80 on that fancy flux that claimed to clean itself

Bought a bottle of No-Clean Flux X400 from a supplier in Seattle, thinking it would save me time. Ended up with sticky residue all over a board I was reworking for a client. Had to scrub it with isopropyl for an hour to fix it. Anyone else try that stuff and regret it?

1

grantp14•1mo ago

Found out isopropyl alcohol actually restores sticky rubber grips on old tools

Had a vintage multimeter from 1987 with those awful sticky rubber feet and probe grip that turned into goo. Tried dish soap, goo gone, nothing worked until I soaked a microfiber in 91% isopropyl and scrubbed light. The stickiness literally dissolved away in about 3 minutes. Has anyone else used alcohol on rubber without wrecking the texture?

12

the_jennifer•1mo ago

Had a great week fixing old game consoles in Seattle

Last Tuesday someone dropped off a Sega Genesis that wouldn't power on. Turned out to be a blown capacitor near the voltage regulator. Fixed it in 20 minutes and the customer was so happy they brought in three more consoles the next day. Then on Friday I got a Game Boy Color with a dead screen and managed to swap in a new IPS kit without messing up the ribbon cable. Has anyone else had a run of easy repairs like that?

4

jennifer833•1mo ago

Hit 200 motherboards repaired this month and it totally changed my mind about taking rush jobs

I always turned down same-day repairs because I thought they'd mess up my quality, but after doing 47 rush board fixes last month with a 98% success rate I figured I was just being stubborn for no reason, anyone else find that speed forces you to be more focused?

16

the_lee•1mo ago

Finally stopped using compressed air for cleaning PS4s after a huge mess

I used to blast dust out with canned air on every console repair. Last month I cleaned a PS4 Pro for a friend and that stuff just blew the dust deeper into the power supply. Ended up shorting something and had to replace a fuse on the board. Now I use a $25 anti-static brush set and a small handheld vacuum with a soft tip. Way cleaner and I can actually see where the dust is going. You guys still rocking cans or did you switch to something else?

27

torres.thea•1mo ago

Tried a cheap no-clean flux pen on a motherboard repair and it gummed up everything

I was fixing a Dell OptiPlex 3020 last week and decided to save a couple bucks by grabbing a generic no-clean flux pen instead of my usual Kester. Big mistake - it left this sticky white residue all over the pins that wouldn't fully dry, even after 15 minutes with compressed air. Had to redo all 8 solder joints on a bad capacitor because the flux was trapping heat and causing cold joints. Anyone else run into a flux that just didn't behave like it should?

15

phoenixw11•2mo ago

That $40 Chinese hot air station nearly started a fire in my shop

I picked up a cheap 858D off Amazon for $40 to do some SMD work and the handle melted after 20 minutes of use, almost caught my bench on fire. Anyone else had a budget tool turn into a hazard on you?

19

jamie940•2mo ago

Just fixed my first dead power supply from 1985, night and day difference

So I cracked open this old Commodore 64 power supply someone dropped off at my shop last Tuesday. It was totally dead, no output at all. I figured it was just the usual capacitor aging but after poking around with my Fluke 117 I found the main switching transistor was shorted. Replaced that plus the startup cap and a resistor that was way out of spec. Plugged it in after 3 hours of work and it put out a clean 5V and 9V AC just like it should. Before the fix the ripple was garbage on the scope but now it's dead flat. Has anyone else run into bad switching transistors in older gear thats hard to source replacements for?

19

charlescraig•2mo ago

Just found a trick for cold solder joints on old circuit boards

I was fixing a 90s stereo amp last weekend and kept getting cold joints no matter how clean the pads looked. Turns out rubbing a pencil eraser gently over the pads before soldering took off the oxidation that my flux couldn't handle. Has anyone else tried this for vintage gear or am I way behind on a common fix?

21

wyatt_hernandez14•2mo ago

The way people treat cold solder joints these days is wild

Ive been fixing electronics for about 15 years now and something that keeps bugging me is how younger guys call any joint that looks a little dull a cold joint. I had a kid in here last month saying my solder joints were cold because they werent shiny enough. I told him look at the flow its fine. I use good flux and a proper iron. Shiny doesnt always mean good and matte doesnt always mean bad. I learned that in 2009 when I was fixing an old amplifier. The original factory joints were all matte and they worked for 30 years. Now everyone thinks you need to reflow everything that isnt mirror bright. Has anyone else noticed this trend taking over the forums and youtube comments?

12

the_claire•2mo ago

Rant: the difference 3 years makes in used PS4 repairs

I saw a console come in yesterday that looked clean on the outside but was full of dust bunnies and dead roaches inside. Back in 2019 I could fix most issues with just a basic clean and new thermal paste. Now I'm seeing HDMI ports ripped off, cracked solder joints, and swollen batteries in almost every unit from 2018-2020. The worst part is these owners bring them in saying 'it just stopped working one day' when really they never opened it up once. Anybody else notice the abuse on these older consoles is way worse than it used to be?

16

violar35•2mo ago

Hot take: Isopropyl alcohol vs dedicated flux remover

I used to always reach for the fancy flux remover sprays on stubborn boards. After working on a vintage receiver from 1972 last month, I tried 91% isopropyl with a stiff brush instead. It cut through the old rosin just as fast and cost me like $3 vs $15 a can. Has anyone else noticed the expensive stuff isn't really worth it?

17

the_linda•2mo ago

A retired TV repairman in Omaha told me to always check the solder joints before swapping boards

I was chasing a power issue on a 15 year old Samsung LCD and was about to order a new power supply board. He walked me through it and we found a cracked joint on a relay pin that I would have missed. Has anyone else gotten good mileage from resoldering instead of replacing whole assemblies?

16

matthewdixon•2mo ago

That $60 oscilloscope from Amazon was a complete dud

Picked up a cheap handheld scope from some brand I'd never heard of to test power supplies on night shift. Screen was grainy and the readings were off by 0.5V on a simple 5V rail. Anybody else get burned by those sub-$100 scopes or am I just unlucky?

18

lindag33•2mo ago

Serious question, why did nobody tell me flux paste makes desoldering SO much easier?

I spent 20 minutes fighting a stubborn joint on a 2012 TV power board before I finally tried flux paste, and that cap came off in 2 seconds flat, now I'm wondering what other basic tricks I've been missing that everyone else already knows?

29

the_mary•2mo ago

Just found out most solder fumes filters are basically useless after 6 months

I was at a repair meetup last weekend and a guy who used to work for a fume extractor company dropped a bombshell on me. He said the activated carbon filters in most cheap units stop working after like 50 hours of use, not the 500 they advertise. I checked my Weller unit and sure enough, it's been 8 months since I swapped the filter. Now I'm wondering how many of those board repairs I breathed in junk for no reason. Has anyone else tested their fume extractor's actual performance?

10

the_alice•2mo ago

Tried lead-free solder on a vintage radio board and it failed completely

I picked up a 1960s Grundig tabletop radio at a flea market in Des Moines last month. The electrolytic caps were shot so I decided to use lead-free solder for the first time. Cold joints everywhere, pads lifted on three spots, and the whole thing turned into a mess. Took me 4 hours to undo all my work and redo it with 60/40 instead. Has anyone else had trouble switching to lead-free on old gear?