EZ-go fix; followup

If it was a cracked board then it probably did come and go -- at first. Then as the board kept flexing and the copper got folded upwards (and away) more and more, it would have worked less and less.

If you don't have it buttoned up yet, go over the _rest_ of the board for any incipient cracks. If you can, run the cart while flexing the board (both directions is best) -- that'll maximize the chances that a crack that hasn't shown itself yet will open up on you.

Tim Wescott fired this volley in news:ZuSdnSpK04J183bSnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@web-ster.com:

I inspected it closely, top and bottom, and didn't catch anything else, but it's pretty hard to flex it while mounted. It's deep inside the battery compartment, and out of reach to the driver because of the weird angle you'd have to bend your arm.

I do know what to look for, and especially looked for large components that aren't heavily mounted. Vibration will do the same thing as actual board flex.

LLoyd

Good on you and maybe you were fortunate it was power electronics and still large enough to see. I've got a bit fed up of trying to fix things a mates son has damaged in the consumer electronics line and trying to solder items with a 1mm tip and a 10x eyepiece to see the parts.

(...)

YeeHa!

Well done.

--Winston

Aside from dried out capacitors, failed solder joints are probably the = most common failure mode with electronics these days--especially common = at the point where discrete components, headers, terminal strips and so = forth are attached onto the board.

Attaboy. The loser approach is to bridge the crack with solder; which does not last. It's best if the wire has a hump to allow some slack/flexing.

David Lesher fired this volley in news:jsg0f8$nep$1 @reader1.panix.com:

Yeahhh.... I knew that... have done it before. Didn't do it. Damn.

Oh, well... it'll keep at least as long as it did. It's an '03 cart.

LLoyd

Congrats, LLoyd. Cheap fixes are always the most fun.

My fix was a new 1' long battery cable on the Club Car.

-- Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing. -- Abraham Lincoln

Good catch!

-Good catch!

Or long experience.

I've done field-service board diagnosis and repair. For power circuits examining the board for discoloration or cracks reveals a large fraction of problems, even with surface-mount. Wiggling mechanical connections catches another bunch. I didn't have to dig into the circuitry to find the fault very often.

jsw

"Jim Wilkins" fired this volley in news:jsheho$2gm $ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

Yup, and I hail back to the "big linear power supply" days, so there were a lot of high-current, high thermal effect PCBs developing that sort of problem.

You get very accustomed to looking for the usual suspects, and 60-70% of the time that's where the problem lay.

It's a good thing I didn't have to "dig into the circuitry" too far, because schematics for those Curtis controllers are unavailable. I can't even find any reverse-engineered ones, not even for sale.

LLoyd

When I was in the business of fixing power wheelchairs I still couldn't get help from the manufacturers, only $$$ replacements for newer controllers.

That was an alarming look at what happens to costs when the government pays them, similar to prevailing-wage construction. Even military research wasn't as bad.

Or maybe I was unusually frugal with taxpayer money. No one ever questioned my purchase orders for electronics and machine shop work, so I don't know.

jsw

A friend of mine commented that when the artificial prize goes to zero, the demand jumps to infinity.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

When I was in the business of fixing power wheelchairs I still couldn't get help from the manufacturers, only $$$ replacements for newer controllers.

That was an alarming look at what happens to costs when the government pays them, similar to prevailing-wage construction. Even military research wasn't as bad.

Or maybe I was unusually frugal with taxpayer money. No one ever questioned my purchase orders for electronics and machine shop work, so I don't know.

jsw

I've had only sporadic luck in fixing electronics. A gym-duty Lifefitness treadmill went that I had purchased used went out on me when I moved to a new state. It seems like the EEPROM lost its memory and Lifefitness wanted $1200 for a new board (it has an Emerson inverter AC drive). No help finding schematics or selling me a new chip. I found another used one and cannabalized the old one for parts. Lately I've had a Toshiba DVD player that won't play a whole movie. I've pulled out and reseated ribbon cables, but I think it will soon end up in the trash.

(...)

A little naphtha on a cotton swab to carefully clean the lens in the DVD mechanism can really help in situations like this.

--Winston

I'll try it, but the problem seems that the beginning of the movie plays fine, but towards the end it starts pixellating and then just freezes up. I thought it might be a buffering problem, but every time I played with it, it seemed to get a little better. Unfortunately, it seems to be more like a Zeno's Paradox problem which will probably end up being solved with a big hammer.

Winnie, you nailed it! Thanks.

My stubborn streak gets the better of me most times. I just like to win.