Just about to send a pcb off for manufacture.
Did a last look over it before sending it.
I noticed the 5volt rail went to IRS2902 which is wrong.
Looked into it and I called 2092 12v "VCC" and also amp protect PIC 5 volt circuit "VCC."
So renamed PIC VCC to "5V" and that fixed it.
Always pays to have a last look over things.
I tend to do a second look on pcb's I build like diode wrong way around etc.
Its easier to fix before you blow it up.
Did a last look over it before sending it.
I noticed the 5volt rail went to IRS2902 which is wrong.
Looked into it and I called 2092 12v "VCC" and also amp protect PIC 5 volt circuit "VCC."
So renamed PIC VCC to "5V" and that fixed it.
Always pays to have a last look over things.
I tend to do a second look on pcb's I build like diode wrong way around etc.
Its easier to fix before you blow it up.
I built up a transistor tester and it didnt work.
So had a look at voltages and power supplies were fine and PIC was running as USB worked.
Had a look at voltage out to transistor under test and it was stuck at zero volts.
A visual inspection didnt pick up anything.
The power suppy to transistor under test is through an op amp and a transistor.
The input to op amp was fine but no output.
So fault around op amp.
A closer visual inspection showed a DIL socket leg not through the hole.
It had folded under the op amp and made no connection.
So replaced socket.
Still not working.
SO another look around and spotted a diode in backwards so fixed that and it burst into life.
First time in 40 years had a pin bent under a DIL socket.
So had a look at voltages and power supplies were fine and PIC was running as USB worked.
Had a look at voltage out to transistor under test and it was stuck at zero volts.
A visual inspection didnt pick up anything.
The power suppy to transistor under test is through an op amp and a transistor.
The input to op amp was fine but no output.
So fault around op amp.
A closer visual inspection showed a DIL socket leg not through the hole.
It had folded under the op amp and made no connection.
So replaced socket.
Still not working.
SO another look around and spotted a diode in backwards so fixed that and it burst into life.
First time in 40 years had a pin bent under a DIL socket.
Offset repair...someone else did the hard work.
Surgical cautery machine with BU208 transistors, and there is a components dealer here, who tends to be greedy...said $1 each, 4 days, not confirmed, trader in big city is trying to locate, and so on. He deals mostly in parts for industrial electronic equipment.
I called my contact, asked for regular selling horizontal transistors, he said BU2520, which are same package, and higher rated. 60 cents each...
They worked, 2 banks of 5 each, doctor is 200 km away, happy his 20 year old machine is back in action.
Surgical cautery machine with BU208 transistors, and there is a components dealer here, who tends to be greedy...said $1 each, 4 days, not confirmed, trader in big city is trying to locate, and so on. He deals mostly in parts for industrial electronic equipment.
I called my contact, asked for regular selling horizontal transistors, he said BU2520, which are same package, and higher rated. 60 cents each...
They worked, 2 banks of 5 each, doctor is 200 km away, happy his 20 year old machine is back in action.
My Renault decided to keep the rear door locked.
I changed the electric mechanism that had given trouble a year ago.... No Luck.
The failure was from the switch to open.
A crummy switch corroded not sealed properly. They had reinvented where a usual microswitch would have done the job right.
So, spent hours for a stupid design.
Well, job done.
I changed the electric mechanism that had given trouble a year ago.... No Luck.
The failure was from the switch to open.
A crummy switch corroded not sealed properly. They had reinvented where a usual microswitch would have done the job right.
So, spent hours for a stupid design.
Well, job done.
Had a sillier failure on the minivan rear door. Had significant work done over 26 years, plus I installed a back-up camera. So the trim panel has been off uncounted times. One day it would NOT open. I adjusted the latch, sprayed grease like holy-water, it might open once but not twice. Looked-up the part in online manual and there's two choices. The difference is on the bottom, deep in the pocket. Wiggled my arm in there to try to feel which type my build has...... found a nylon mounting stud loose in the pocket under the latch, where the tongue has to go. Fished it out, staunched my bleeding, and the door works perfect. Some idiot (likely me) had omitted one of the too-many trim panel studs but lost it inside the door where it finally found a bad place to lay.
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We bought a 2005 Volvo S40 Turbo new. Great road car, very comfortable on long trips, and with the Sport suspension option, a bit more fun than the average sedan on twisty roads. Unfortunately, it was made when Volvo was owned by Ford. We started having things fail. All of the failures seem to be Ford-labeled parts.
The trunk latch reported an error "Trunk is open" on the dashboard, even though it was properly latched. Then the trunk latch failed completely, and I had to tie a piece of stout string to the emergency trunk release so we could get the trunk open. I spent good money buying a used latch assembly from a junk yard. No joy, the problem persisted. I then pulled apart the trunk wiring bundle, and found that the harness, labelled with a Ford part number, used cheap wire that work hardened and broke at the trunk hinge from the normal operation of the trunk being opened and closed. Hard to find the failure point, as the wire broke inside the insulation and looked fine from the outside. I scrounged some mil-spec highly flexible stranded wire from my stash, and spliced in pieces to all of the wires in the harness. It's worked perfectly since then. Same thing happened with the stereo speakers in the doors. Both sides failed. I spliced the wires that go from chassis to door and all is well there as well. Passenger-side electric windo failed. Same failure cause, same repair method.
At around 50K miles, our mechanic informed us that all of the suspension bushings needed replacing. A thousand dollars later, Volvo newly re-bushed, the mechanic handed me the old bushings in a bag. All Ford-labelled parts. It seems Ford was intent on using the "Save Money at All Costs" method to get more profit out of the Volvo cars.
I have a friend who worked at Jaguar during the time Jag was owned by Ford. He reported the same sort of reliability problems on the Ford-built Jaguars.
It's interesting that Ford dumped both Volvo and Jaguar within a few years of acquiring them.
We still have the Volvo, and at 100K miles, it still drives like a new car, now that the Ford-sourced failure points have been addressed...
The trunk latch reported an error "Trunk is open" on the dashboard, even though it was properly latched. Then the trunk latch failed completely, and I had to tie a piece of stout string to the emergency trunk release so we could get the trunk open. I spent good money buying a used latch assembly from a junk yard. No joy, the problem persisted. I then pulled apart the trunk wiring bundle, and found that the harness, labelled with a Ford part number, used cheap wire that work hardened and broke at the trunk hinge from the normal operation of the trunk being opened and closed. Hard to find the failure point, as the wire broke inside the insulation and looked fine from the outside. I scrounged some mil-spec highly flexible stranded wire from my stash, and spliced in pieces to all of the wires in the harness. It's worked perfectly since then. Same thing happened with the stereo speakers in the doors. Both sides failed. I spliced the wires that go from chassis to door and all is well there as well. Passenger-side electric windo failed. Same failure cause, same repair method.
At around 50K miles, our mechanic informed us that all of the suspension bushings needed replacing. A thousand dollars later, Volvo newly re-bushed, the mechanic handed me the old bushings in a bag. All Ford-labelled parts. It seems Ford was intent on using the "Save Money at All Costs" method to get more profit out of the Volvo cars.
I have a friend who worked at Jaguar during the time Jag was owned by Ford. He reported the same sort of reliability problems on the Ford-built Jaguars.
It's interesting that Ford dumped both Volvo and Jaguar within a few years of acquiring them.
We still have the Volvo, and at 100K miles, it still drives like a new car, now that the Ford-sourced failure points have been addressed...
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I had a 89 Ford Taurus wagon that needed new rubber bushings between the engine subframe and the unibody. Got the parts from the Ford dealer and I was quite surprised with instructions. Seems the bushings are located below the foot rest area of the front floor and, on the passenger side there's no access to the bushing bolt from under the car.
So the instructions were:
1) Pull up the front passenger side carpet
2) Tape the included paper template to the metal floor and trace the oval cut out shape onto the floor with a marker
3) With a jig saw cut the oval hole through the floor
4) Replace bushing
5) Install included plastic plug in hole and reposition carpet
And I managed to get it done without cutting the 2" x 3" hole anyway. Hopefully CAD/CAM has eliminated this stuff by now
So the instructions were:
1) Pull up the front passenger side carpet
2) Tape the included paper template to the metal floor and trace the oval cut out shape onto the floor with a marker
3) With a jig saw cut the oval hole through the floor
4) Replace bushing
5) Install included plastic plug in hole and reposition carpet
And I managed to get it done without cutting the 2" x 3" hole anyway. Hopefully CAD/CAM has eliminated this stuff by now
And here I thought I was going to have it bad replacing front struts on my 1991 Toyota van.
The top of the struts are accessed from under the dash. I think I have to remove the glove box and some other panels.
Control arm bushings are original as far as I know.
The sway bar bushings went bad after 280K miles. Just made an annoying sound at times.
Just needed CV joints and brakes for the most part.
The top of the struts are accessed from under the dash. I think I have to remove the glove box and some other panels.
Control arm bushings are original as far as I know.
The sway bar bushings went bad after 280K miles. Just made an annoying sound at times.
Just needed CV joints and brakes for the most part.
AFAIK the 10mm hex head captive washer bolt has taken over the auto body world.
Stranded pigtail is the best way to fix it, agreed.
I'm replacing my outlets with commercial grade outlets. Expen$ive but clearly much better. Saving a few bucks at the expense of safety isn't saving anything at all. I found a couple of burnt outlets so I ponied up.
Outlets and lights on the same circuit is the minimum code for residential applications. Most contractor wiring jobs will meet the minimum code for the job; no more. If you pay up for custom wiring you can have all your issues addressed. A lot of people do and I think it's money well spent. I rewired half my house 15 years ago (the half with the kitchen) and I added a dedicated 15 amp circuit just for lighting and "build ins" (hood fan). I also added an extra circuit for outlets. I also added two 20 amp circuits for the kitchen. This required fishing conduit up from the basement into the wall.
It's a good thing I know how to do all this because to pay someone would cost thousands of dollars. My neighbor had his 30 amp service replaced with 200 amp service, and had his kitchen rewired with extra circuits. He had it done "on the side" without a permit and it still cost him 10 grand.
You know that's a very dangerous design. It would not be allowed in the US.
It would also trip a GFCI outlet if plugged into it.
I can't fathom what kind of "engineer" would think that's OK. It's very much not OK.
The correct fix would be to reroute the timer return wire to the neutral connection. NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER use ground as a neutral or "designated conductor."
For my new build, I’m doing ALL the electrical myself. I had a lengthy discussion with my builder the other day about pretty much everything so we could finalize the contract next week. When I asked about permitting (in general), he mentioned the TOTAL lack of local codes. The only electrical inspection would be Oncor‘s inspection of the meter rack before they hook up. People could literally get away with anything - including using pulling 200 amps thru a #2 aluminum, not having ground wires to a sub panel, omitting GFCIs, and running URD inside the house and nobody would know.
I consider the dedicated lighting circuits a must have, even if each of 4 zones has to have the AFCI breaker. At least I won’t be paying LIST price plus on each of them.
I consider the dedicated lighting circuits a must have, even if each of 4 zones has to have the AFCI breaker. At least I won’t be paying LIST price plus on each of them.
Holy crap, they inspect everything with a microscope here. The Building Dept drives around the neighborhood all day, up and down the alleys too, looking for any signs of illicit repair activity. They even slowed down and looked at me for cleaning a paint roller! They also made my neighbor take his shed down,get a permit, and then they allowed him to put it back up. I'm not exaggerating!