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Robert Green Robert Green is offline
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Posts: 4,321
Default Blew another damn transformer on my Trane XB80

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...

stuff snipped

NEVER ASSume anything - check the instructions, follow the
instructions, and verify the results. Particularly with today's supply
chain issues you NEVER ASSume something is what it says it is. Quality
control is not anything close to what it was in, say, the seventies,
and evenTHEN, it was not unheard of to have wrong documentation, or
improperly assembled product (but not nearly as common)


Got a propane nozzle for next winter's icy steps from HF that came with
instructions for assembling a pick axe hammer. Got an inspection camera,
too, that was short the mini-plug to RCA plug cable to allow the video to be
sent to a large TV or a recorder. Seeing that it was a video only tool, I
assumed it would take a two conductor cable. Tried a video only cable, no
joy. Tried a video/1 channel audio cable, still no joy. Tried a video and
*stereo* cable, STILL no joy. Called up and ordered the correct cable,
although by this time I was suspicious that the cable was deliberately
excluded because the function didn't work. Then, sitting at my desk,
looking at the picture on the manual, the picture was clear enough to reveal
it was a video/stereo audio cable. Then I remembered that they've always
been somewhat less than completely interchangeable, so I had several sets
lying around. The one for my Sony Handicam didn't work but the cable from a
portable LCD cable did! My assumption was a video only device would use a
video only cable. I still think it was a good one, but obviously not in
this case.

As for quality control, I believe it was Micro$oft who began the outrageous
procedure of charging people 30 bucks to get a preview (aka doing the final
bug hunt in the real world) of Win98 when it first arrived. IIRC, you
didn't even get a discount on the release version for being a beta tester.
That's when it seems that QC finally fell off the face of the earth.

--
Bobby G.