Got a call to fix an Outdoor LED School Sign. Never worked on one and
need to get smart about them.

The sign is outdoor of course and has a computer to program it from
inside in the office. Apparently the computer and monitor works well
but the sign is only half there. Not sure which half. Sign is 4 years
old.

Any input will be appreciated.

Thanks
Bob AZ

Bob AZ wrote in message
...
Got a call to fix an Outdoor LED School Sign. Never worked on one and
need to get smart about them.

The sign is outdoor of course and has a computer to program it from
inside in the office. Apparently the computer and monitor works well
but the sign is only half there. Not sure which half. Sign is 4 years
old.

Any input will be appreciated.

Thanks
Bob AZ


I tried repairing one where damp air had got inside and corroded pins ,
mainly on the data line expander chip , inside the sign. So parts of letters
were missing. Removing the big chip , abraiding pins, and soldering to an
intermediary turned pn socket worked for a year or so and then corrosion got
down inside the encapsulation - could not find a direct pin for pin
replacement, but with some research a functional replacement could probably
have been found.


--
Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse:graffiti.net/

On 04/30/2009 06:36 PM, Bob AZ sent:
Got a call to fix an Outdoor LED School Sign. Never worked on one and
need to get smart about them.

The sign is outdoor of course and has a computer to program it from
inside in the office. Apparently the computer and monitor works well
but the sign is only half there. Not sure which half. Sign is 4 years
old.

Any input will be appreciated.

Thanks
Bob AZ

Hello Bob:

Hopefully the manufacturer and installer was tech manuals that'll still
be there along with a phone number for support if unique parts are needed.

Suspect a power supply failure, vandalism, or moisture intrusion.

Please update us with your progress. Good luck.

Pete
--
1PW @?6A62?FEH9E=6o2@=]4@ [r4o7t]

N_Cook wrote in message
...
Bob AZ wrote in message
...
Got a call to fix an Outdoor LED School Sign. Never worked on one and
need to get smart about them.

The sign is outdoor of course and has a computer to program it from
inside in the office. Apparently the computer and monitor works well
but the sign is only half there. Not sure which half. Sign is 4 years
old.

Any input will be appreciated.

Thanks
Bob AZ


I tried repairing one where damp air had got inside and corroded pins ,
mainly on the data line expander chip , inside the sign. So parts of
letters
were missing. Removing the big chip , abraiding pins, and soldering to an
intermediary turned pn socket worked for a year or so and then corrosion
got
down inside the encapsulation - could not find a direct pin for pin
replacement, but with some research a functional replacement could
probably
have been found.


--
Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse:graffiti.net/




By expander I think it was something like expanding 8 data lines from the
serial
receiver up to 96 lines for 80 columns and 16 rows or whatever the matrix
was, so sometimes column/s would be missing and sometimes row/s missing


--
Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse:graffiti.net/

On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:36:31 -0700 (PDT), Bob AZ
put finger to keyboard and composed:

Got a call to fix an Outdoor LED School Sign. Never worked on one and
need to get smart about them.

The sign is outdoor of course and has a computer to program it from
inside in the office. Apparently the computer and monitor works well
but the sign is only half there. Not sure which half. Sign is 4 years
old.

Any input will be appreciated.

Thanks
Bob AZ

Here is a scoreboard kit:
http://www.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_103978/article.html

The article is pay-for-view, but here are some pictures:
http://us1.webpublications.com.au/st...103978_8mg.jpg
http://us1.webpublications.com.au/st...103978_6mg.jpg
http://us1.webpublications.com.au/st...103978_3mg.jpg
http://us1.webpublications.com.au/st...103978_4mg.jpg
http://us1.webpublications.com.au/st...103978_5mg.jpg
http://us1.webpublications.com.au/st...103978_7mg.jpg
http://us1.webpublications.com.au/st...103978_2mg.jpg
http://us1.webpublications.com.au/st...103978_9mg.jpg

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

"1PW" wrote in message
...
On 04/30/2009 06:36 PM, Bob AZ sent:
Got a call to fix an Outdoor LED School Sign. Never worked on one and
need to get smart about them.

The sign is outdoor of course and has a computer to program it from
inside in the office. Apparently the computer and monitor works well
but the sign is only half there. Not sure which half. Sign is 4 years
old.

Any input will be appreciated.

Thanks
Bob AZ

Hello Bob:

Hopefully the manufacturer and installer was tech manuals that'll still
be there along with a phone number for support if unique parts are needed.


Sounds a bit hopeful to me. This is the real world.



Gareth.

Gareth Magennis wrote:
"1PW" wrote in message
...
On 04/30/2009 06:36 PM, Bob AZ sent:
Got a call to fix an Outdoor LED School Sign. Never worked on one and
need to get smart about them.

The sign is outdoor of course and has a computer to program it from
inside in the office. Apparently the computer and monitor works well
but the sign is only half there. Not sure which half. Sign is 4 years
old.

Any input will be appreciated.

Thanks
Bob AZ
Hello Bob:

Hopefully the manufacturer and installer was tech manuals that'll still
be there along with a phone number for support if unique parts are needed.


Sounds a bit hopeful to me. This is the real world.

Yeah, I hate to say it, but that's being *very* optimistic.

--
W
. | ,. w , "Some people are alive only because
\|/ \|/ it is illegal to kill them." Perna condita delenda est
---^----^---------------------------------------------------------------