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Electronics Repair (sci.electronics.repair) Discussion of repairing electronic equipment. Topics include requests for assistance, where to obtain servicing information and parts, techniques for diagnosis and repair, and annecdotes about success, failures and problems. |
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#1
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What ever happened to service manuals?
"Fred" wrote in message
... In my case, I have an Olympus C700 digital camera, 2-3 years old with a power drainage problem. Unfortunately, that is likely (not certain) to be a failure inside a custom-made IC. The other thing it could be is a leaky electrolytic capacitor. I've bought camera service manuals (for film cameras) from Olympus. Have you tried calling them? |
#2
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What ever happened to service manuals?
In U.S.A., the Magnuson-Moss Consumer Protection Act (orig. 1976 IIRC, as amended ;-) sets requirements for support and service, basically an extension of anti-trust laws in some areas, e.g., Mfger must provide parts or manuals and so on to independent repair outlets even if in competition with them etc. for various periods of time (typically 7 years on photo gear, electronics etc.) after last sale in interstate commerce... Usual workaround is to require a prohibitively large minimum order so only bonafide repair shops will invest in manuals and repair parts etc. ;-) hth bobm -- ************************************************** ********************* * Robert Monaghan POB 752182 Southern Methodist Univ. Dallas Tx 75275 * ********************Standard Disclaimers Apply************************* |
#3
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What ever happened to service manuals?
Sorry, but that info is simply not correct.
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty act applies to an implied warranty of merchanability (product will do what it was sold to do) and the written warranty period (unit must be exchanged or repaired during the warranty period). There are no US federal laws regarding manufactures having to provide repair, repair parts, service information to anyone outside of the company. Manufactures do sell the information to authorized servicers in order to keep them as warranty stations for them. As far as parts prices go, there are also no laws regarding parts pricing. If you ask any manufacture the $30 portable cd player you bought at Wally World has a LIST price of $199, so they can justify selling of the cd mechanism for $100 as a part. Basically making it so they do not have to stock any parts for it ever. David "Bob Monaghan" wrote in message ... In U.S.A., the Magnuson-Moss Consumer Protection Act (orig. 1976 IIRC, as amended ;-) sets requirements for support and service, basically an extension of anti-trust laws in some areas, e.g., Mfger must provide parts or manuals and so on to independent repair outlets even if in competition with them etc. for various periods of time (typically 7 years on photo gear, electronics etc.) after last sale in interstate commerce... Usual workaround is to require a prohibitively large minimum order so only bonafide repair shops will invest in manuals and repair parts etc. ;-) hth bobm -- ************************************************** ********************* * Robert Monaghan POB 752182 Southern Methodist Univ. Dallas Tx 75275 * ********************Standard Disclaimers Apply************************* |
#4
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What ever happened to service manuals?
Long story short, our company was forced to pay a large chunk of money to
fight a court case. Needless to say, from now on, NOBODY short of the Pope gets part, part listings, or manuals for ANY of our products ...PERIOD!. And except service literature you forgot to mention alignment software and jigs. All subjects of every manufacturing company... |
#5
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What ever happened to service manuals?
If this was ever true, it's been superceded by NAFTA, GATT, and probably a
number of other more modern trade agreements. Trust me on this. If a company wants to import 20,000 computer monitors, they don't even have to make arrangements for parts or service, only to exchange any defective units during their stated warranty. Like I said, company policy and market forces. We'd all like to think that manufacturers are forced to support their products, but if this was ever really true, it isn't anymore. Mark Z. -- Please reply only to Group. I regret this is necessary. Viruses and spam have rendered my regular e-mail address useless. "Bob Monaghan" wrote in message ... In U.S.A., the Magnuson-Moss Consumer Protection Act (orig. 1976 IIRC, as amended ;-) sets requirements for support and service, basically an extension of anti-trust laws in some areas, e.g., Mfger must provide parts or manuals and so on to independent repair outlets even if in competition with them etc. for various periods of time (typically 7 years on photo gear, electronics etc.) after last sale in interstate commerce... Usual workaround is to require a prohibitively large minimum order so only bonafide repair shops will invest in manuals and repair parts etc. ;-) hth bobm -- ************************************************** ********************* * Robert Monaghan POB 752182 Southern Methodist Univ. Dallas Tx 75275 * ********************Standard Disclaimers Apply************************* |
#6
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What ever happened to service manuals?
I'm afraid we are going to have to face the fact that not everything is
economically repairable. The bottom line is that in many cases, it costs much less (in labor and materials) to make a new camera (or whatever) than to repair an old one. This is not a malicious practice of evil business, it's just a fact of life. Back in 1950, when radio repair was in its heyday, the people who assembled radios at the factory used the same techniques as the repairman (soldering irons, pliers, screwdrivers, etc.). Repair was easy because manufacturing was not automated -- it used the same hand-tool techniques. In 1975, in the printed-circuit-board era, assembly was automated but hand repair was still relatively easy. Most of the individual components hadn't changed much since the hand-tool era. Today we're dealing with custom ICs (which you can't repair inside of) and extremely dense surface-mount circuit boards with tiny, unidentifiable components. Repair is difficult. Admittedly, we all feel sad when we encounter things that could have been repairable and aren't, but... Should a customer choose a $400 camera that is repairable over a $100 camera (with equal performance) that is not? I don't think so. And I certainly don't want the repair industry ganging up on the manufacturers and forcing them to do away with the $100 non-repairable camera, forcing everybody to pay the higher price. In my opinion, the repair industry got spoiled in the 1950s, when everybody had primitive TV sets that ate vacuum tubes at the rate of one every three or four weeks. Nowadays, a TV lasts maybe 8 years without repair, and when it fails, the cause of the failure is usually hard to find. This tells me that all the components are much more reliable, and they are also much better matched (to last the same length of time). This is supposed to be worse? Sorry -- when I indulge in nostalgia, I don't go *that* far. |
#7
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What ever happened to service manuals?
(Several points... some readers may wish to skip down...)
Its much cheaper, to have 1 or 2 repair depots fully equipped to send items to, then provide hundreds of repair depots with spare parts, and documentation. Right... I see nothing wrong with that. Do things the most efficient way. As long as 90% of consumers decide on purchases strictly by how much it costs when initially purchased, then manufacturers simply cannot support a network of repair depots, along with the documentation to support those depots. I don't see how you can fault consumers for wanting a lower price. What should they be wanting? Well, manufacturers are realizing that a large percentage of the population are repurchasing items long before they die. In other words, the average cellphone, camera, computer, TV, is being replaced long before it dies, strictly because its not the current "IN" model, and its usually replaced by whatever is on sale that week, LONG before repair comes into the picture. If this were "planned obsolescence" or just fashion, I'd be against it. But it's mostly genuinely rapid technological progress. HDTV is coming in. Cell phones are moving to different bands (my next one will be international). Digital cameras are getting tremendously better year by year. Considering a hour or two of US technician labour costs more than the manufacturing of the entire item overseas, (or even in the US, with robotic assembly) then the technician is as dead as a Dodo, as far as most manufacturers are concerned. As well, believe it or not, lawyers also come into the equation as well. In our current litigious society, supplying a untrained customer with a schematic for a item, that they subsequently open, and fry themselves to death with, is also a problem. Now *that* is sad. I am very much in favor of technological literacy, i.e., people should know what goes on in the machines that they rely on. I'm in favor of do-it-yourself repair when it's not unduly dangerous. I actually have first hand experience with this. Believe it or not, a customer recently came to be begging for a easily-replaceable on off switch for a kitchen appliance. Although it was against company policy, I took pity on this guy that said that he could not afford to bring the unit it to be repaired, and besides, he assured me that he knew much about electronics (considering that all you had to do was replace 2 wires, it seemed like a safe bet), so I sold him the switch. The next time I saw the guy was in court. Somehow he screwed it up, shorted something out, the unit caught fire, and burned a large chunk of his kitchen. Long story short, our company was forced to pay a large chunk of money to fight a court case. Needless to say, from now on, NOBODY short of the Pope gets part, part listings, or manuals for ANY of our products ...PERIOD!. Kim Did your company win or lose the case? It sound like that dolt would have managed to burn his house down with or without the switch! |
#8
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What ever happened to service manuals?--------> http://www.manuals4you.com
http://www.manuals4you.com Wide selection, reasonable pricing, always looking to make a deal or trade. Paypal, Visa,MC accepted On Mon, 9 Aug 2004 05:17:43 -0500, "Mark D. Zacharias" wrote: If this was ever true, it's been superceded by NAFTA, GATT, and probably a number of other more modern trade agreements. Trust me on this. If a company wants to import 20,000 computer monitors, they don't even have to make arrangements for parts or service, only to exchange any defective units during their stated warranty. Like I said, company policy and market forces. We'd all like to think that manufacturers are forced to support their products, but if this was ever really true, it isn't anymore. Mark Z. |
#9
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What ever happened to service manuals?
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#10
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What ever happened to service manuals?
This, and the other post about this subject are repleat with good info, good
discussion and due to the fact that there are currently 23 posts in 2 threads, I will take my reply to a new thread. I don't especially want to do this, but under these conditions I'm sure most of you understand. JURB |
#11
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What ever happened to service manuals?
Thanks, Bob. That's what I'm thinking of.
"Bob Monaghan" wrote in message ... In U.S.A., the Magnuson-Moss Consumer Protection Act (orig. 1976 IIRC, as amended ;-) sets requirements for support and service, basically an extension of anti-trust laws in some areas, e.g., Mfger must provide parts or manuals and so on to independent repair outlets even if in competition with them etc. for various periods of time (typically 7 years on photo gear, electronics etc.) after last sale in interstate commerce... Usual workaround is to require a prohibitively large minimum order so only bonafide repair shops will invest in manuals and repair parts etc. ;-) hth bobm -- ************************************************** ********************* * Robert Monaghan POB 752182 Southern Methodist Univ. Dallas Tx 75275 * ********************Standard Disclaimers Apply************************* |
#12
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What ever happened to service manuals?--------> http://www.manuals4you.com
Great site!! I emailed about the Olympus C700. Will post the reply.
"MrManuals" wrote in message ... http://www.manuals4you.com Wide selection, reasonable pricing, always looking to make a deal or trade. Paypal, Visa,MC accepted On Mon, 9 Aug 2004 05:17:43 -0500, "Mark D. Zacharias" wrote: If this was ever true, it's been superceded by NAFTA, GATT, and probably a number of other more modern trade agreements. Trust me on this. If a company wants to import 20,000 computer monitors, they don't even have to make arrangements for parts or service, only to exchange any defective units during their stated warranty. Like I said, company policy and market forces. We'd all like to think that manufacturers are forced to support their products, but if this was ever really true, it isn't anymore. Mark Z. |
#13
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What ever happened to service manuals?
"Michael A. Covington" wrote in message
... I'm afraid we are going to have to face the fact that not everything is economically repairable. The bottom line is that in many cases, it costs much less (in labor and materials) to make a new camera (or whatever) than to repair an old one. This is not a malicious practice of evil business, it's just a fact of life. True, but the owner (me) should have the chance to fix it and I don't charge myself $70/hour. I work for free!! B^) |
#14
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What ever happened to service manuals?
OK, let's make this topic interesting to you,
what is the type of your camera and what is the problem? After answering this question the most possible is to get one of those answers: Electrolytic capacitors (manufacturer's wrong design(in my opinion)) Too complicated mecha problem, send it to a specialist (authorized) Too high cost to repair (change a TGA PCB, need to buy from manufacturer) Can be repaired even by you but needs alignment (from authorized) ..... Rotten by water or got sand in the mechanism (sorry, your fault) Dropped down and now got a problem (sorry, your fault) Already messed up opened by you (sorry, your fault) I guess this topic is 95% interesting because all repaimen agree that electronic devices are made for one use and many times does not worth repairing. I do not know if there are technitians that charge 70$/hour but if consumers prefer the manufacturer's service have to pay this money because authorized services have a lot of high tech equipment and are forced from the manufacturer to buy and buy and buy literarture tools etc. etc. Now how indipendand services can repair without this literature, bulletings and alignment tools and software? I thank google newsgroups and eBAy. Also all those websites that share knowledge, schematics sell spare parts etc. geo |
#15
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What ever happened to service manuals?
On Sun, 08 Aug 2004 19:55:13 GMT, "Fred"
put finger to keyboard and composed: Just wondering if anyone has had trouble getting service manuals for various electronics or appliances and how you got the info you needed to fix something. I remember years ago that all companies were required by law to sell a service manual or at least enough drawings and parts lists so that a technician could disassemble and work on their products. I was thinking it was 7 years? Sure seems like that law no longer being enforced. Yeah, that's what happens over here as well. It's about time the useless Greenies got off their backsides and pushed for legislation in this area. IMO, there should be no excuse for any manufacturer not to make service manuals available in paperless format via the Internet. And that means making them available to everybody, not just their business partners. I detest the condescending, patronising attitude of manufacturers who pretend that by withholding technical information they are protecting unqualified consumers from themselves. That should not be their choice, nor their responsibility, it should be mine. - Franc Zabkar -- Please remove one 's' from my address when replying by email. |
#16
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What ever happened to service manuals?
Subject: What ever happened to service manuals?
From: "Michael A. Covington" ess Should a customer choose a $400 camera that is repairable over a $100 camera (with equal performance) that is not? I don't think so. Lots of people are under the impression that the $400 camera they bought a few years ago is now $100. It's not; the new camera is a $100 camera, not a $400 camera. It's service life will surely reflect that. But there were still a few $400 cameras that weren't any better than the current crop of Chinese junk, and these shouldn't be repaired either. The last factory rep I spoke to said the new consumer electronic devices are designed to last the warranty period. Anything beyond that is bonus time. In my opinion, the repair industry got spoiled in the 1950s, when everybody had primitive TV sets that ate vacuum tubes at the rate of one every three or four weeks. I started out about 1970 repairing 50s through the 60s era TVs. While TVs certainly needed a lot of attention, they didn't need tubes every three or four weeks. A properly serviced TV would give 2 to 4 years of decent service before needing some sort of attention, but ministrations of most sort were cheap back then. BTW, IMO the most reliable TVs ever built were built from the early 70s through the late 80s. I can't tell you how often customers offer to me a free TV from that era that still works. Nowadays, a TV lasts maybe 8 years without repair, and when it fails, the cause of the failure is usually hard to find. Not my experience. We see more major failures in newer items than we EVER did, and they are no harder to repair than they were before. This tells me that all the components are much more reliable, and they are also much better matched (to last the same length of time). For the first time that I am aware of, manufactuers are using components (like capacitors) with 1 and 2 thousand hour MTBF ratings. In the old days, we never had to shotgun electrolytics like we do in TVs even 1 to 2 years old. John |
#17
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What ever happened to service manuals?
"Fred" wrote in message
news "Michael A. Covington" wrote in message ... I'm afraid we are going to have to face the fact that not everything is economically repairable.... True, but the owner (me) should have the chance to fix it and I don't charge myself $70/hour. I work for free!! B^) Understood. That's what Sam Goldwasser is for The documentation that we wish for may simply not exist, because even at the factory, they don't do component-level repair. BTW, I know I'm "boring and academic." That's what they pay me for. Boring and academic signatu -- Michael Covington, Ph.D. Associate Director, Artificial Intelligence Center The University of Georgia - www.ai.uga.edu/mc |
#18
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What ever happened to service manuals?
"Franc Zabkar" wrote in message
... Yeah, that's what happens over here as well. It's about time the useless Greenies got off their backsides and pushed for legislation in this area. IMO, there should be no excuse for any manufacturer not to make service manuals available in paperless format via the Internet. And that means making them available to everybody, not just their business partners. I detest the condescending, patronising attitude of manufacturers who pretend that by withholding technical information they are protecting unqualified consumers from themselves. That should not be their choice, nor their responsibility, it should be mine. VERY GOOD POINT about it being a "green" (environmental) issue -- the best way to keep stuff out of landfills is to fix it! The manufacturers don't necessarily have service manuals, but they have *some* documentation, which could be made available. Something about clearing up the safety liability is another thing such legislation could accomplish. |
#19
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What ever happened to service manuals?
"Ray L. Volts" wrote in message
... I ended up buying an NEC FP2141SB, for several reasons. I read lots of good reviews on it, it's $50 cheaper than its identical twin Mitsubishi, it's black to match the rest of my system (hey, aesthetics counts AND.. they will sell the schematic for it. I'm still kinda ****ed they charge $50 for their manual, while Sony wants half that for their large monitor service lit. NEC monitors have always been built with a critical audience in mind. The original NEC Multisync was clearly built with the idea that all the rivals would examine it closely and envy it. (We used one of them something like 10 years, from the CGA era until the end of the 640x480 VGA era.) A good reason for the lack of service manuals for *some* products is that the makers don't want us to see what corners they've cut! |
#20
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What ever happened to service manuals?
"John Del" wrote in message
... I started out about 1970 repairing 50s through the 60s era TVs. While TVs certainly needed a lot of attention, they didn't need tubes every three or four weeks. A properly serviced TV would give 2 to 4 years of decent service before needing some sort of attention, but ministrations of most sort were cheap back then. BTW, IMO the most reliable TVs ever built were built from the early 70s through the late 80s. I can't tell you how often customers offer to me a free TV from that era that still works. I've still got the last model Zenith TV that was made in the US. Circa 1983 maybe? Still works like new and never opened the back. |
#21
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What ever happened to service manuals?
"Michael A. Covington" wrote in message ... "Ray L. Volts" wrote in message ... I ended up buying an NEC FP2141SB, for several reasons. I read lots of good reviews on it, it's $50 cheaper than its identical twin Mitsubishi, it's black to match the rest of my system (hey, aesthetics counts AND.. they will sell the schematic for it. I'm still kinda ****ed they charge $50 for their manual, while Sony wants half that for their large monitor service lit. NEC monitors have always been built with a critical audience in mind. The original NEC Multisync was clearly built with the idea that all the rivals would examine it closely and envy it. (We used one of them something like 10 years, from the CGA era until the end of the 640x480 VGA era.) A good reason for the lack of service manuals for *some* products is that the makers don't want us to see what corners they've cut! Zackly! Like the old Samsung b/w monitors back in the '80s, before anyone had heard of that Korean company. They used a few ohm resistor in the V supply line, instead of a fuse. Whenever the computer fed it the wrong horiz freq, the resistor would act just like a fuse, and a column of smoke would come out of it! I finally just ran a pair of wires off the PC board and put an inline fuse in each monitor. Worked just fine, and it was easily changed. In comparison, the old Ball Bros monitors would just sit there, screeching, without a trace of smoke. One thing, I have to admit, was that it got the people to turn it off when they saw the smoke! 'Cept if there was no one around... |
#22
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What ever happened to service manuals?
"Fred" wrote in message ... "Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, the Dark Remover"" wrote in message ... Drainage problem isn't an adequate explanation. Some cameras are just battery hungry. Your best bet is to use Ni-MH rechargeables. Thanks. In this case battery, drainage or contacts are all OK. A new battery appears as if it were bad right away. First thing I checked was battery, contacts, easy things. My thought is it's an open or short in the power comparator circuit. Like a couple of folks said, a bad capacitor or diode maybe. One thought about the latter. In some equipment, they put a rectifier diode across the battery with the cathode to positive, so that if the batteries are put in backwards, the diode will short them out and save the equipment from being damged. Well you may have such a diode, and the backwards batteries may hav damaged it so that it's drawing serious current and draining the batteries. Yesterday, one of the ladies at work came into the shop and asked me for an AA cell, needed for the new wall clock she had just bought. I gave her one, and what'd she do? Just shoved it into the holder on the back, not even watching which way it was supposed to go in. And of course she put it in backwards. Well, DUH, after she turned it around the right way, it started working. Murphy's Law applies. :-P |
#24
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What ever happened to service manuals?
"Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, the Dark Remover"" wrote in message ... And what really gets my undies in a knot is that the only thing that may be wrong with a VCR or TV, for example, is that the damn remote control is bad, and there's no way to get a replacement that has full functionality! Like you can buy a 'universal' remote, and it has the usual volume, channel, play and record buttons, but you can't configure the VCR because all that stuff was on the original remote, but not on the VCR itself! And if you can't use the original, you can't do SPIT! FURRFU! The first ten minute power failure that comes along, and you not only have to reset the date and time, but you have to re-enter all the channels, too. And without the original remote, you're out of luck! I have had very good luck locating specialist remote control vendors on the Web. I think one of them is called Mr. Remote. |
#25
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What ever happened to service manuals?
"Fred" wrote in message ... Thanks to a few for their helpful comments, and to the majority for your pointless, boring academic commentary. %^) Typical internet discussion -- 5% helpful 95%. Regardless, I still can't fix my camera. You're welcome! Typical self-centered, argumentative Usenet analysis by an anonymous user. You find the comments academic, pointless and boring because they do not support your prejudices and you cannot comprehend them. And yes, your camera is still broken. Ed |
#26
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What ever happened to service manuals?
"Fred" wrote in message ... "Ed Price" wrote in message news:JAIRc.20267$Uh.15005@fed1read02... And to what do you attribute your strange legal insights? Safety concerns totally trump repairability. Ed wb6wsn WOW!!! That's amazing!! I didn't know JACK ASSES could type!! LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! Apparently, they can. However, they do appear to have a dexterity problem. They also don't realize that two of the groups they are spraying with electrons do not exist. Jack, can you figure out which two groups exist only in your imagination? Ed wb6wsn |
#27
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What ever happened to service manuals?
I guess incorrectly
assumed that all the folks here are "real" technicians... which is surely not the case, eh. 1. A "real technitian" dear Fred as you said might charges up to 70$/hour. After all you are a professional at your business, may I ask what do you charge your customers? 2. Flash charge capacitor from this camera is not going to kill you, and if you opened the camera and touched the flashboard without accepting a shock, troubleshoot the camera starting from the flash circuit (no need for schematics on this) as long as LCD backlight and flash charger are the main battery-eaters. george |
#28
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What ever happened to service manuals?
"Fred" wrote in message news "Michael A. Covington" wrote in message ... I'm afraid we are going to have to face the fact that not everything is economically repairable. The bottom line is that in many cases, it costs much less (in labor and materials) to make a new camera (or whatever) than to repair an old one. This is not a malicious practice of evil business, it's just a fact of life. True, but the owner (me) should have the chance to fix it and I don't charge myself $70/hour. I work for free!! B^) And I'm sure you're worth it! Actually, look on this as a golden opportunity to learn something about repair, and yourself. Your camera is broken now, how much worse can you make it? Ed wb6wsn |
#29
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What ever happened to service manuals?
"Fred" wrote in message ... wrote in message ... The real reason I'm sure is the $150 flat rate to repair a 2 year old camera. Typically they have test jigs set up for this stuff and take less that 5 minutes in most cases. Apparently you have never worked on a camcorder with an intermittant problem. 8^) Actually I have and you are right - they can be tough. In this case, I'm talking about a digital still camera where the moving parts are all OK. That's really impressive analysis skills, considering that you forgot about the shock hazard of the flash circuitry and the energy content of the batteries. And you're still posting to those two imaginary groups. Ed wb6wsn |
#30
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What ever happened to service manuals?
Really worse:-)
Try the phrase: wash the board the next post will be OK in the washing mashine at ? degrees?????? |
#31
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What ever happened to service manuals?
"Ed Price" wrote in message news:5_mSc.30169$Uh.8775@fed1read02... True, but the owner (me) should have the chance to fix it and I don't charge myself $70/hour. I work for free!! B^) And I'm sure you're worth it! Actually, look on this as a golden opportunity to learn something about repair, and yourself. Your camera is broken now, how much worse can you make it? Hyuk... hyuk.... TOUCHE!!!!! B:^) (You guys are a fun group, I'll have to say! Email is so easily misunderstood, I have to start putting smiley in to be sure no one is insulted -- not the intention, by the way. Actually, you're absolutely right about the opportunity. Since Olympus will fix anything for $150, I might as well root around in there and see what I can find. From talking to others the best guess right now is it's in the power circuitry. I'll post what I learn. |
#32
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What ever happened to service manuals?
"Ed Price" wrote in message news:LJmSc.29852
Typical self-centered, argumentative Usenet analysis by an anonymous user. You find the comments academic, pointless and boring because they do not support your prejudices and you cannot comprehend them. Actually I'm trying to get my camera fixed -- not that interested in POINTLESS COMMENTARY on this and that. Some folks have been great help, and others, less than helpful. |
#33
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What ever happened to service manuals?
"Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, the Dark Remover"" wrote
One thought about the latter. In some equipment, they put a rectifier diode across the battery with the cathode to positive, so that if the batteries are put in backwards, the diode will short them out and save the equipment from being damged. Well you may have such a diode, and the backwards batteries may hav damaged it so that it's drawing serious current and draining the batteries. Thanks. I'll check those diodes. I know that the batteries aren't being drained in this case, though, because the "dead batt" warning comes on upon the first attempt to take a photo. Then, if I remove those batteries and put them in a flashlight, they work like new. Yesterday, one of the ladies at work came into the shop and asked me for an AA cell, needed for the new wall clock she had just bought. I gave her one, and what'd she do? Just shoved it into the holder on the back, not even watching which way it was supposed to go in. And of course she put it in backwards. Well, DUH, after she turned it around the right way, it started working. Murphy's Law applies. :-P Good thing these ladies don't work at the local nuclear reactor, eh. |
#34
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What ever happened to service manuals?
"Fred" wrote in message ... Actually I'm trying to get my camera fixed... You might also try the appropriate newsgroup in rec.photo.equipment, since specific experience with similar cameras is going to be more relevant than general electronics. Some of the people over there are quite technically inclined. |
#35
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What ever happened to service manuals?
2. Flash charge capacitor from this camera is not going to kill you,
and if you opened the camera and touched the flashboard without accepting a shock, troubleshoot the camera starting from the flash circuit (no need for schematics on this) as long as LCD backlight and flash charger are the main battery-eaters. Good idea. In fact, completely cutting off power to the flash (by disconnecting it) would be a very good move. If the camera then works perfectly except for flash, then you've confined the problem. |
#36
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What ever happened to service manuals?
Hey John Del )! You wrote in message
, at group sci.electronics.repair, on the date of 10 Aug 2004 12:01:28 GMT: I started out about 1970 repairing 50s through the 60s era TVs. While TVs certainly needed a lot of attention, they didn't need tubes every three or four weeks. A properly serviced TV would give 2 to 4 years of decent service before needing some sort of attention, but ministrations of most sort were cheap back then. BTW, IMO the most reliable TVs ever built were built from the early 70s through the late 80s. I can't tell you how often customers offer to me a free TV from that era that still works. I agree. I have a Semp Toshiba TV from 1986 or so. Never was opened (the only thing that was changed was the power plug, the original one was broken). Still works perfectly, unlike some modern TV's that are cheap built. []s -- Chaos Master®, posting from Brazil. REPLY TO GROUP! MSN: wizard_of_yendor[@]hotmail[.]com http://marreka.no-ip.com Powered by chaos. Chaos. CHAOS. ©|-|405. |
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What ever happened to service manuals?
"Fred" wrote in message ... "Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, the Dark Remover"" wrote One thought about the latter. In some equipment, they put a rectifier diode across the battery with the cathode to positive, so that if the batteries are put in backwards, the diode will short them out and save the equipment from being damged. Well you may have such a diode, and the backwards batteries may hav damaged it so that it's drawing serious current and draining the batteries. Thanks. I'll check those diodes. I know that the batteries aren't being drained in this case, though, because the "dead batt" warning comes on upon the first attempt to take a photo. Then, if I remove those batteries and put them in a flashlight, they work like new. Yesterday, one of the ladies at work came into the shop and asked me for an AA cell, needed for the new wall clock she had just bought. I gave her one, and what'd she do? Just shoved it into the holder on the back, not even watching which way it was supposed to go in. And of course she put it in backwards. Well, DUH, after she turned it around the right way, it started working. Murphy's Law applies. :-P Good thing these ladies don't work at the local nuclear reactor, eh. SHHHH!! Don't talk about that! By the looks of this, they already do! (Or did!) http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/n...cfm?pageID=790 Local? You might think you're glad that you live a long ways away from Cincinnati. But statistically, Chernobyl raised the incidence of cancer of the thyroid over the whole world. :-( |
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I did that first. They ain't much help.
"Michael A. Covington" wrote in message ... "Fred" wrote in message ... Actually I'm trying to get my camera fixed... You might also try the appropriate newsgroup in rec.photo.equipment, since specific experience with similar cameras is going to be more relevant than general electronics. Some of the people over there are quite technically inclined. |
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Let's get back to the original subject...
Anybody know where I can get service documentation on the Olympus C-700 digital camera? Olympus does not supply this to the general public OR service techs. I'd try 2 things: (1) www.zuiko.com, www.olympusguy.com, and some other well-known Olympus experts on the Web; (2) posting a thread titled "Olympus C-700 Service Manual Wanted" and not trying to use the long-defunct groups "news.electronics" and "news.electronics.repair," which are still in the list of newsgroups for this thread and are limiting its distribution. The reason this thread turned into a general discussion of industry practices is that that's how it's titled. |
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Thanks for the tips, Michael.
"Michael A. Covington" wrote in message ... Let's get back to the original subject... Anybody know where I can get service documentation on the Olympus C-700 digital camera? Olympus does not supply this to the general public OR service techs. I'd try 2 things: (1) www.zuiko.com, www.olympusguy.com, and some other well-known Olympus experts on the Web; (2) posting a thread titled "Olympus C-700 Service Manual Wanted" and not trying to use the long-defunct groups "news.electronics" and "news.electronics.repair," which are still in the list of newsgroups for this thread and are limiting its distribution. The reason this thread turned into a general discussion of industry practices is that that's how it's titled. |
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