wrote:
I have 3 automotive 12v battery chargers that need parts. One needs
diodes, another needs that protection device that cuts out when the
leads short, and comes back on in a minute or so (are those called
circuit breakers or????). I am not sure what the 3rd one needs, but
probably diodes. (Have not opened that one). I hate tossing
something that needs a simple repair, but where can I get parts? I
tried google but as usual all I got were fu#^%&g links to ebay, and
spam sites.

McMaster-Carr and DigiKey are two potential vendors that come to mind.
Also Grainger, but they won't sell to you unless your employer has an
account (even if you pay with your own credit card.)

good luck

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

wrote in message
news
I have 3 automotive 12v battery chargers that need parts. One needs
diodes, another needs that protection device that cuts out when the
leads short, and comes back on in a minute or so (are those called
circuit breakers or????). I am not sure what the 3rd one needs, but
probably diodes. (Have not opened that one). I hate tossing
something that needs a simple repair, but where can I get parts? I
tried google but as usual all I got were fu#^%&g links to ebay, and
spam sites.

Start with Radio Shack and places line
http://www.allelectronics.com/
http://www.mouser.com/index.cfm?handler=home
http://www.alliedelec.com/
http://www.jameco.com
http://www.alltronics.com/

You have to learn to use Google. That is where the above links came from
and none are spam sites of ebay. I got 76,000,000 hits but I did not check
them all out.

Also try Mouser Electronics,
http://www.mouser.com. You can order on
line, with no minimum. They have a huge
inventory and their on-line
system tells what is in stock or not.
BTW, they don't add huge S&H
charges either .... only the exact
shipping charge for the items you buy.

Nate Nagel wrote:
wrote:
I have 3 automotive 12v battery chargers that need parts. One needs
diodes, another needs that protection device that cuts out when the
leads short, and comes back on in a minute or so (are those called
circuit breakers or????). I am not sure what the 3rd one needs, but
probably diodes. (Have not opened that one). I hate tossing
something that needs a simple repair, but where can I get parts? I
tried google but as usual all I got were fu#^%&g links to ebay, and
spam sites.

McMaster-Carr and DigiKey are two potential vendors that come to mind.
Also Grainger, but they won't sell to you unless your employer has an
account (even if you pay with your own credit card.)

good luck

nate

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
wrote in message
news
I have 3 automotive 12v battery chargers that need parts. One needs
diodes, another needs that protection device that cuts out when the
leads short, and comes back on in a minute or so (are those called
circuit breakers or????). I am not sure what the 3rd one needs, but
probably diodes. (Have not opened that one). I hate tossing
something that needs a simple repair, but where can I get parts? I
tried google but as usual all I got were fu#^%&g links to ebay, and
spam sites.


Start with Radio Shack and places line
http://www.allelectronics.com/
http://www.mouser.com/index.cfm?handler=home
http://www.alliedelec.com/
http://www.jameco.com
http://www.alltronics.com/

You have to learn to use Google. That is where the above links came from
and none are spam sites of ebay. I got 76,000,000 hits but I did not check
them all out.



I have had no luck finding anything useful at Radio Shack in the past
few years. The local store employees for the most part give you blank
looks when you look for basic stuff like resistors and diodes. (have
needed same on short notice before for work.) Anymore I go to a local
place called Arcade Electronics first, but that probably doesn't help
the OP.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

I have 3 automotive 12v battery chargers that need parts. One needs
diodes, another needs that protection device that cuts out when the
leads short, and comes back on in a minute or so (are those called
circuit breakers or????). I am not sure what the 3rd one needs, but
probably diodes. (Have not opened that one). I hate tossing
something that needs a simple repair, but where can I get parts? I
tried google but as usual all I got were fu#^%&g links to ebay, and
spam sites.

On Oct 28, 7:32?am, Nate Nagel wrote:
Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
wrote in message
news

I have 3 automotive 12v battery chargers that need parts. One needs
diodes, another needs that protection device that cuts out when the
leads short, and comes back on in a minute or so (are those called
circuit breakers or????). I am not sure what the 3rd one needs, but
probably diodes. (Have not opened that one). I hate tossing
something that needs a simple repair, but where can I get parts? I
tried google but as usual all I got were fu#^%&g links to ebay, and
spam sites.

Start with Radio Shack and places line
http://www.allelectronics.com/
http://www.mouser.com/index.cfm?handler=home
http://www.alliedelec.com/
http://www.jameco.com
http://www.alltronics.com/

You have to learn to use Google. That is where the above links came from
and none are spam sites of ebay. I got 76,000,000 hits but I did not check
them all out.

I have had no luck finding anything useful at Radio Shack in the past
few years. The local store employees for the most part give you blank
looks when you look for basic stuff like resistors and diodes. (have
needed same on short notice before for work.) Anymore I go to a local
place called Arcade Electronics first, but that probably doesn't help
the OP.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.http://members.cox.net/njnagel- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

some non mall radio shack stores have more parts, although radio shack
has became a toy store.

few people want to fix things today, the vast majority just want a new
one

For the moment scavange parts from unit 1 to put in unit 2. At least you'll
have one working unit until you can find the parts

wrote in message
news
I have 3 automotive 12v battery chargers that need parts. One needs
diodes, another needs that protection device that cuts out when the
leads short, and comes back on in a minute or so (are those called
circuit breakers or????). I am not sure what the 3rd one needs, but
probably diodes. (Have not opened that one). I hate tossing
something that needs a simple repair, but where can I get parts? I
tried google but as usual all I got were fu#^%&g links to ebay, and
spam sites.

Unless you enjoy fixing things and some time spending
some money uselessly I suggest to use nearest garbage can
Tony

wrote in message
news
I have 3 automotive 12v battery chargers that need parts. One needs
diodes, another needs that protection device that cuts out when the
leads short, and comes back on in a minute or so (are those called
circuit breakers or????). I am not sure what the 3rd one needs, but
probably diodes. (Have not opened that one). I hate tossing
something that needs a simple repair, but where can I get parts? I
tried google but as usual all I got were fu#^%&g links to ebay, and
spam sites.

Nate Nagel wrote in
:


I have had no luck finding anything useful at Radio Shack in the past
few years. The local store employees for the most part give you blank
looks when you look for basic stuff like resistors and diodes.

DITTO!

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

Good one.

"jmagerl" wrote in message
. net...
For the moment scavange parts from unit 1 to put in unit 2. At least
you'll have one working unit until you can find the parts

wrote in message
news
I have 3 automotive 12v battery chargers that need parts. One needs
diodes, another needs that protection device that cuts out when the
leads short, and comes back on in a minute or so (are those called
circuit breakers or????). I am not sure what the 3rd one needs, but
probably diodes. (Have not opened that one). I hate tossing
something that needs a simple repair, but where can I get parts? I
tried google but as usual all I got were fu#^%&g links to ebay, and
spam sites.

Nate Nagel wrote:


I have had no luck finding anything useful at Radio Shack in the past
few years. The local store employees for the most part give you blank
looks when you look for basic stuff like resistors and diodes. (have
needed same on short notice before for work.) Anymore I go to a local
place called Arcade Electronics first, but that probably doesn't help
the OP.

nate

Most of the Radioshack stores around here closed last year but that
didn't matter because they had very little stock and as you said no one
knew what you were talking about.

We used to have two great industrial supply houses in the area but they
are gone because there is no industry here anymore.

Joseph Meehan wrote:
I don't know about the rest of the world, but I consider almost all
those chargers throw-a-ways.


But he didn't mention if they were big box style chargers or good ones.
I have a beefy charger that I have been using for years that I got
because it was declared inoperable. It had blown stud diodes and it was
a quick repair.

On Sun, 28 Oct 2007 14:22:32 GMT, "Tony" wrote:

Unless you enjoy fixing things and some time spending
some money uselessly I suggest to use nearest garbage can
Tony


Back when I was much younger I would have tried to trace an electronic
circuit board and replace components. These days I dont even touch
them, and just replace them. But battery chargers are such simple
things that anyone with some electronics experience can repair them.
Besides the housing, there are only 5 parts. The transformer, the
diodes, the "circuit breaker", the gauge, and some wiring (including
the external plug in and batt. cables/clamps). Also, some have a
switch to go from 6v to 12v. or low amp to hi amp. It takes me 5
minutes to determine the problem which is usually the diodes, but in
this one it's the "breaker". It takes another 5 to 20 minutes to
repair the thing. They're not complicated or hard to work on.
The problem is getting the parts.........

For those that said Radio Shack, they dont carry any diodes larger
than 1A, if they carry them at all these days. I rarely go to R.S. at
all anymore. All they carry is toys, and overpriced cellphones and
tvs. Their parts are limited to a few switches, solder, coax
connectors, phone cords, and a few grab bags of unidentified
semiconductors that (from experience) are often defective.

I should note that I DID repair a high powered batt charger using
diodes made for a auto alternator. Those diodes are way over the
rating of the charger, even for that 50A charger (which was an
expensive charger). The problem is that those diodes are also hard to
get, and most (if not all) are pressure fit and thus have no mounting
screws. I had to use the heatsink from the scrap alternator and mount
it into the charger while providing isolation from the metal case. I
did fix that one, and spent much more than an hour doing it, but for a
costly charger it was worth it.


wrote in message
news
I have 3 automotive 12v battery chargers that need parts. One needs
diodes, another needs that protection device that cuts out when the
leads short, and comes back on in a minute or so (are those called
circuit breakers or????). I am not sure what the 3rd one needs, but
probably diodes. (Have not opened that one). I hate tossing
something that needs a simple repair, but where can I get parts? I
tried google but as usual all I got were fu#^%&g links to ebay, and
spam sites.

wrote in message
news
I have 3 automotive 12v battery chargers that need parts. One needs
diodes, another needs that protection device that cuts out when the
leads short, and comes back on in a minute or so (are those called
circuit breakers or????). I am not sure what the 3rd one needs, but
probably diodes. (Have not opened that one). I hate tossing
something that needs a simple repair, but where can I get parts? I
tried google but as usual all I got were fu#^%&g links to ebay, and
spam sites.

Also, Fry's if you happen to have one nearby.

Bob

On Oct 28, 5:09 am, wrote:
I have 3 automotive 12v battery chargers that need parts. One needs
diodes, another needs that protection device that cuts out when the
leads short, and comes back on in a minute or so (are those called
circuit breakers or????). I am not sure what the 3rd one needs, but
probably diodes. (Have not opened that one). I hate tossing
something that needs a simple repair, but where can I get parts? I
tried google but as usual all I got were fu#^%&g links to ebay, and
spam sites.

You locale?

In OC, CA (or SoCal) ..... Marvac electronics

online...... as Ed suggested............

temp fix....as suggest rob all the parts need from the others

btw that would be a thermal circuit breaker


cheers
Bob

On Oct 28, 12:22 pm, "Tony" wrote:
Unless you enjoy fixing things and some time spending
some money uselessly I suggest to use nearest garbage can
Tony

wrote in message

news


I have 3 automotive 12v battery chargers that need parts. One needs
diodes, another needs that protection device that cuts out when the
leads short, and comes back on in a minute or so (are those called
circuit breakers or????). I am not sure what the 3rd one needs, but
probably diodes. (Have not opened that one). I hate tossing
something that needs a simple repair, but where can I get parts? I
tried google but as usual all I got were fu#^%&g links to ebay, and
spam sites.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Member of the 'throw-away' society; eh Tony?
Have to agree that if/when one has to pay North American labour rates
it is often not economic to 'pay' for something to be fixed!
Also to 'pay' for something to be fixed usually means driving
somewhere or having someone come and pick it up, repair it and return
it (or pick it up yourself). With the consequent use of gasoline etc.
However anyone willing to reuse/recycle should be commended.
My quick, back of the envelope, calculations seem to indicate that any
significant project I can tackle personally can often be completed for
one third the cost if one does it oneself, especially if one has
mostly used materials on hand or saved up for it. Repairing an item
such as a battery charge from a few extra bits on hand or purchased
could possibly be done for just a few dollars. I too have couple of
such chargers and another to scrap for parts. A few years ago rebuilt
one of those 'heavy' chargers that can give enough current to start a
vehicle or recharge a battery in 20 minutes. It had been thrown out by
a local auto repair outfit who said "take it". Some $40 later and with
the addition of a missing handle replaced with one from a scrapped
'weed eater' it is good as a new $250-$300 one!
I congratulate the OP for thinking about refurbishing, reuse, repair
or recycle whatever you want to call it. We should all be thinking
that way.

"terry" wrote in message
s.com...

Member of the 'throw-away' society; eh Tony?
Have to agree that if/when one has to pay North American labour rates
it is often not economic to 'pay' for something to be fixed!
Also to 'pay' for something to be fixed usually means driving
somewhere or having someone come and pick it up, repair it and return
it (or pick it up yourself). With the consequent use of gasoline etc.
However anyone willing to reuse/recycle should be commended.
My quick, back of the envelope, calculations seem to indicate that any
significant project I can tackle personally can often be completed for
one third the cost if one does it oneself, especially if one has
mostly used materials on hand or saved up for it. Repairing an item
such as a battery charge from a few extra bits on hand or purchased
could possibly be done for just a few dollars. I too have couple of
such chargers and another to scrap for parts. A few years ago rebuilt
one of those 'heavy' chargers that can give enough current to start a
vehicle or recharge a battery in 20 minutes. It had been thrown out by
a local auto repair outfit who said "take it". Some $40 later and with
the addition of a missing handle replaced with one from a scrapped
'weed eater' it is good as a new $250-$300 one!
I congratulate the OP for thinking about refurbishing, reuse, repair
or recycle whatever you want to call it. We should all be thinking
that way.


If everyone saved and re-used broken things and scavenged them from others, what
would happen to our economy? And where would I get all the great stuff that
makes my life cheap, easy, and interesting?

Bob

Of those 3, one was originally my own. The other 2 came from auctions
where I gave a couple bucks for them. The reason I can not just
change parts from one to the other is that they are all different
amperages. The thermal breaker needs to be a 12A (its a 2 or 10A
charger). None of the other chargers are even close, they are much
higher AMP chargers. I cant use the diodes from the 10A on a 50A or I
think the other one is a 20 to 30A. This is where the problems arise.
Getting parts these days is very difficult. Even when you do find
them online, many (or most) companies want a minimum order and or
charge very high shipping making the whole repair cost more than a new
charger. I did find one place that has the thermal breakers, except
they dont have a 12A. I have to choose either a 10 or 15, which means
a 15 or it will trip all the time at full charge. The part is around
four dollars. For some reason their shipping would not calculate on
the web which means I have to call them tomorrow, but I already have a
feeling the shipping will be $10 or more, which will make me ask
myself if it's worth the cost. (the item weighs .7 oz, so the real
shipping should be about $2). And I am not sure if they have a
minimum either.....

What ever happened to the good old days when every city had a well
stocked electronics parts store? I recall them in the 60's and spent
a good amount of time and money at them, when I was in my teens.

-----------------

On Sun, 28 Oct 2007 17:46:30 -0400, "Joseph Meehan"
wrote:

That is true. While I would expect someone with three of those
commercial units would not be sitting on three of them out of commission and
not repairing or having them repaired or at least having someone in the shop
that would know the answer to the question. Of course some very old ones
might require more redesign and expense to make it worth it. I would not
expect three of them to go out at the same time.

The OP appears to understand enough about them, that I am surprised he
did not know where to get the parts.

"George" wrote in message
...
Joseph Meehan wrote:
I don't know about the rest of the world, but I consider almost all
those chargers throw-a-ways.

But he didn't mention if they were big box style chargers or good ones. I
have a beefy charger that I have been using for years that I got because
it was declared inoperable. It had blown stud diodes and it was a quick
repair.

On Oct 28, 6:21 pm, "Bob F" wrote:
"terry" wrote in message

s.com...







Member of the 'throw-away' society; eh Tony?
Have to agree that if/when one has to pay North American labour rates
it is often not economic to 'pay' for something to be fixed!
Also to 'pay' for something to be fixed usually means driving
somewhere or having someone come and pick it up, repair it and return
it (or pick it up yourself). With the consequent use of gasoline etc.
However anyone willing to reuse/recycle should be commended.
My quick, back of the envelope, calculations seem to indicate that any
significant project I can tackle personally can often be completed for
one third the cost if one does it oneself, especially if one has
mostly used materials on hand or saved up for it. Repairing an item
such as a battery charge from a few extra bits on hand or purchased
could possibly be done for just a few dollars. I too have couple of
such chargers and another to scrap for parts. A few years ago rebuilt
one of those 'heavy' chargers that can give enough current to start a
vehicle or recharge a battery in 20 minutes. It had been thrown out by
a local auto repair outfit who said "take it". Some $40 later and with
the addition of a missing handle replaced with one from a scrapped
'weed eater' it is good as a new $250-$300 one!
I congratulate the OP for thinking about refurbishing, reuse, repair
or recycle whatever you want to call it. We should all be thinking
that way.

If everyone saved and re-used broken things and scavenged them from others, what
would happen to our economy?

For starters, personal debt would go down.

In article ,

wrote:
Of those 3, one was originally my own. The other 2 came from auctions
where I gave a couple bucks for them. The reason I can not just
change parts from one to the other is that they are all different
amperages. The thermal breaker needs to be a 12A (its a 2 or 10A
charger). None of the other chargers are even close, they are much
higher AMP chargers. I cant use the diodes from the 10A on a 50A or I
think the other one is a 20 to 30A. This is where the problems arise.
Getting parts these days is very difficult. Even when you do find
them online, many (or most) companies want a minimum order and or
charge very high shipping making the whole repair cost more than a new
charger. I did find one place that has the thermal breakers, except
they dont have a 12A. I have to choose either a 10 or 15, which means
a 15 or it will trip all the time at full charge. The part is around
four dollars. For some reason their shipping would not calculate on
the web which means I have to call them tomorrow, but I already have a
feeling the shipping will be $10 or more, which will make me ask
myself if it's worth the cost. (the item weighs .7 oz, so the real
shipping should be about $2). And I am not sure if they have a
minimum either.....

I suspect that UPS Ground from DigiKey to most locations in the US would
be about $4 for their smallest size box and minimal content. Plus a $5
handling charge if your order is less than $25 or something like that.
They may charge "UPS Chart Rate" but get a big discount, which they
pocket to defray cost of the package, packing material, and doing the
packaging and also a bit of profit. Their parts prices are so low that I
see their markup over full "standard package" per-unit prices barely
covering cost of repackaging into smaller quantities and only some of the
other costs of getting them from a "standard package FOB manufacturer" to
your package of parts.

They have a highly automated system for that. It would cost them more
after cost of extra labor to send your package by first class mail instead,
probably at about $2 for postage. I have an impression that their
smallest box with packing material weighs about 5 ounces, plus the weight
of the merchandise. The automated system requires a small variety of box
sizes for the bulk of their shipments to minimize cost.

What ever happened to the good old days when every city had a well
stocked electronics parts store? I recall them in the 60's and spent
a good amount of time and money at them, when I was in my teens.

1. Electronics has largely been offshored by higher USA labor costs
(including labor overhead or USA-specific extra employee expense such as
health insurance at USA bloated healthcare cost rate, and auto insurance),
higher liability and liability insurance costs, and more-expensive-to-
comply-with workplace safety and environmental regulations. Have you seen
yet fire extinguishers with a flammability rating? I first started seeing
those around 2004 or so. For that matter, I think the rule book would get
fatter rather than thinner to get fire extinguishers an exemption from
whatever chemical product regulation gave us this!

So, there is little electronic prodct or electronic component
manufacturing in the USA now. I suspect a lot of DigiKey's customers are
hobbyists, prototype developers, consultants and specialty small job
manufacturers making a small quantity of actual products, and the small
remainder of actual electronic product manufacturers in the US, and a few
manufacturers of products that use a few loose electronic components (as
opposed to entire circuit boards). I suspect DigiKey also has some
Canadian customers including product manufacturers.

2. The local parts stores can't compete against DigiKey in any way
except by getting parts to you today rather than tomorrow.

DigiKey even goes a bit of the way there by accepting online orders as
late as 8 PM Central time and getting them to you the next morning.

Mouser is also doing some of what DigiKey does. The other main
electronic components distributors as far as I know are Allied-Newark,
Future Electronics, and Jameco. There are a few hobbyist/surplus type
places, and the ones that come to my mind most are Hosfelt, BG MIcro and
All Electronics. There are some local ones, but they are dying out to
such an extent that not every city in the US has one.

- Don Klipstein )

My business is repairing roll laminating machines, and buy parts where
I can to save BIG BUCKS.

GBC has a board thats near a 100 bucks where a 10 dollar transistor
fails. So I buy and swap that transistor to save money, its as good as
a new board and saves near 90 bucks

On Sun, 28 Oct 2007 17:31:05 -0700, Larry Bud
wrote:

On Oct 28, 6:21 pm, "Bob F" wrote:
"terry" wrote in message

s.com...







Member of the 'throw-away' society; eh Tony?
Have to agree that if/when one has to pay North American labour rates
it is often not economic to 'pay' for something to be fixed!
Also to 'pay' for something to be fixed usually means driving
somewhere or having someone come and pick it up, repair it and return
it (or pick it up yourself). With the consequent use of gasoline etc.
However anyone willing to reuse/recycle should be commended.
My quick, back of the envelope, calculations seem to indicate that any
significant project I can tackle personally can often be completed for
one third the cost if one does it oneself, especially if one has
mostly used materials on hand or saved up for it. Repairing an item
such as a battery charge from a few extra bits on hand or purchased
could possibly be done for just a few dollars. I too have couple of
such chargers and another to scrap for parts. A few years ago rebuilt
one of those 'heavy' chargers that can give enough current to start a
vehicle or recharge a battery in 20 minutes. It had been thrown out by
a local auto repair outfit who said "take it". Some $40 later and with
the addition of a missing handle replaced with one from a scrapped
'weed eater' it is good as a new $250-$300 one!
I congratulate the OP for thinking about refurbishing, reuse, repair
or recycle whatever you want to call it. We should all be thinking
that way.

If everyone saved and re-used broken things and scavenged them from others, what
would happen to our economy?

For starters, personal debt would go down.

It was common practice until somewhere in the 1980's for people to
repair things. This disposible society is actually something new.
The economy in the 50s thru the 80's was no worse than it is now, and
selling parts was a business in itself. What we do now is fill dumps
with tons of junk, and deplete our resources, while buying inferior
products. I know that when I was a kid, my parents fixed everything
they could, and in all honesty, life was much better then, and people
in many ways had more money left over at the end of the week or month.
Of course back then, people did not live to own the latest fads. I
still have a TV that I bought around 1970, and it still works great.
But now we are all faced with, and being forced into HiDef tv (which I
could care less about). That's a large part of the problem, we are
forced by greedy corporations to keep buying stuff. When MS comes out
with a new OS, they force out many of the older computers, and now
they are doing the same with our tvs, and who knows what else. I
still use Win98 and have no intention to upgrade, and I dont even like
the picture on a HDTV.

Ya, I am getting off track here, but I have a valid rant. The older I
get, the less I want to change, particularly when that change is in
most cases just to make some company wealthy, and does nothing to
benefit me as the consumer. I find the newer MS OSs just bloated, and
overly complicated with no benefits. And as I said, I like the
picture on a standard tv much better than HDTV. Unfortunately, our
younger people live to kiss the asses of these companies, because
their generation is never satisfied with anything. So, these
companies win, and us older people suffer as a result.

It's a sad state of affairs America has become......

Alvin

wrote in message
I
still use Win98 and have no intention to upgrade, and I dont even like
the picture on a HDTV.

And as I said, I like the
picture on a standard tv much better than HDTV.

Sorry to hear of your failing eye sight. Do the doctors give you any hope?

On Mon, 29 Oct 2007 05:47:04 -0400, "Edwin Pawlowski"
wrote:


wrote in message
I
still use Win98 and have no intention to upgrade, and I dont even like
the picture on a HDTV.

And as I said, I like the
picture on a standard tv much better than HDTV.

Sorry to hear of your failing eye sight. Do the doctors give you any hope?


It has nothing to do with my eyes. I might get a little "snow" on my
analog tv, but snow is far less irritating than all those huge
blotches and distortions on a HDTV when the signal is not 100%. Since
I live in a rural area, and am many miles from the tv station,
everyone around here has these poor pictures. Even on a DVD movie the
picture is artificial looking. I just dont like HDTV. But what the
heck. The government takes most of our money, they may as well take
away our tvs too.

And as I said, I like the
picture on a standard tv much better than HDTV.

Sorry to hear of your failing eye sight. Do the doctors give you any hope?

It has nothing to do with my eyes. I might get a little "snow" on my
analog tv, but snow is far less irritating than all those huge
blotches and distortions on a HDTV when the signal is not 100%. Since
I live in a rural area, and am many miles from the tv station,
everyone around here has these poor pictures. Even on a DVD movie the
picture is artificial looking. I just dont like HDTV. But what the
heck. The government takes most of our money, they may as well take
away our tvs too.

I think you have some oddball bias that piggy backs on not having all
correct information.

1) The government isn't forcing High Def. They're forcing digital.
Not all digital is high def. They also not forcing you to buy a new
TV. True, you'll need a converter for analog TVs that still are using
OTA reception (if that's still you, you're in the vast minority), but
it's not like you need to drop 2 grand on a new TV.

2) You don't need 100% signal for digital. There are also
alternatives to picking it up OTA if you live too many miles from the
station, including cable, or if you're still too far away from that,
satellite. Now, I find it interesting that you complain about
digital signals when you don't have digital service. Odd.

3) If you're basing your experience on friends, I've known MANY people
that have their TVs set up COMPLETELY wrong. I dated this one chick
that had a nice new 50" Sony HDTV, the Comcast guy hooked up the HD
box, but she had it on the wrong input, and was still only receiving
an analog-SD picture from the box. I clicked a couple of buttons on
her TV, and I though her head was going to explode with the huge
increased resolution change.

So what part of the HDTV picture don't you like? The increased
resolution? The greater dynamic range of black vs. white? Increased
color depth?

But now we are all faced with, and being forced into HiDef tv (which I
could care less about). That's a large part of the problem, we are
forced by greedy corporations to keep buying stuff. When MS comes out
with a new OS, they force out many of the older computers, and now
they are doing the same with our tvs, and who knows what else. I
still use Win98 and have no intention to upgrade, and I dont even like
the picture on a HDTV.

So how is MS forcing you into a new operating system when you still
happily use Win 98? I mean, you're using a 10 year old OS. Home PCs
have only been around for 25 years or so.

What do you expect companies to do, stop developing the products they
make? Should GM still be making a '57 Chevy? Should we all still
have rotary telephones, using 300 baud modems? Still have tube black
and white TVs?

Until Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or Jack Tretton hold a gun to your head,
they're not forcing you to do anything, as you've proven with your use
of Win 98 and a standard def TV.

What ever happened to the good old days when every city had a well
stocked electronics parts store? I recall them in the 60's and spent
a good amount of time and money at them, when I was in my teens.

Seriously, you must live in a dream world. There are very few
servicable parts inside electronics now. In the 60's, you'd be lucky
to have a few transistors in a device, and probably 90% of the
components were capacitors and resistors. Which is why anything you
bought took up half your living room.

Cut to the 2000s, where your entire life can be kept on a phone that
neatly fits into your shirt pocket. A device that has a few tiny
surface mount components which never go bad, and 2 or 3 ICs that also
last forever (unless the phone happens to fall into the toilet!)

I'm all for fixing and tinkering, but we're in the very small
minority. I fixed a home DVD player which happened to have a cap go
bad (poor design, under rated component, as it was a common problem
with this certain model). Of course, when the DVD player initially
went bad, I bought a new one. One with some new great features (like
the ability to play MPG and AVIs off a standard CD or DVD ROM), for
$40. It took me longer to research the problem with the old DVD
player, dig a cap out of my supply, and solder the new one in than it
took to go to Best Buy and pick up my new fangled DVD player.

You don't HAVE to fix stuff now, because the replacement is dirt cheap
to buy. While bad for the land fills, it's a GOOD thing for pretty
much everything else.

On top of that, you STILL have electronic supply sources.. HUGE
sources like DigiKey (my favorite) that ship out within 24 hours.
Sometimes I get the stuff the next day.

"Larry Bud" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Oct 28, 6:21 pm, "Bob F" wrote:
"terry" wrote in message

s.com...







Member of the 'throw-away' society; eh Tony?
Have to agree that if/when one has to pay North American labour rates
it is often not economic to 'pay' for something to be fixed!
Also to 'pay' for something to be fixed usually means driving
somewhere or having someone come and pick it up, repair it and return
it (or pick it up yourself). With the consequent use of gasoline etc.
However anyone willing to reuse/recycle should be commended.
My quick, back of the envelope, calculations seem to indicate that any
significant project I can tackle personally can often be completed for
one third the cost if one does it oneself, especially if one has
mostly used materials on hand or saved up for it. Repairing an item
such as a battery charge from a few extra bits on hand or purchased
could possibly be done for just a few dollars. I too have couple of
such chargers and another to scrap for parts. A few years ago rebuilt
one of those 'heavy' chargers that can give enough current to start a
vehicle or recharge a battery in 20 minutes. It had been thrown out by
a local auto repair outfit who said "take it". Some $40 later and with
the addition of a missing handle replaced with one from a scrapped
'weed eater' it is good as a new $250-$300 one!
I congratulate the OP for thinking about refurbishing, reuse, repair
or recycle whatever you want to call it. We should all be thinking
that way.

If everyone saved and re-used broken things and scavenged them from others,
what
would happen to our economy?

For starters, personal debt would go down.


Nice 'clip', thereby missing the whole point of my humor.

Bob

" wrote in
ups.com:

My business is repairing roll laminating machines, and buy parts where
I can to save BIG BUCKS.

GBC has a board thats near a 100 bucks where a 10 dollar transistor
fails. So I buy and swap that transistor to save money, its as good as
a new board and saves near 90 bucks



if it's the same transistor that fails,you might try putting in a sturdier
part,with higher ratings/better heatsinking.

Of course,that kills your repeat business....OOPS. ;-(

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

On Mon, 29 Oct 2007 06:21:09 -0700, Larry Bud
wrote:

[snip]

You don't HAVE to fix stuff now, because the replacement is dirt cheap
to buy. While bad for the land fills, it's a GOOD thing for pretty
much everything else.


Just today I got a Wal-Mart ad that included a $30 DVD player.

On top of that, you STILL have electronic supply sources.. HUGE
sources like DigiKey (my favorite) that ship out within 24 hours.
Sometimes I get the stuff the next day.

I need those sometimes, such as for the solid-state relays I use in my
holiday light control system (it also took a few 78L05 and MAX233 ICs
and some capacitors).
--
57 days until the winter solstice celebration

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"Unlike biological evolution. 'intelligent design' is
not a genuine scientific theory and, therefore, has
no place in the curriculum of our nation's public
school classes." -- Ted Kennedy

writes:

But now we are all faced with, and being forced into HiDef tv (which I
could care less about).

Correction: broadcasters are being required to switch from analog
transmission (which is very wasteful of radio spectrum once you consider
the rules about adjacent channels (due to crappy UHF tuners)) to digital
transmission which uses less spectrum. The broadcasters may use that to
transmit HDTV, or multiple channels of game shows and reruns.

Your TV will continue to work fine playing content from your VCR or DVD
player. If you want content off the air, you'll need an adapter box.
But nothing forces you to buy a new TV.

Dave

On Oct 29, 3:01?am, wrote:
On Sun, 28 Oct 2007 17:31:05 -0700, Larry Bud
wrote:





On Oct 28, 6:21 pm, "Bob F" wrote:
"terry" wrote in message

ups.com...

Member of the 'throw-away' society; eh Tony?
Have to agree that if/when one has to pay North American labour rates
it is often not economic to 'pay' for something to be fixed!
Also to 'pay' for something to be fixed usually means driving
somewhere or having someone come and pick it up, repair it and return
it (or pick it up yourself). With the consequent use of gasoline etc.
However anyone willing to reuse/recycle should be commended.
My quick, back of the envelope, calculations seem to indicate that any
significant project I can tackle personally can often be completed for
one third the cost if one does it oneself, especially if one has
mostly used materials on hand or saved up for it. Repairing an item
such as a battery charge from a few extra bits on hand or purchased
could possibly be done for just a few dollars. I too have couple of
such chargers and another to scrap for parts. A few years ago rebuilt
one of those 'heavy' chargers that can give enough current to start a
vehicle or recharge a battery in 20 minutes. It had been thrown out by
a local auto repair outfit who said "take it". Some $40 later and with
the addition of a missing handle replaced with one from a scrapped
'weed eater' it is good as a new $250-$300 one!
I congratulate the OP for thinking about refurbishing, reuse, repair
or recycle whatever you want to call it. We should all be thinking
that way.

If everyone saved and re-used broken things and scavenged them from others, what
would happen to our economy?

For starters, personal debt would go down.

It was common practice until somewhere in the 1980's for people to
repair things. This disposible society is actually something new.
The economy in the 50s thru the 80's was no worse than it is now, and
selling parts was a business in itself. What we do now is fill dumps
with tons of junk, and deplete our resources, while buying inferior
products. I know that when I was a kid, my parents fixed everything
they could, and in all honesty, life was much better then, and people
in many ways had more money left over at the end of the week or month.
Of course back then, people did not live to own the latest fads. I
still have a TV that I bought around 1970, and it still works great.
But now we are all faced with, and being forced into HiDef tv (which I
could care less about). That's a large part of the problem, we are
forced by greedy corporations to keep buying stuff. When MS comes out
with a new OS, they force out many of the older computers, and now
they are doing the same with our tvs, and who knows what else. I
still use Win98 and have no intention to upgrade, and I dont even like
the picture on a HDTV.

Ya, I am getting off track here, but I have a valid rant. The older I
get, the less I want to change, particularly when that change is in
most cases just to make some company wealthy, and does nothing to
benefit me as the consumer. I find the newer MS OSs just bloated, and
overly complicated with no benefits. And as I said, I like the
picture on a standard tv much better than HDTV. Unfortunately, our
younger people live to kiss the asses of these companies, because
their generation is never satisfied with anything. So, these
companies win, and us older people suffer as a result.

It's a sad state of affairs America has become......

Alvin- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

note digital tv conversion is mandated by congress, but theres no
requirement for high def, and existing non high def sets will not see
a high def picture quality.

ending analog tv broadcasts was all about reselling the bandwidth to
help the federal deficit.

with out of control spending on iraq war, the bandwidth sale is a
pittance

everyone call and complain to you congressional representives NOW

wrote:

note digital tv conversion is mandated by congress, but theres no
requirement for high def, and existing non high def sets will not see
a high def picture quality.

ending analog tv broadcasts was all about reselling the bandwidth to
help the federal deficit.


I object to the whole concept especially when they claim they made $xxx
billion" on the sale of spectrum. They didn't make "anything" since a
spectrum sale is nothing but prepaid taxes.

Any company that buys the spectrum has to recover the cost from the
users of whatever service will be operated there.



with out of control spending on iraq war, the bandwidth sale is a
pittance

everyone call and complain to you congressional representives NOW