Although my wifey claimed the problem came and went periodically, it was
solid-bad when I got it. Thank goodness!

I popped the cap off the controller box, and could find nothing loose,
corroded, or burnt, so I took the plunge, pulled the controller and pried
the plastic cover off. Damn hard to get off; but it was just held by
little snap-grooves/clips.

Magnifying glasses are great things! It was a cracked run to one end of
a resistor. The pad had separated from the trace right where they join
(probably thermal), and showed just a bit of messiness on the broken
edges -- sort of "folded upwards". It was a big enough crack to be
pretty obvious, and that's good because my vision ain't what it used to
be.

I scraped off the conformal coating, soldered a wire across the crack,
and put some glyptol (stolen fingernail polish from HER) over the joint.

BINGO. Cart runs.

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys.

LLoyd

On Wed, 27 Jun 2012 15:31:03 -0500, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:

Although my wifey claimed the problem came and went periodically, it was
solid-bad when I got it. Thank goodness!

I popped the cap off the controller box, and could find nothing loose,
corroded, or burnt, so I took the plunge, pulled the controller and
pried the plastic cover off. Damn hard to get off; but it was just held
by little snap-grooves/clips.

Magnifying glasses are great things! It was a cracked run to one end of
a resistor. The pad had separated from the trace right where they join
(probably thermal), and showed just a bit of messiness on the broken
edges -- sort of "folded upwards". It was a big enough crack to be
pretty obvious, and that's good because my vision ain't what it used to
be.

I scraped off the conformal coating, soldered a wire across the crack,
and put some glyptol (stolen fingernail polish from HER) over the joint.

BINGO. Cart runs.

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys.

LLoyd

If it was a cracked board then it probably did come and go -- at first.
Then as the board kept flexing and the copper got folded upwards (and
away) more and more, it would have worked less and less.

If you don't have it buttoned up yet, go over the _rest_ of the board for
any incipient cracks. If you can, run the cart while flexing the board
(both directions is best) -- that'll maximize the chances that a crack
that hasn't shown itself yet will open up on you.

--
Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com

Tim Wescott fired this volley in
:

If you don't have it buttoned up yet, go over the _rest_ of the board
for any incipient cracks. If you can, run the cart while flexing the
board (both directions is best) -- that'll maximize the chances that a
crack that hasn't shown itself yet will open up on you.

I inspected it closely, top and bottom, and didn't catch anything else,
but it's pretty hard to flex it while mounted. It's deep inside the
battery compartment, and out of reach to the driver because of the weird
angle you'd have to bend your arm.

I do know what to look for, and especially looked for large components
that aren't heavily mounted. Vibration will do the same thing as actual
board flex.

LLoyd

Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:
Although my wifey claimed the problem came and went periodically, it was
solid-bad when I got it. Thank goodness!

I popped the cap off the controller box, and could find nothing loose,
corroded, or burnt, so I took the plunge, pulled the controller and pried
the plastic cover off. Damn hard to get off; but it was just held by
little snap-grooves/clips.

Magnifying glasses are great things! It was a cracked run to one end of
a resistor. The pad had separated from the trace right where they join
(probably thermal), and showed just a bit of messiness on the broken
edges -- sort of "folded upwards". It was a big enough crack to be
pretty obvious, and that's good because my vision ain't what it used to
be.

I scraped off the conformal coating, soldered a wire across the crack,
and put some glyptol (stolen fingernail polish from HER) over the joint.

BINGO. Cart runs.

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys.

LLoyd



Good on you and maybe you were fortunate it was power electronics and
still large enough to see. I've got a bit fed up of trying to fix things
a mates son has damaged in the consumer electronics line and trying to
solder items with a 1mm tip and a 10x eyepiece to see the parts.

On Wed, 27 Jun 2012 15:31:03 -0500, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:

(...)

BINGO. Cart runs.

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys.

YeeHa!

Well done.

--Winston

"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote in message . 3.70...
Although my wifey claimed the problem came and went periodically, it was
solid-bad when I got it. Thank goodness!

I popped the cap off the controller box, and could find nothing loose,
corroded, or burnt, so I took the plunge, pulled the controller and pried
the plastic cover off. Damn hard to get off; but it was just held by
little snap-grooves/clips.

Magnifying glasses are great things! It was a cracked run to one end of
a resistor. The pad had separated from the trace right where they join
(probably thermal), and showed just a bit of messiness on the broken
edges -- sort of "folded upwards". It was a big enough crack to be
pretty obvious, and that's good because my vision ain't what it used to
be.

I scraped off the conformal coating, soldered a wire across the crack,
and put some glyptol (stolen fingernail polish from HER) over the joint.

BINGO. Cart runs.

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys.



Aside from dried out capacitors, failed solder joints are probably the most common failure mode with electronics these days--especially common at the point where discrete components, headers, terminal strips and so forth are attached onto the board.

"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" lloydspinsidemindspring.com writes:


I scraped off the conformal coating, soldered a wire across the crack,
and put some glyptol (stolen fingernail polish from HER) over the joint.

Attaboy. The loser approach is to bridge the crack with solder;
which does not last. It's best if the wire has a hump to allow
some slack/flexing.




--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

David Lesher fired this volley in news:jsg0f8$nep$1
@reader1.panix.com:

It's best if the wire has a hump to allow
some slack/flexing.


Yeahhh.... I knew that... have done it before. Didn't do it. Damn.

Oh, well... it'll keep at least as long as it did. It's an '03 cart.

LLoyd

On Wed, 27 Jun 2012 15:31:03 -0500, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:

Although my wifey claimed the problem came and went periodically, it was
solid-bad when I got it. Thank goodness!

I popped the cap off the controller box, and could find nothing loose,
corroded, or burnt, so I took the plunge, pulled the controller and pried
the plastic cover off. Damn hard to get off; but it was just held by
little snap-grooves/clips.

Magnifying glasses are great things! It was a cracked run to one end of
a resistor. The pad had separated from the trace right where they join
(probably thermal), and showed just a bit of messiness on the broken
edges -- sort of "folded upwards". It was a big enough crack to be
pretty obvious, and that's good because my vision ain't what it used to
be.

I scraped off the conformal coating, soldered a wire across the crack,
and put some glyptol (stolen fingernail polish from HER) over the joint.

BINGO. Cart runs.

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys.

Congrats, LLoyd. Cheap fixes are always the most fun.

My fix was a new 1' long battery cable on the Club Car.

--
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to
succeed is more important than any one thing.
-- Abraham Lincoln

On Jun 27, 3:31*pm, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:
Although my wifey claimed the problem came and went periodically, it was
solid-bad when I got it. *Thank goodness!

I popped the cap off the controller box, and could find nothing loose,
corroded, or burnt, so I took the plunge, pulled the controller and pried
the plastic cover off. *Damn hard to get off; but it was just held by
little snap-grooves/clips.

Magnifying glasses are great things! *It was a cracked run to one end of
a resistor. *The pad had separated from the trace right where they join
(probably thermal), and showed just a bit of messiness on the broken
edges -- sort of "folded upwards". *It was a big enough crack to be
pretty obvious, and that's good because my vision ain't what it used to
be.

I scraped off the conformal coating, soldered a wire across the crack,
and put some glyptol (stolen fingernail polish from HER) over the joint.

BINGO. *Cart runs.

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys.

LLoyd

Good catch!

"Denis G." wrote in message
...
On Jun 27, 3:31 pm, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:
Although my wifey claimed the problem came and went periodically, it
was
solid-bad when I got it. Thank goodness!

I popped the cap off the controller box, and could find nothing
loose,
corroded, or burnt, so I took the plunge, pulled the controller and
pried
the plastic cover off. Damn hard to get off; but it was just held by
little snap-grooves/clips.

Magnifying glasses are great things! It was a cracked run to one end
of
a resistor. ...

LLoyd

-Good catch!

Or long experience.

I've done field-service board diagnosis and repair. For power circuits
examining the board for discoloration or cracks reveals a large
fraction of problems, even with surface-mount. Wiggling mechanical
connections catches another bunch. I didn't have to dig into the
circuitry to find the fault very often.

jsw

"Jim Wilkins" fired this volley in news:jsheho$2gm
:

I didn't have to dig into the
circuitry to find the fault very often.


Yup, and I hail back to the "big linear power supply" days, so there were
a lot of high-current, high thermal effect PCBs developing that sort of
problem.

You get very accustomed to looking for the usual suspects, and 60-70% of
the time that's where the problem lay.

It's a good thing I didn't have to "dig into the circuitry" too far,
because schematics for those Curtis controllers are unavailable. I can't
even find any reverse-engineered ones, not even for sale.

LLoyd

"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote in message

It's a good thing I didn't have to "dig into the circuitry" too far,
because schematics for those Curtis controllers are unavailable. I
can't
even find any reverse-engineered ones, not even for sale.

LLoyd

When I was in the business of fixing power wheelchairs I still
couldn't get help from the manufacturers, only $$$ replacements for
newer controllers.

That was an alarming look at what happens to costs when the government
pays them, similar to prevailing-wage construction. Even military
research wasn't as bad.

Or maybe I was unusually frugal with taxpayer money. No one ever
questioned my purchase orders for electronics and machine shop work,
so I don't know.

jsw

A friend of mine commented that when the
artificial prize goes to zero, the demand jumps
to infinity.

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message
...

When I was in the business of fixing power wheelchairs I still
couldn't get help from the manufacturers, only $$$ replacements for
newer controllers.

That was an alarming look at what happens to costs when the government
pays them, similar to prevailing-wage construction. Even military
research wasn't as bad.

Or maybe I was unusually frugal with taxpayer money. No one ever
questioned my purchase orders for electronics and machine shop work,
so I don't know.

jsw

On Jun 28, 6:19*am, "Jim Wilkins" wrote:
"Denis G." wrote in message

...
On Jun 27, 3:31 pm, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"









lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:
Although my wifey claimed the problem came and went periodically, it
was
solid-bad when I got it. Thank goodness!

I popped the cap off the controller box, and could find nothing
loose,
corroded, or burnt, so I took the plunge, pulled the controller and
pried
the plastic cover off. Damn hard to get off; but it was just held by
little snap-grooves/clips.

Magnifying glasses are great things! It was a cracked run to one end
of
a resistor. ...

LLoyd

-Good catch!

Or long experience.

I've done field-service board diagnosis and repair. For power circuits
examining the board for discoloration or cracks reveals a large
fraction of problems, even with surface-mount. Wiggling mechanical
connections catches another bunch. I didn't have to dig into the
circuitry to find the fault very often.

jsw

I've had only sporadic luck in fixing electronics. A gym-duty
Lifefitness treadmill went that I had purchased used went out on me
when I moved to a new state. It seems like the EEPROM lost its memory
and Lifefitness wanted $1200 for a new board (it has an Emerson
inverter AC drive). No help finding schematics or selling me a new
chip. I found another used one and cannabalized the old one for
parts.
Lately I've had a Toshiba DVD player that won't play a whole movie.
I've pulled out and reseated ribbon cables, but I think it will soon
end up in the trash.

On Thu, 28 Jun 2012 07:09:46 -0700, Denis G. wrote:

(...)

Lately I've had a Toshiba DVD player that won't play a whole movie. I've
pulled out and reseated ribbon cables, but I think it will soon end up
in the trash.

A little naphtha on a cotton swab to carefully clean the lens in the
DVD mechanism can really help in situations like this.

--Winston

On Jun 28, 9:45*am, Winston wrote:
On Thu, 28 Jun 2012 07:09:46 -0700, Denis G. wrote:

(...)

Lately I've had a Toshiba DVD player that won't play a whole movie. I've
pulled out and reseated ribbon cables, but I think it will soon end up
in the trash.

A little naphtha on a cotton swab to carefully clean the lens in the
DVD mechanism can really help in situations like this.

--Winston

I'll try it, but the problem seems that the beginning of the movie
plays fine, but towards the end it starts pixellating and then just
freezes up. I thought it might be a buffering problem, but every time
I played with it, it seemed to get a little better. Unfortunately, it
seems to be more like a Zeno's Paradox problem which will probably end
up being solved with a big hammer.

On Jun 28, 9:55*am, "Denis G." wrote:
On Jun 28, 9:45*am, Winston wrote:

On Thu, 28 Jun 2012 07:09:46 -0700, Denis G. wrote:

(...)

Lately I've had a Toshiba DVD player that won't play a whole movie. I've
pulled out and reseated ribbon cables, but I think it will soon end up
in the trash.

A little naphtha on a cotton swab to carefully clean the lens in the
DVD mechanism can really help in situations like this.

--Winston

I'll try it, but the problem seems that the beginning of the movie
plays fine, but towards the end it starts pixellating and then just
freezes up. *I thought it might be a buffering problem, but every time
I played with it, it seemed to get a little better. *Unfortunately, it
seems to be more like a Zeno's Paradox problem which will probably end
up being solved with a big hammer.

Winnie, you nailed it! Thanks.

On Thu, 28 Jun 2012 09:09:57 -0700, Denis G. wrote:


Unfortunately, it
seems to be more like a Zeno's Paradox problem which will probably end
up being solved with a big hammer.

BFH. The ultimate troubleshooting tool.

Winnie, you nailed it! Thanks.

Certainly.

--Winnie

On Thu, 28 Jun 2012 11:29:50 -0700, Denis G. wrote:

Yup. In the short term it doesn't seem practical to buy tools and
learn to fix things. But I think that you usually make out best in
the long run.

Short and long term, learning to fix stuff is a *huge*
advantage. For younger folks, the knowledge can provide
a sanity check when other people tell them 'that which
is not so'. For us older folks, it provides a way to
keep our minds agile and provide value to our family and
friends.

(IMHO)

--Winnie

On Jun 28, 8:09*am, "Denis G." wrote:
On Jun 28, 6:19*am, "Jim Wilkins" wrote:





"Denis G." wrote in message

...
On Jun 27, 3:31 pm, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"

lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:
Although my wifey claimed the problem came and went periodically, it
was
solid-bad when I got it. Thank goodness!

I popped the cap off the controller box, and could find nothing
loose,
corroded, or burnt, so I took the plunge, pulled the controller and
pried
the plastic cover off. Damn hard to get off; but it was just held by
little snap-grooves/clips.

Magnifying glasses are great things! It was a cracked run to one end
of
a resistor. ...

LLoyd

-Good catch!

Or long experience.

I've done field-service board diagnosis and repair. For power circuits
examining the board for discoloration or cracks reveals a large
fraction of problems, even with surface-mount. Wiggling mechanical
connections catches another bunch. I didn't have to dig into the
circuitry to find the fault very often.

jsw

I've had only sporadic luck in fixing electronics. *A gym-duty
Lifefitness treadmill went that I had purchased used went out on me
when I moved to a new state. *It seems like the EEPROM lost its memory
and Lifefitness wanted $1200 for a new board (it has an Emerson
inverter AC drive). *No help finding schematics or selling me a new
chip. *I found another used one and cannabalized the old one for
parts.
Lately I've had a Toshiba DVD player that won't play a whole movie.
I've pulled out and reseated ribbon cables, but I think it will soon
end up in the trash.

I had some CD and DVD burners that had troubles like that, the rails
that the carraige rode on and the lead screw that stepped the head in
and out were coated with grease that got hard and kept things from
moving smoothly. Happened JUST after the warranty ran out. Cleaned
the old hardened goop off and regreased with some synthetic lube gel
and all was well. Repeated several times over the years. The one
drive ran for 6 years that way, didn't get removed because it quit
working, a higher speed drive suddenly got a lot cheaper. They tend
to accumulate dust bunnies in the corners of the case, too, doesn't
help perfomance. The spinning disc acts like a blower and packs the
dust in there. But DVD players can be had for peanuts these days,
hardly worth messing with. Blu-Ray is about twice the price, still
cheap.

Stan

"Denis G." wrote:

I'll try it, but the problem seems that the beginning of the movie
plays fine, but towards the end it starts pixellating and then just
freezes up. I thought it might be a buffering problem, but every time
I played with it, it seemed to get a little better. Unfortunately, it
seems to be more like a Zeno's Paradox problem which will probably end
up being solved with a big hammer.


That sounds like a power supply problem. Failing electrolytics are
the bane of modern electronics.