British Gas engineers.

[gasbanni]

And of course all this happens. I get a customer call me for say a new kitchen tap. They ask me to supply a cheap unit.

This happened to me earlier this year .. ended up putting s new tap in again as the cheap one failed. That's it now I only supply good quality brands or supply your own but I give no guarantee.

We agree again, quality tap fit and forget. Was going to get one from toolstation I asked to open the box to check it .......rubbish ....no thanks.

 

[gasbanni]

Obviously don’t know the cost if some pcb’s, Intergas one is £330 - that ain’t cheap [/QUOTE

Cheaper and quicker to change a PCB, than to employ someone with real skill.

I had a laugh at that!!! And what if it isn't the pcb in most cases it ain't the pcb !!

 

[Notch7]

I often do that - I have lots of electronics here. Most frequent issue (9/10) is electrolytic capacitors, perhaps more in modern equipment than older items and quite easy to spot by the swelling / leakage.

Most PCBs these days seem to be face mount, which I understand is very difficult to repair at component level.

More throwaway society.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Most PCBs these days seem to be face mount, which I understand is very difficult to repair at component level.

More throwaway society.

'surface mount' - yes they are. Rather than components having leads, these days the smaller components lack leads and are just stuck on the PCB and then soldered by hot air. It makes for even cheaper components, smaller and even cheaper more complex PCB's. They still are repairable, but not quite so easily as through hole wire lead assembly methods. The size of the components means even better eyesight is needed/ lenses / or scopes. I struggle now with my eyesight, but I have repaired a few surface mount PCB. I will only tackle the discrete component replacements - the technique is to lift the old component off with a tiny soldering iron, then position the new held in place with a wooden cocktail stick point, then solder.

 

[Bodd]

We agree again, quality tap fit and forget. Was going to get one from toolstation I asked to open the box to check it .......rubbish ....no thanks.

There really is so much shįt out there.. if thd customer supply's the Tap or what ever else I'm now toughening up and charging them for call backs.

 

[Bodd]

More throwaway society.

I had a boomerang that stopped working so I chucked it.....

 

[Dangee]

There’s a place in Perivale, been there for years. Little Asian guys in bays that will test & repair pcbs while you wait, 7 days a week!
Got me out of trouble a few times with discontinued parts.

 

[bernardgreen]

You cannot sell boomerangs, they always come back to the shop.

 

[bernardgreen]

One problem with modern electronics is that the design does not include adequate protection to the PCB when something external to the PCB fails

One example is a boiler fan whose speed is control by the PCB and a feed back string of pulses from the fan confirm to the PCB that the fan motor is rotating at the correct speed. With this confirmation the PCB can command the gas valve to open and ignition to happen. ( It is assumed that if the motor is rotating then the fan blades are also rotating )

The PCB in the fan has mains voltage circuits and ELV circuits. Faults on the fan motor PCB can connect mains to the ELV circuits which then take the mains to the ELV inputs and outputs on the main PCB. These inputs and outputs are damaged and the PCB is a write off. A few extra repairable/ replaceable components could have been added to the design to prevent the mains voltage doing irreparable damage to the PCB. (*)

An alternative is a two PCB system, one PCB has all the non intelligent protection components and all the connections to the boiler go through this PCB. The intelligent controller PCB plugs into the protective PCB thus protecting itself from any damage that external faults and short circuits could cause.

(*) a replacement PCB was destroyed when a repair man did the "change PCB" procedure without having realised the fault was in the fan and this would then destroy every PCB fitted as part of any attempt to repair the boiler