c/electronics-repairers

That capacitor trick my mentor swore by ended up saving me 3 hours on a dead power supply last night

Old Mike from the shop down the street told me to always check the 400V caps first in switched supplies. I figured he was just being lazy but after chasing a blown fuse for 2 hours I finally pulled the big cap and sure enough it was reading 0 ohms. Has anyone else found that the obvious fix is usually the right one?

That tip about using hot glue for loose board mounts was dead wrong

My buddy Mark from the forum swore hot glue would hold a loose capacitor board in my old stereo receiver. I tried it and the whole thing popped off after 15 minutes of play and shorted something out. Has anyone else had hot glue give out on them like that?

Hit 500 motherboard repairs yesterday and it felt weird

I've been keeping a tally on a whiteboard in my shop for about 4 years now. Yesterday I hit exactly 500 motherboard repairs. I don't know why that number stuck with me but I stopped and just looked at it for a minute. Most were basic cap replacements and trace repairs but about 80 were dead southbridge chips I revived with a hot air station. Has anyone else hit a weird milestone number like that and felt something about it?

Blew $60 on a fancy desoldering gun that clogged after two uses

Had to take it apart and clean it with a wire every time, just get a cheap solder sucker and some copper wick instead, anyone else ditch their expensive desoldering tool?

Had a chat with a guy from a local repair cafe that made me rethink my pricing

I was at a coffee shop in Portland last Tuesday and got talking to this older guy who runs a free repair cafe twice a month. He told me he fixes old toasters and fans for nothing, just asks people to donate if they can. I've been charging $45 flat rate for basic stuff like replacing a power cord or a bad switch. He said something like 'if you're only fixing things for money, you're missing half the fun' and it hit me weird. I mean, I get that I need to pay bills, but he had this joy in his voice about bringing old junk back to life for free. It made me wonder if I've been too focused on the cash side and not enough on just loving the work. Has anyone else tried doing a free repair day or felt guilty about their prices?

Can we talk about buying cheap solder wick from eBay?

I thought I was saving 8 bucks on a 10-pack of braid, but it wouldn't absorb anything and I ended up lifting a pad on a vintage receiver board. Has anyone else had bad luck with no-name desoldering supplies?

Tried to fix my neighbor's old radio and ended up with a smoke show in my garage

I was out on my route last Tuesday and this older guy flagged me down, said his vintage Grundig tabletop radio just hummed and nothing else. Told him I'd take a look, figured it was just a bad filter cap or something simple. Got it open on my bench, poked around the power supply, and next thing I know a little puff of smoke curls up from the rectifier tube. I yanked the plug so fast I knocked over my coffee cup, and now there's a brown stain on my workbench that matches the smell in here. Has anyone else had a tube radio fight back like that or am I just cursed with bad luck?

I'm done taking apart cheap LED bulbs with a hammer

Last Tuesday I spent 20 minutes smashing open a blown 8W bulb from Dollar General just to get the driver board out. Three shards of glass later and a cut on my thumb, I realized the whole thing was potted in epoxy anyway. Total waste of time for a part that costs less than a coffee. Anybody else just toss these things now instead of trying to reclaim components?

Found a trick using isopropyl alcohol to fix sticky buttons on an old remote

I had this old TV remote that was driving me nuts because the volume buttons would stick every time I pressed them. I tried cleaning it with a dry cloth and even compressed air, but nothing worked. Then I remembered a tip from a guy I met at a repair meetup in Chicago last year. He said to dip a cotton swab in 91% isopropyl alcohol and gently run it around the edges of the stuck buttons. I did that and let it dry for about 10 minutes, and the buttons work like new now. The alcohol evaporates fast and doesn't leave any residue. Has anyone else tried this for sticky keys on a keyboard or game controller?

Unpopular opinion: Hot air rework stations are overrated for 90% of repairs

I used to think I needed a $500 hot air station to do proper board work, but after fixing a laptop power jack with just a soldering iron and flux last month, I'm starting to wonder if we lean too hard on expensive gear. What's a tool you were convinced was essential but turned out to be mostly hype?

Back in 2019 at a shop in Phoenix, I saw a guy fix a dead power supply with just a heat gun and some flux

I was swapping caps on a monitor board when the owner walked over and reflowed a cracked solder joint on a cheap PSU in like 2 minutes flat. It worked again for months, and that taught me to check for cold joints before ordering parts. Anyone else still rely on old soldering tricks that save you money?

Debate: Is hot air rework worth it over soldering for small jobs?

I fixed a busted headphone jack on some earbuds last week and tried using my hot air station instead of just a soldering iron. It was way faster for removing the old jack but I melted a nearby plastic housing a bit. For tiny components like that, I'm starting to think hot air is overkill compared to a good iron and flux. What do you guys use for small stuff and have you had similar issues with collateral damage?

Fixed a 1970s Pioneer receiver for a older guy who said it was his dad's

He teared up when he heard the FM tuner lock onto a station for the first time in 15 years, handed me $60 cash and said 'my old man would've fixed this himself if he could', and I've been riding that feeling all week - have you ever had a repair that hit you harder than expected?

Repaired a 2017 Samsung fridge and the compressor swap was way different than I expected

I took on a Samsung RF28HMEDBSR fridge last week that wasn't cooling. Pulled the old compressor and the new one from PartsGeeks had a different start relay setup. The wiring colors were even swapped around compared to the original. Anyone else run into this kind of change on 2017+ Samsung models?

That one Thursday in 2017 where I fixed 3 Nintendo Switches in a row and felt like a wizard

Can we talk about whether it's worth fixing cheap HDMI switchers or just tossing them?

I had a 4 port HDMI switcher go bad on me last Saturday. It's a $25 no-name brand from Amazon. One of the ports just stopped passing signal, no power surge or anything. I cracked it open, looked at the board, saw some cold solder joints on the HDMI connector. Reflowed them with my iron, took maybe 20 minutes, and it worked again. But here's the thing - is my time even worth that? I could have just bought another for $25 and been done. On the other hand, that's more e-waste. What do you guys do with cheap gear like that? Fix it or trash it?

TIL I've been cleaning my soldering iron tips all wrong for 3 years

Ngl, I was at a bench session with a guy from Chicago last month and he watched me scrub my tip on that wet sponge thing. He pulled out this brass wool ball and told me to try it instead. Honestly, the difference is wild. My tip stays tinned way longer and doesn't have those little pits anymore. Has anyone else switched and noticed a big change in their tip life?

I finally stopped pretending solder wick was optional on through-hole joints

For like 3 years I'd just heat-and-pull through-hole components, leaving messy leftover solder in the holes that made replacement a nightmare - a buddy of mine at a repair shop in Cleveland showed me how wick makes it clean in 10 seconds flat. Anybody else stubbornly skip basic tools for way too long?

A client's simple question about my solder sucker made me rethink my whole bench setup

I was fixing a TV power board last week, and the client was watching me work (which I usually don't mind). I went to desolder a bad capacitor and grabbed my old manual solder sucker. He just asked, 'Is that the best tool for that? It looks like a lot of work.' I kind of brushed it off in the moment, but later I realized he had a point. I'd been using that same $8 pump for years because it 'got the job done,' but it was messy and took multiple tries on through-hole parts. I finally bought a basic desoldering gun for about $60, and wow, what a difference on boards with a lot of components. It's cleaner and way faster. I feel silly for sticking with the old way for so long just because it was familiar. Has anyone else had a simple piece of feedback from a customer that actually led to a real upgrade in your process?

My uncle told me to use a pencil eraser on oxidized game cartridge pins

I mean, I was trying to fix a Super Nintendo cart that kept glitching. He said to just rub the pins with a plain pencil eraser, not the pink kind. I tried it and it actually worked way better than the contact cleaner I had. The game loaded right up after maybe 30 seconds of gentle scrubbing. Has anyone else found a simple trick like that for cleaning old connectors?

Heard a guy at the parts counter in Phoenix say he fixes flickering laptop screens by baking the motherboard, which sounded insane.

I tried it on a dead Dell Latitude 7490 from 2018, and the thing powered right up after 8 minutes at 385 degrees. Has anyone else had a legit fix with this method, or did I just get lucky?

Warning: I saw a tech at the local repair shop in Tempe use a regular screwdriver on a tiny Phillips head and strip it completely.

Now I always double-check my driver fit before applying any pressure, so what's your go-to method for avoiding stripped screws on small boards?

Changed my mind about those cheap power supply testers after a weird board meltdown

I mean, I used to think those little $20 power supply testers were fine for a quick check, you know? They light up, you get your voltages, good to go. But last week, I was fixing a gaming PC for a friend, and the tester said the 12V rail was fine. I plugged the board in, and it powered on for maybe three seconds before I saw smoke near the CPU socket. The tester missed a huge ripple on the 12V line that my old oscilloscope picked up right away. It was just dumping dirty power straight into the board. Now I'm back to hooking up the scope for anything that seems even a little off, even if it takes an extra minute. Has anyone else had a tester give them a false clean bill of health like that?

Remember when you could fix a TV by just tapping the side?

Had a 2008 Sony Bravia come in last month with a dim, flickering picture. The backlight inverter board looked fine, no obvious bad caps. On a hunch, I pulled the main board and reflowed the solder on the LVDS connector pins with my old Weller station, even though the joints looked okay. Fired it back up and the picture was solid. I guess those early HDMI-era sets just get tired connections from the heat cycles. What's the weirdest 'just try it' fix that actually worked for you lately?

I used to think those cheap thermal cameras for phones were a total gimmick

I mean, I bought a $60 one off Amazon six months ago just to see, and it actually helped me spot a failing voltage regulator on a board last week that wasn't hot to the touch. It showed a clear hotspot I would have missed with my regular probe. Has anyone else found a decent use for these budget thermal tools in a shop setting?