Newb Horror Stories? (Non-technical)

[fedaalis84]

Wondering if anybody else has newbie horror stories about trying to fix electronics.

I am attempting my first real electronics fix, a Sony STR-DH130 reciever, the right channel output transistors shorted out (likely originally because of a speaker wire short).

And it seems like each time I fix something, I also break something else. Leaving a path of destruction behind me. 

I have lifted untold numbers of solder pads, accidentally removed SMD components when soldering/unsoldering through-hole components, broke a flat cable, attempted to fix said cable, re-ran connectable jumper wires instead, toasted a pre-amp IC by shorting VCC and VEE leads while measuring voltages. (Also shorted a set of output transistors by shorting the collector to ground while measuring voltage  )

I have learned numerous things, but I have also failed to epic proportions 

Anybody else have newbie horror stories?

I kind of jumped in here on a repair without taking it slow on the basics, but am instead learning as I go. It's FUN, but I also wonder if I suck really bad at this.

Hoping I can ultimately fix this beast, but if I can, it's going to be a frankenstein by the end - with jumpers and patched traces galore. 

Thanks for reading.

[timgiles]

Sounds like you are doing just fine then! Its the people doing the same and not realising they are learning through error that we need worry about!!

Just one thing - please do post some pics, before and after :-)

[exe]

Every my repair attempt is a horror story .

I almost screwed replacing vfd on my keithley 2000 because I didn't have desoldering gun. I tried to use a wick and other tools, but not much luck. So, I ripped of a few traces. After repairing them the vfd didn't well. Turned out there were a few cracked traces that visually appeared fine, but didn't conduct. Even under microscope that wasn't obvious.

After I finished replacing vfd one segment turned to be brighter than others. I started to blame drivers, so I swapped them to confirm it's not a display issue. After I confirmed I had troubles to find a replacement. I was only able to find them on aliexpress . When I soldered them the display didn't work correctly. Turned out bad soldering job . Eventually I managed to assemble it properly.

[fedaalis84]

Sounds like you are doing just fine then! Its the people doing the same and not realising they are learning through error that we need worry about!!

Just one thing - please do post some pics, before and after :-)

That makes me feel better!!! You got it. I don't have any before pics, but my wife and I bought a replacement STR-DH130 (because we loved the old one) in the meantime, so I can show pictures of what it *should* look like.

I'll have to get some after pics, but trust me - they will be HILARIOUS Haha.

Every my repair attempt is a horror story .

I almost screwed replacing vfd on my keithley 2000 because I didn't have desoldering gun. I tried to use a wick and other tools, but not much luck. So, I ripped of a few traces. After repairing them the vfd didn't well. Turned out there were a few cracked traces that visually appeared fine, but didn't conduct. Even under microscope that wasn't obvious.

After I finished replacing vfd one segment turned to be brighter than others. I started to blame drivers, so I swapped them to confirm it's not a display issue. After I confirmed I had troubles to find a replacement. I was only able to find them on aliexpress . When I soldered them the display didn't work correctly. Turned out bad soldering job . Eventually I managed to assemble it properly.

Bahaha. Oh man, fun times.

Yeah I have ruined so many traces, so many soldering pads... I did notice one broken trace yesterday that was not obvious either.

My most recent fiasco was trying to supplement jumpers for a flat cable - and in the process, I ruined solder pads, traces, even an SMD resistor.

AND to top it off, I'm pretty sure I messed up the fluorescent display - I was soldering wires on the back of the board, and put too much pressure - now there's a little black dot in the upper left-hand corner of it... Not sure if it's ruined or not.

My jumper wiring is still not correct (one wire came unsoldered) - so I won't be sure until that's fixed.

IF I get it working correctly, I'll probably try to true it up with some hot glue so it doesn't get undone.

Oh man... What a ride this receiver has been. But if I get this guy fixed up, you can be sure it'll be my pride and joy, and the centerpiece of any hobby electronics lab (one day!!!) I setup . It will look horrible inside, but damn it, if it works, it works.

[Kleinstein]

Bad luck also happens when one not new. I tried to fix an old computer (CPM running on 8085) that had some broken / burned tantalum caps:

Initially the actual computer ran, but some extra analog functions did not work: the broken caps, a few burnt series resistors and a broken supply. The fist step in repairing the linear voltage regulation (e.g. LM723 type) was Ok, fixing 2 out of 3 broken channels.  To check and fix the 3 rd channel we removed the supply and tested it without the rest connected. When the 3 rd channel worked put everything together and boom   -> the computer was not working anymore. 

It turned out the supply did not like running on it's own, as it had only extern sense wires. The likely sequence was going up too high in the voltage, breaking one of those bad tantalum caps that should have been replaced anyway and for some reason the power transistor failed short (likely getting too hot) and than burnt a trace to the bad cap to finally give some -16 V instead of -9 V.  These -9 V were used to power old EPROMs were we had no copy of the contend (and hard to get the chips).  Very likely these EPROMs did not like -16 V. So finally the computer was beyond repair.

The good end was that we got a reasonable priced used replacement system, as the computer was already outdated anyway.

[Refrigerator]

My first real repair disaster was when i tried reflowing my dad's dead Toshiba in the oven.
I knew something was wrong when popcorn noises started coming from the oven.

[fedaalis84]

My first real repair disaster was when i tried reflowing my dad's dead Toshiba in the oven.
I knew something was wrong when popcorn noises started coming from the oven.

WOOPS. Hey it takes some guts to throw a laptop in the oven! LOL

[Refrigerator]

it was just the motherboard but disastrous, nonetheless. 

[rdl]

I was dusting out the inside of an HP Microserver, and decided to disassemble it to do a good job. The front door was really grungy so I removed it and washed it with soap and water, then stupidly put it in the oven on the lowest setting to dry it quicker. Got sidetracked and forgot about it and when I came back it was totally melted.

[electromotive]

I went to replace the extremely fragile buttons in my SkyRC charger and lifted several pads, and it thermally stressed the board. In fairness, something is screwball about the board to begin with. The solder wasn't wanting to melt no matter how much heat was put to it. I'll eventually get around to trying to fix it.

[Electro Detective]

Everyone must have a 'personal' collection of newb horror stories (told and UNTOLD!  )  to be able to actually fix stuff later on,
and avoid doing the same dumbass mistakes twice from the experience/s.

Lifting PCB tracks, frying components, moving soldered wires before cooled off,
and not checking for blown 'wrong value' fuses first, BEFORE embarking on an all night troubleshoot    that yields zero faults   

are my personally performed newb favs   


Tracing high voltages in suspect equipment with a dodgy first multimeter with faulty leads that cut in and out, sits right up there on my Top 10 List for Newb Horror Stories

and of course the big NO NOs of 'multimetering'
measuring voltage with the leads in the current sockets,
continuity buzzer test on 240 volt mains
and a few others I never repeated again...


Newb or not, the oscilloscope croc lead -BANG- patiently waits for everyone to bite, if not familiar with the 'ground rules'

Watch out for it !   

[fedaalis84]

Everyone must have a 'personal' collection of newb horror stories (told and UNTOLD!  )  to be able to actually fix stuff later on,
and avoid doing the same dumbass mistakes twice from the experience/s.

Lifting PCB tracks, frying components, moving soldered wires before cooled off,
and not checking for blown 'wrong value' fuses first, BEFORE embarking on an all night troubleshoot    that yields zero faults   

are my personally performed newb favs   


Tracing high voltages in suspect equipment with a dodgy first multimeter with faulty leads that cut in and out, sits right up there on my Top 10 List for Newb Horror Stories

and of course the big NO NOs of 'multimetering'
measuring voltage with the leads in the current sockets,
continuity buzzer test on 240 volt mains
and a few others I never repeated again...


Newb or not, the oscilloscope croc lead -BANG- patiently waits for everyone to bite, if not familiar with the 'ground rules'

Watch out for it !   

Bahaha. Ahh, all good stories. Good times!

[HalFET]

I got lucky on my first repair, an old radio. Some cables were soldered onto the PCB quite badly and came undone over time. A quick tap with the iron solved that. But my second fix, well ... I ended up buying a new guitar amplifier. You'd be surprised how easily it is to overheat every single transistor on a small board with a €5 soldering iron from the local Aldi :') Also cracked a display once while repairing a laptop, but since that one I haven't really had anything worth mentioning other than a pad lift-off left and right. But those are usually easy enough to fix with a jumper wire.

[2e0eow]

As a young teenager I used to rescue old crt television sets from our local waste disposal skips and attempt to repair them to make some pocket money. Long story short (pardon the pun), don't wear a dangling gold necklace whilst leaning over to look inside a live tv. 

Same youth on his work experience at a Tv and video repair shop was doing so well until he failed to notice the 110v / 230v mains input blanking plate was not in place on a customers appliance, and placed the 230v figure of 8 power lead in the 110v position. Needless to say there was a poof of magic smoke and a rather  worried looking teenager as a result. 

First electronics based job at 16. Just finished replacing failed components of a switch mode power supply, placed the circuit board on the bench, fired up the variac and bang went the psu.....The lesson that time was always sweep the bench down thoroughly after using a manual solder sucker because the solder debris plays havoc underneath the freshly repaired power supply.   

[coppercone2]

worst one was a cracked CPU socket in a old pentium 3 computer. worked when i took it out of the cubby hole. stopped working when I put it back in.

after a whole day or two of trouble shooting upon close inspection I noticed the CPU socket was cracked. When you tilted the PC more then 30 degrees or so it would turn off. Fixed with a dental floss tie down.

[Ranayna]

While I was still in my apprenticeship as IT Technician, now 13 years ago, I caused a small "ooopsie"
I was doing maintenance work in our server room. At that point, just a small room with four racks inside. A small, recommissioned office. Due to the size, the space beween the back of the racks and the wall was maybe 50 centimeters, chockfull of cables of all types... My task was to first just check the cables, and pull those that are not in use anymore.
I wedged my not small body into a crouched position behind the racks and was grumpily sorting cables, when suddenly one of the company's main admins barged in and checked some equipment. As he sees me, he lets out a big sigh, and asks me to come to the front.
He shows me a small switch, and a router. Both are powered off. He then follows the power cable to a power strip. With a switch. That I accidentally hit with my knee, when crouching behind the racks...
Turns out, those two small, innocent looking network devices were providing the connectivity between our different branch offices...

Lessons were learned on both sides. I learned that I need to be more careful. Everyone else learned that it is a really stupid idea to use switchable powerstrips in a serverroom, even more when critical equipment is connected to them. I did not really get into trouble for this, everyone realized that those powerstrips were a ticking timebomb 
The first immediate "fix" was taping the switches on all of them, and on the next big maintenance they all were replaced.
I still sometimes hear that story told though 

[fedaalis84]

Sounds like you are doing just fine then! Its the people doing the same and not realising they are learning through error that we need worry about!!

Just one thing - please do post some pics, before and after :-)

Promised I'd post some pics, got the display working again. METICULOUSLY examined & labeled each wire on both the main board, and display board, ensured that each had connectivity down its circuit. It works!!!

BUT... It turns out, the whole reason I messed with the cable (Speaker Off/A/B switch not working, Mute button causing a power off) WAS NOT DUE TO THE FLAT CABLE. LOL. It must be under the main board near IC702... UGH. So ALLLLLL that work, was for nothing. BUT... Dang it, I did it. And I got the darn thing working again.

Here is my 'replacement cabling':



And all of the wacky jumpering I needed to do on the display board:



There is also some jumpering on the main board, but it's a hassle disconnecting all of the wires to get that out to get a pic, so I'll get that later when I inspect IC702 and why my speaker switching is not working...

Ahhhhhhhhhhh good times.

SO happy that I did NOT ruin the fluorescent display (still works great!) when I put too much pressure on it while working on the other side of the board.

[Neomys Sapiens]

The big brown blotch of shame.

I was around 15 and did spend my holidays from school working in some electrical/electronics job, like the two years before. That year it was a interesting engineering company, as they were the first independents in our area to work with PLCs and computers in control.

Their office was in a mixed commercial/residential building that was a part of the inner city, where higher standards were applied. Stucco ceilings everywhere, including our lab.

I was given the task to build an accessory device for our PDP-11. It was meant to provide some inputs and outputs (via numeric and single LEDs and corresponding codewheel switches and buttons) as well as provide a unregulated, robust, and metered 24 V DC power supply. For the latter, I had a transformer and rectifier (3-phase) and FOUR beverage-can sized electrolytic capacitors. Do I have to continue?

Somehow I had managed to connect one of the caps the wrong way. On power-on, it made a *POPfiuuuuuu* sound before I even came to measure something. The jet of steaming hot electrolyte did go right to the ceiling.
My boss, who was one of the two owners, came running immediately, drawn by that sound. He was just a bit concerned about me, not the cap. So it was just a little chewing out. Until he looked up.
Cholerics can change colour as fast as an octopus. And they are much louder than an octopus. And especially if they are your boss when you are a well-mannered young semi-professional, it would take a very large octopus to create the same amount of fear. Oh my.

Nevertheless, I was back next year. The smudge was still there.
It stayed with the company until they moved.

Years later, I visited their new office, as I needed something. We chatted a bit over a coffee when I had my parts, but when I remarked that I like their clean ceilings, I was bellowed at to 'get lost NOW'! 

[Rerouter]

Was on my second year as an apprentice and my boss had left me to fit an engine speed controller to a truck with a big PTO powered pump (diverts the drive shaft of the vehicle to drive the pump),

After I had it all fitted up, I walked up the person who I was introduced to when I arrived there, asking if it was safe to start the vehicle and if they could test it (the had to flick a switch and change gear, I preferred them to do it, as I would be listening to what the motor was doing, trimming in hunting, and the response to load changes)

So he starts up the truck, walks off and talks to someone for like 20 minutes, with me just chilling in the passenger seat, then comes back and we begin the test, He sets the gearbox to PTO, and puts it into the correct gear, straight off the bat, It doesn't sound correct, and seems to be getting worse by the second, I ask him to take it out of gear as it was really bad by that point, he said "No, this is how it normally sounds", and left it in gear,

He then began to hold the RPM increase button for our controller, raising to 2200RPM, I began smelling burning hydrocarbons and being young I was following his lead, but my every instinct was to shut it down, this continues for a few minutes, I'm silently freaking out at the sounds of this truck not sounding OK at all,

About 5 or so minutes pass, and...

"CRACK-sssssssssssss", The cab of the truck shudders hard, the engine revs way up, trips our controller due to RPM being too high and returns to Idle, He turns off the truck, I'm very frightened,

Well the gearbox had just exploded, In a brand new truck, Spraying super-heated hydraulic oil onto the concrete of there workshop which was now making cracking noises of its own, and pop corning,

Turns out the workshop had closed off the inlet and outlet valve of the pump, so the PTO and gearbox where driving an almost locked pump, And just heated up more and more until things went bad.

Fun times... because I was not at fault. Just scared out of my mind.

[electromotive]

Asked a pup if he could cut some old condensate lines out of the ceiling. "Sure". Do you know how to use a torch? "Yes".

He doesn't show up for lunch.

I go looking for him. He's on a ladder with a turbo torch (for soldering pipe). He looks at me and says "I can't get it to cut."   

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

I'm working on some instrumentation in a paper processing facility when I hear safety glass breaking. I walk to the control room (the only place with glass) and there's a guy standing with a hammer and concrete/masonry nails staring at where several large windows used to be. Someone had told him to put up some new signage on the windows (easy job -- just needed a bit of tape). The kid asked how to do it, and the foreman jokingly said something along the lines of "go get some glass nails and put it up". Unfortunately, the kid went to the stock room and asked for glass nails. The attendant figured someone was messing with the kid, and gave him some masonry nails before sending him on his way. He busted 3 windows before someone saw what was happening and stopped him. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen the last nail being driven as the superintendent was screaming at him to stop.

[BillB]

I had an intern job in college repairing industrial machinery with plenty of opportunity for screw-ups.  One memorable lesson learned was how not to pick-up and carry heavy things. 

One evening I was working on a large punching machine that had a set of components mounted to a big steel plate.  The plate assembly was probably close to 90 lbs.  Nobody was around to help and I had to move it off the machine to a nearby bench.  I managed to hoist it up to my chest and got it over to the bench.  I let it slide down my body onto the bench and managed to get "myself" pinched between the steel plate and the metal bench.



     

[bd139]

First thing I tried to repair was a valve radio chassis. The transformer and the selenium rectifiers caught fire and smoked me and my family out of my nans kitchen.  Smell lasted for days 

[coppercone2]

first time using a axe or sledge hammer. No way this thing could bounce.......... its wayyy too big to bounce...