eBay – Foxes Den

Today, brought to you by the number 21

A title that sounds like an intro into the latest episode of Sesame Street, refers in reality to a question my wife has put to me over the last few days.

How many projects do you have on the go at present?

Now, she wasn’t asking how many types of different projects i get involved in, she was specifically asking due to the amount of deliveries that i am currently getting from online sale rooms and auction sites. I didn’t honestly think about it at the time, I wasn’t aware of the actual number, however i am now very aware.

A selection of outstanding repairs that I have in draft mode

And that number is 21. I have that amount of draft repair posts on this platform awaiting completion. Some are quite complex and demand time that i just don’t have at the moment, others are awaiting components that are needed to complete them. My wife, bless her has pointed out to me that rather than obtaining yet more items for repair, wouldn’t it be better if i just cleared the back log first? She is of course right, and a small selection of those draft posts awaiting attention can be seen in the photo above.

Not only do i have a back log, i also have a number of boxes that are full of now, fully operational items varying from microphones and cameras all the way through to a working music system. I think i need to break away from sentimentality and start to move some of these items on. To be honest this would be the best thing to do as it would release some funding for a few other projects that i wish to look into in the near future, and it would also create some extra space at home.

I love being busy that’s just me, knowing i have a batch of drafts awaiting allows me to spread my focus over a wider area of interest. I do pop into them all occasionally and just add a few lines here and there, or an item of interest that I’ve just remembered, so they are all in fact works in progress. I do need to concentrate on that backlog though, and maybe reduce that backlog to probably 5 or 6 repairs in total.

This whole website/ blog thing has been something that I have really put my heart into, I’m by no means an ace practitioner of blogging practices and I have never set out to be such a person, and will definitely never be one. I started this site purely for my own benefit, an extension to a journal i used to keep at home, that i may have discussed within these pages a few times previously. I’m not trying to teach anything, it’s a personal record of my failures, my learnings and achievements, and it just works just fine for me.

I really don’t understand how it has now gained a good few followers, I never expected that but I am eternally grateful to everyone who reads a post or comments upon them. That said i would still do the same if there was no one paying an interest in what is posted. Again, as stated earlier in this post, it was always set up as a personal journal. And it has worked for me. It has been a good well being tool.

So. I have temporarily agreed to cease any further purchases until I’ve got the backlog under control, and I’ve also agreed to employ a one in, one out policy in regards to all repairs and incoming projects, and believe me there are some quite complex ones to be published shortly.

Let’s call it a late spring clean.

Happy wife, Happy me, Happy life.

Have a great day.

Amstrad Notepad NC100

What the listing said:

Amstrad Notepad NC100+ Vinyl Case

Not working not powering on, the vinyl case has some marks and scratches.

EBay

I’ve been after one of these for a little while, I’ve just been awaiting one at a good price and this one became available, post included at £30GBP, they retailed for £199Gbp back in 1992. It says it is not working but that’s good in my eyes as it makes these posts more appealing, as it gives me something to repair. I don’t know what the issue is off hand as the post didn’t state that, but I do know these items have suffered with capacitor problems over time, but that is not necessarily the case here. We will just have to wait until we do the assessment on its arrival. And as it comes from around the early 90s it fits right in with my modus operandi. And this little cutie dates from 1992.

Here’s a little history behind this unit courtesy of Wikipedia:

The Amstrad NC100 Notepad is an A4-size, portable Z80-based notebook computer, released by Amstrad in July 1992. It featured 64 KB of RAM, 256KB of Rom, the Protextword processor, various organiser-like facilities (diary, address book and time manager), a simple calculator, and a version of the BBC BASIC interpreter. The computer’s design, evocative of the TRS-80 Model 100, features a screen with 80 character columns by eight rows, and not backlit, but this let the NC100 run for up to 20 hours on four standard AA cellbatteries. There was an RS-232serial port, a parallel port for connecting a printer, and a PC card socket, by means of which the computer’s memory could be expanded up to 1 MB.

Assessment

The unit has arrived and cosmetically it is in very good condition apart from the peeling plastic screen cover. A little bit of dust and grime, all keys in good order and no dinks or dents. the vinyl bag is a little tatty but that’s not a problem, it’s obviously done it’s job over the years due to the good condition of the unit.

The unit on its arrival, generally in good condition

So down to testing. First thing I’ve done is check the power supply is giving a 6.5 v output and this is ok.

Secondly I’ve put 4 AA batteries in place and turned the unit on but then it abruptly stops, displaying a lithium battery issue.

The lithium battery is an old CMOS type battery, a CR2032 coin battery. This is the battery that keeps the info in the system when you turn it off. I thought I’d run this through the multimeter and was surprised with the voltage I saw, the battery seemed fine to me at 2.8v, so I replaced it with a new one measuring 3.4v. And the issue came up again…..head scratching time!

Looking on line it seems there is an issue with the lithium cell battery contacts on these units when they are being resurrected to modern day usage, time has not been good to them. The coin contacts have now been cleaned and slightly bent to ensure a better contact and hey presto it’s operational with no further issues.

Battery contacts needed cleaning and repositioning

The main AA battery contacts are fine and the external supply is doing what it should. Now let’s look at sorting that screen issue.

Quite simply there were two options, use a bit of heat to try and stick the plastic down, but I decided against this as it would not lay flat, it had too many kinks in it. So the only other option was to remove it and this is what I did, it peeled off with no issues. In time I will see if I can get a suitable replacement but to be honest it isn’t really required as I’m not going to be using it that often.

I’ve tried every function and keystroke of the board and all is good there are no issues and I now have a perfectly acceptable unit for my collection. It looks like i have had a second win against the “Untested” brigade who sell on EBay. This was the simplest of repairs and the issues are readily available to research on line. There is no excuse for not looking into the issues, when a good unit like this can now sell for up to three times the amount that I paid for it.

Your loss my win. Another one kept from landfill.

I’ve given the unit a good polish and I think you’ll agree that the project has come up good.

Now to just go and read the user manual on line to see if I’ve missed anything. Thanks for passing by, as always it’s most appreciated.

Lost in translation

This is just one of those quick posts, i had to post as it made me giggle.

Store fronts such as EBay and others, are sometimes places where descriptions of items are at times questionable to say the least. However every once in a while a listing has a description that makes you smile. Today is one of those days.

A post on EBay today, the description is the seller for me 😂

This caught my eye and I thought I’d dig in a little deeper to read the description.

I just love the part where it states the label translates for “Knackered” in German .

Made me giggle.

I think the label says something like “ Defect, Tailor in Oststeinbek. A region of Germany, however I may be wrong as my translation is basic at best.

However I know it dosen’t say Knackered as I believe that is “ Beschadigt” or “Geschlaucht” and that only translates as damaged! Which doesn’t quite fit the scenario does it?. Or maybe it does!

Hey ho!

Lost in translation as they say.

😂

Have a great day.

Sega Game gear – game cartridges

What the listing stated:

Untested

EBay

Yep that’s it. The good old EBay untested. Anyone who buys from here knows that this can mean anything from working to totally wrecked, or even should have been binned because a good portion of it is missing.

But I try to remain positive… some people call it stupid.

Here I have purchased two of the same games for the grand total of £1.49 GBP. About 75 of your finest British pennies each. My suspicions are such as the guy who posted is selling a couple of “tested” game cartridges (the same game) for a considerably higher price. I just don’t understand how he couldn’t test these two. I suspect they are knackered to coin a phrase.

Anyway, let’s await the mailman.

I’ll apologise in advance for how easy this fix was. They arrived and both game cartridges looked ok. I then loaded them into the unit and one worked and one didn’t.

Both Cartridges tested

I decided to just clean the contacts on both cartridges with a bit of IPA and hey presto. Two working game cartridges for next to no cost.

2nd cartridge up and working

So again, I apologies for the simplistic fix, I was hoping I would at least be opening the cartridge and doing a bit of trace repair, but sometimes that is all it takes. I’ll keep one, and the other i will move on with another unit that I’m currently repairing.

But most importantly they are not off to landfill. Result.

Shopping

What are your favorite websites?

The one I spend the most time on is EBay. It’s where I get most of my stuff to repair. Secondly it’s probably Amazon and from then on there are a Number of smaller sites I take in.

I follow a number of blog sites of people who are kind enough to follow what I do. I check in to all of them regularly to see if anything has changed. I probably check in more when I haven’t seen anything for a while as I’m concerned that I’ve heard nothing, but I’m probably just overthinking it as they’re probably just living busy lives like most people do.

I only post regularly as I use it as a coping mechanism / Journal as stated in the past.

There is a good site where you can see all the cameras on the island of Iceland, all set up to show views of the volcano’s when they kick off, great for planning a trip to see something different.

Beyond that I look at the Leicester football club site occasionally, but to be honest they are not doing it for me this year so I tend to avoid it if possible.

Have a good day all, may it be a peaceful one for you.

Namco arcade classics tv plug and play games joystick

Here’s what the listing stated:

FAULTY no power, NOT WORKING for Spare Parts or Repair.

TEST NOTES: Does not power up, no further testing, unable to check any functions. Battery leakage with corrosion in and around battery compartment.

Ebay

Another low priced item that I fancy getting working. And as is standard with me it has corrosion. This item is from 2003, it is a self contained game arcade system that plugs into the tv. It has five games installed including classics such as Galaxian and PAC Man, so compared to some items I’ve purchased of late, at 21 years old this one is a relative baby.

Well, we now await its arrival where we can give it a good look over and assessment. Hurry along now delivery person…..

It’s arrived.

It’s in pretty much perfect condition, all stickers are in place and it hasn’t been previously opened.

I’ve put in 4 new batteries, and damn it. It powers on. It’s working.

I’ve plugged it into the back of a television and it also plays.

Yes there is a little corrosion on the battery springs but I’ve seen a lot worse. I’ll give these a little clean just so I can say I’ve done something.

It’s quite rare these days to get a bargain off of EBay, and for the seller to be truthful in his description, in fact he’s been exceptionally honest, just writing it off without testing. A big bonus to me.

As the saying goes, if it ain’t broken, don’t try to fix it.

Makes a boring post though, sorry about that. A bargain, yes, and another one kept from the tip and will be used at home in the garden pub, the wife will love this as she’s a big Pac-Man fan.

Result!

More stock

I’ve spent the grand total of £91 GBP on more damaged/faulty stock today, I now have enough stuff to be working on to keep me busy for months.

On top of the 6 Canon cameras I purchased last week I now have a further 4 Canon film cameras ( Eos Elan 2, 50E, 1000fn and an Eos 5) I’ve also got two faulty EF lenses to test the old Canons with, these will also get the repair treatment.

I’ve also purchased four Nikon D70 and 2 Nikon D70S units all needing the repair treatment, I’ve even blagged some spare parts here as well so overall it’s been quite a good days shopping.

Sony Discman D-141

Assessment and fault finding….will it work ?

Double trouble here as I’ve purchased two of them.

These variants are from 1994 just around the height of the capacitor plague problem. As I’ve already dealt with a D-121 version this week that was riddled with the issues and being only a year older, I’m not too hopeful that these two will be any different. They both have the same issue being that they turn off after about 10 seconds, this could be due to a number of issues, let’s get them unpacked and get an initial inspection done.

On initial inspection they both appear to be quite tidy considering they are 30 years old. One is missing a disc capstan however i do have a replacement from the old D-121 that was added to the spare parts box earlier this week.

Both start up, spin and then stop, sometimes showing a no disc error, sometimes not. The good news is there is no sign of corrosion on either unit.

Time to open them up….

I used the old donor D-121 from earlier in the week to replace the missing capstan on one of the units.

On opening of the cases the boards looked ok. No signs of corrosion or plague damage, this was a good sign and it was now time to look a little deeper.

I did the standard clean of the lenses with IPA, I re greased the worm gears and rails but none of this alleviated the issue of the discs stopping just after start up. I did some continuity checks and component checks, all seemed ok. All buttons worked, all switches worked, something just wasn’t right. I decided to check the output of the laser adjustment pot and this was extremely low. I spent a good hour on the first unit and a similar time on the second trying to adjust the range up and down before realising that after 30 yrs both lasers seemed to be at fault. No adjustments improved the output.

Faulty laser assembly removed and replaced

I was facing the fact that I’d now have two more failed units to go with the D-121 earlier this week. Then I thought why not try the laser out of that failed unit?

It worked. The D-121 donor unit was compatible with the D-141 and after a few minutes adjusting the laser we were able to play an audio Cd.

We have life

This week I have looked at 4 faulty units and managed to get 2 fully working with a third one needing a replacement laser sled when one becomes available. I have one spare redundant unit that has been indispensable for the repair of the other units, in theory i potentially have 3 out of the four available.

All dressed up

I won’t be wasting anymore time on Discmans in the foreseeable future. They had their time and digital sound has obviously pushed this medium in to the dark distant past. The units are becoming life extinct and it’s like performing knee surgery on an elderly individual, you are improving their quality of life for the moment until the ravages of old age take over. Bit of a crude analogy I know, what I’m saying is steer clear of these as they are going to be trouble, people seem to think they are worth a fortune and are charging ridiculously high prices for something that just about works.

It’s been fun though and I have learned a lot from it so it can’t all be bad.

Good people, stay safe. Thanks for passing by.

Sony Discman D-171

Assessment and fault finding….will it work ?

My latest purchase from EBay has arrived and god knows what is wrong with this one as the listing contained just one word “Untested”.

There is no one else to blame but me so let’s get this package open and have a look…here goes.

This unit is circa 1996, so there is a gap of 3 years between this and the D-121 that i recently attempted repair on that was badly affected by poor components. Hopefully technology has moved on slightly in those three years, and the plague of the past isn’t as prevalent in this unit.

Well, once in your life you buy something that restores your faith in your fellow man, unfortunately EBay isn’t always that place and you have to take your chances when purchasing using that platform. Today is a good day. The package was minimal and I didn’t hold out much hope. The first thing I did was to open the tray, good it’s working👍

Next I held my breath and opened the battery compartment…. Excellent no corrosion 👍

Batteries inserted I chose an old Bryan Adams album, put the volume about mid way and turned it on.

IT WORKED 😳

Ok, if tapped it jumps, so I will give the lens a clean and will lubricate the worm gear and rail and see if that helps, if not I might test the laser output and make a tiny adjustment but I’ll avoid that if I can.

All buttons have been used, wiggled about and are working fine, all menus are displayed and basically it’s all working pretty much as it should be apart from some little adjustments. The shell is un damaged but a little tatty so a good clean up will assist here.

When taken apart the thing that strikes you is the lack of capacitors compared to the last item I worked on that was only 3 years older. I put some fine lubricant on the worm gear and the laser guide rail and also cleaned the laser lens with some Isopropyl (IPA)

I made a slight adjustment on the laser strength by using the Multimeter to get measurements across the laser pot.

The reading was very low, to what it would have been when new so, I made an adjustment to the higher end of the recommended scale but the unit didn’t like it and refused to recognise any Cd, so I’ve reduced it back to what appears to be it’s operating maximum, after 28yrs I guess the laser is approaching the end of it’s useful life.

Testing the laser

The sound quality has really improved, the unit still skips if it is knocked or shaken but as I’m intending to use the unit on a table or other surface I’m not really that concerned. It’s not as if I’m going to go jogging with it, no chance. To be honest I don’t think the anti jog system that was introduced for this purpose really came in until about 2000.

Put back together, I’ve now cleaned and buffed up the exterior, this is a nice little example of one of the lower end Discman units, but I’ve enjoyed working on it and getting to know a little more about how it works and fits together. I can put this one to bed now as a successful restoration, it’s going in my locker at work for listening to my old Cd collection whilst I’m doing the tedious paperwork or a night shift.

Thanks for passing by, I have another Discman post coming soon.

Not just Dead….Fully dead

I have just brought this inoperative Roberts Dab Blutune T2 digital radio off of EBay for £8 (GBP). I managed to barter the price down a bit from £12 and I was quite pleased with myself for doing that.

So today I have received the package. A lovely little item cosmetically in good condition with the only external damage being that the speaker cover has a tiny tear in it , and the very tip of the aerial is broken along with the plastic stop that secures it when in the down position….no real issue, all easily dealt with.

The concern is the label on the top of the unit. Fully Dead!

So what’s that then? Is there an in between? Some sort of purgatory for audio systems, or is it a way of saying that someone has ensured it will never work again?

Well, I’ll get the back off tomorrow and have a rummage to see what’s in store for me. Maybe my bartering of the price has meant the seller has removed all internal contents so that I now have a nice “Empty box”.

I just love some of these descriptions sellers use, makes me giggle and wonder what was going through their minds when they decided to sell an item that is fully dead.

Maybe there is just different grades of death that I was just not aware of.

You can find the assessment and repair attempt here: Roberts Blutune T2 breakdown and fault finding

Anyway, thanks for passing by, be safe, be happy.

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Assessment

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Assessment and fault finding….will it work ?

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Assessment and fault finding….will it work ?

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