Your recent repair? 2013 - 2020

[My Dream]

I replaced 4 fluorescent tube lights, 2 each on two fixtures, with LEDs.

If I understand correctly, you can remove the ballast and wire 120 Volts direct to the sockets to supply direct power. If so I like that idea as I have a couple 48" T12's that I'd like to retrofit to led's.

Thanks for the info.

 

[MichaelB]

I'm all over this! We've got a closet that has flickering on one fixture and the ballast is defunct on the other (that one's dark).

If I understand correctly, you can remove the ballast and wire 120 Volts direct to the sockets to supply direct power. If so I like that idea as I have a couple 48" T12's that I'd like to retrofit to led's.

Thanks for the info.

That's it. There were many YouTube video examples, but as it turned out the LED manufacturer website had instructions that were easy to follow. Simple as My Dream described. The cost of the LEDs from Amazon were about half of similar ones locally, and not that much more than what it would have cost to put in new ballasts and tubes.

Tip of the hat to REWahoo who posted his experience, which led to mine.

 

[ls99]

Not a reapir by me, but I am the cause of it.

I got a roadway re-opened for public use. A municipality is going to have to explain where about $200,000.- went.

On my way to my camp there is a short road or a long road in the mountains. The short road has been closed for over thirty years and travelable only by 4 wheelers or snowmobiles depending on season.

Turns out a municipality has been getting money from the fuel taxes collected by the state for repairs and maintanence currently about $4200.- per mile per year for roughly 3 miles. Less in the earlier years.

About 1978 the road was blocked off and left to nature to take over. Unfortunately for some folks looking into some totally non-related issue, I found out that this municipaly conveniently forgot to tell the state that they abandoned the road.

Municipality was ordered to re-open the roadway and bring it into useable condition by cars etc.. The search is on for where did the money go? Recently the mayor and former finance guy of the municiplaity resigned due to some financial irregularities, this is a new bit DA is looking into.

Who said retirement was dull

 

[REWahoo]

Not a reapir by me, but I am the cause of it.

I got a roadway re-opened for public use. A municipality is going to have to explain where about $200,000.- went.

Our very own ls99 Brockovich...

 

[brett]

Fixed our blender today. Found a replacement part.

Wish we could do the same for our Braun food processor. Parts no longer available.

 

[Ronstar]

Not a big repair, but after years of procrastination, I repaired the bench on my bowflex.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[cyber888]

Darn! Circuit control board of HVAC burnt out. $720 - parts and labor. $595 for the board - I'm sure the company overcharged us. Anyway, we got the heat back on.

 

[aja8888]

Installed a new rear fender mounted power radio antenna in a friend's 1994 Cadillac Sedan Deville yesterday.

Next step is a new (modern) head unit as the AM reception is buzzing like a bee hive.

 

[twolfy]

Spent two days at son's new to him old house rescrewing down subfloors. He is geting new carpeting so we tore up the old carpet and worked on eliminating all the squeaks. Not easy on these arthritic hands and knees. Tougher than I expected cause there were two 1/2" plywood boards down rather than one 3/4" plywood.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Tractor guy]

Replaced the control module in our 18+ year old built in double oven. The problem was the oven was 200 deg colder than the temperature it was set at. After eliminating the temperature sensor as a cause (by replacing it), the local appliance repair shop quoted $450 to fix the control unit. I said no thanks.

After looking into the cost of a new oven and the probable cascade effect of changing the color of one appliance, I reconsidered. Thank goodness for the internet. Although replacement parts aren't available, I did find 4 companies that offered to rebuild my control board. I pulled it out, shipped it to Circuit Board Medics. A week later, it came back, I popped it back in and the oven is now working fine again. Circuit Board Medics warrant the board for a year. Total cost, including shipping both directions & tax was about $180.

This was one of the easiest repairs I've done around the house. Two screws to pull down the panel that holds the control board, and only 4 screws to remove the board itself. It took me almost as long to label all the wires as it did to take everything apart. I've attached a picture of the board just before I labelled the wires.

 

[samclem]

I pulled it out, shipped it to Circuit Board Medics. A week later, it came back, I popped it back in and the oven is now working fine again. Circuit Board Medics warrant the board for a year. Total cost, including shipping both directions & tax was about $180.

That's a great tip (and it seems like a pretty good business idea). There are a lot of appliances around the house that have expensive or no-longer-available control boards. And it's usually not hard for the customer to remove and replace the board.

 

[nvestysly]

That's a great tip (and it seems like a pretty good business idea). There are a lot of appliances around the house that have expensive or no-longer-available control boards. And it's usually not hard for the customer to remove and replace the board.

+1 for Circuit Board Medics. I bookmarked it for future reference under appliances and automotive. Thanks.

 

[travelover]

That's a great tip (and it seems like a pretty good business idea). There are a lot of appliances around the house that have expensive or no-longer-available control boards. And it's usually not hard for the customer to remove and replace the board.

+1 These boards can be ridiculously priced given what is actually there. I found a circuit board on eBay for my dryer by setting up an automatic recurring search. With all the appliances scrapped regularly, it makes sense that some entrepreneurs would scavenge the boards and resell them. Worth more than the scrap value of the rest of the appliance.

 

[samclem]

I pulled it out, shipped it to Circuit Board Medics. A week later, it came back, I popped it back in and the oven is now working fine again. Circuit Board Medics warrant the board for a year. Total cost, including shipping both directions & tax was about $180.

With all the appliances scrapped regularly, it makes sense that some entrepreneurs would scavenge the boards and resell them. Worth more than the scrap value of the rest of the appliance.

I wonder if/how a repair (or salvage) operation would test the boards? Maybe a small Arduino microcontroller bench rig simulating the sensors and switches of all the popular appliances, then just hook the candidate board into the setup and let it cycle through some typical events. At a more advanced level, the test rig could suggest probably failed components based on any errors seen. This is the kind of thing that's time-consuming to do at home for a one-off repair, but could be centralized and done fairly efficiently.

Or, just send out salvaged boards unchecked with a 90 day warranty and let the customer do the QC. I'd roll the die on a fix like that if the savings were substantial and installation/a delay in getting things fixed wouldn't be a huge hassle.

 

[Walt34]

+1 for Circuit Board Medics. I bookmarked it for future reference under appliances and automotive. Thanks.

Great minds think alike, I did the same thing.

 

[travelover]

Or, just send out salvaged boards unchecked with a 90 day warranty and let the customer do the QC. I'd roll the die on a fix like that if the savings were substantial and installation/a delay in getting things fixed wouldn't be a huge hassle.

My plan was just to ask for a refund if it was no good. The seller probably had zero in it. As it turned out it worked fine and saved me $125 over a new one.

 

[sengsational]

Tip of the hat to REWahoo who posted his experience, which led to mine.

Tip of the hat to both you and REWahoo...I've got mine installed. Did the closet and the kitchen (the only one left is in the shed and hardly ever gets used).

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I replaced the touchpad/palmrest and keyboard of my ASUS P50IJ laptop. Some helpful soul put a disassembly video on YouTube that was an excellent guide.

 

[papadad111]

I thought I needed a replacement board for my HVAC back in October. Bought one from eBay. Used but working. Turns out I didn't need it so have a spare now .. 40 bucks.

I almost Never buy brand new parts for old cars or appliances - rebuilt or remanufactured or junkyard-used typically work just as well for 1/3 the cost .... or less

 

[ERD50]

Motivated by this post I replaced 4 fluorescent tube lights, 2 each on two fixtures, with LEDs. It was not that difficult and I didn't burn down the house (my greatest fear). Even better, these lights are in the laundry room and closet, and they are always left on (I won't say by whom).

Now all I need is to find a way to dispose of the tubes.

I also did a replacement of our 2-40W fluorescent tubes over the kitchen sink. Got these for our application:

http://www.amazon.com/Hyperikon®-Du...p/B00SSNPB96/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8

I tried with the ballast in place just to test them out, but they flickered (our ballast may be failing), so I bypassed the ballast. They were very bright and harsh. Felt like I was on a stage with a spotlight on me. The color seems like bright white to me, no real obvious 'color' to it.


The fixture they are in (hand made by me) has a plastic "egg crate" sort of grid, and that just doesn't diffuse the light enough with these to make it 'soft'. I realized, the fluorescent tubes emit light 360 degrees, so most of it is reflected from the back and sides of the fixture (all painted white), while these LEDs point directly down.

Playing around a little bit, I found if I simply installed them upside down, the LEDs now reflect off the fixture. Brightness is still at least as bright as the old tubes, and the light seems to be as 'soft/diffused' as the tubes. It kinda bugged the engineer in me since this is cutting down on the efficiency, but it gets the job done, no failing ballast to worry about (the old lights were getting tough to start sometimes), and they are 18W versus 40W tubes, so we are saving kWh anyhow.

I'm happy with them now, the jury is still out for DW - she sees a color shift, but I think it's a matter of getting used to them. She'd probably think the old tubes look funny now if I could switch back.

I've thought about whether I could tweak the diffusion a bit and get by with one LED tube rather than two, but this works, I think I'll stick with it.

Thanks to Michael B and REWahoo for pointing these out - it provided the motivation I needed to get this done.

edit/add: I also bookmarked that link for circuit board repairs - very interesting business model - http://circuitboardmedics.com/

-ERD50

 

[John Galt III]

Replaced the control module in our 18+ year old built in double oven. The problem was the oven was 200 deg colder than the temperature it was set at. After eliminating the temperature sensor as a cause (by replacing it), the local appliance repair shop quoted $450 to fix the control unit. I said no thanks.

After looking into the cost of a new oven and the probable cascade effect of changing the color of one appliance, I reconsidered. Thank goodness for the internet. Although replacement parts aren't available, I did find 4 companies that offered to rebuild my control board. I pulled it out, shipped it to Circuit Board Medics. A week later, it came back, I popped it back in and the oven is now working fine again. Circuit Board Medics warrant the board for a year. Total cost, including shipping both directions & tax was about $180.

This was one of the easiest repairs I've done around the house. Two screws to pull down the panel that holds the control board, and only 4 screws to remove the board itself. It took me almost as long to label all the wires as it did to take everything apart. I've attached a picture of the board just before I labelled the wires.

Great pic! Congratulations on the fix. I wonder if they would repair my thermostat in my 1986 GE oven. I accidentally shorted it out a long time ago when testing the oven bake element. No longer available, of course, except a few on ebay. Oh well, I'm getting by OK just using the top burners, and probably saving on the electric bill by not using the oven!

 

[jazz4cash]

Replacing Flourescent Tubes w/LED

I've been watching these threads with great interest. We have two applications in our home. One is a pantry closet and the other is an unheated garage. I happened on these yesterday at Home Depot which look more attractive to me than the Hyperikon bulbs from Amazon:

Philips 4 ft. T8 17-Watt Cool White Linear LED Light Bulb-456590 - The Home Depot

The issue in the garage is that the flourescent tubes are dim in cold weather. The issue in the pantry is that <someone> did not use a quick start ballast when the original failed and the light stays on when not needed (need to look into auto an auto-on/off device).

As for disposal of the flourescent tubes, my local HD says "we don't take those anymore" but I took them to another location with no problem. I believe they are supposed to accept them for disposal by law.

 

[ERD50]

I've been watching these threads with great interest. We have two applications in our home. One is a pantry closet and the other is an unheated garage. I happened on these yesterday at Home Depot which look more attractive to me than the Hyperikon bulbs from Amazon:

Philips 4 ft. T8 17-Watt Cool White Linear LED Light Bulb-456590 - The Home Depot

The issue in the garage is that the flourescent tubes are dim in cold weather. The issue in the pantry is that <someone> did not use a quick start ballast when the original failed and the light stays on when not needed (need to look into auto an auto-on/off device).

As for disposal of the flourescent tubes, my local HD says "we don't take those anymore" but I took them to another location with no problem. I believe they are supposed to accept them for disposal by law.

Careful, it looks like those require a specific type of ballast.

IMO, you are better off with the kind where you can disconnect and bypass the ballast. You never need to worry about the ballast again, and it saves a bit of electricity.

-ERD50

 

[jazz4cash]

Careful, it looks like those require a specific type of ballast.

IMO, you are better off with the kind where you can disconnect and bypass the ballast. You never need to worry about the ballast again, and it saves a bit of electricity.

-ERD50

Yeah. These definitely will not work in the pantry. I'm not sure what's in the garage. They do start quickly and they are low temp fixtures (e.g. rated to maybe 40'F) but the garage gets down near freezing sometimes and the bulbs are dim when the temp is below ~45'F.

 

[freedomatlast]

I thought I needed a replacement board for my HVAC back in October. Bought one from eBay. Used but working. Turns out I didn't need it so have a spare now .. 40 bucks.

I almost Never buy brand new parts for old cars or appliances - rebuilt or remanufactured or junkyard-used typically work just as well for 1/3 the cost .... or less

I find that the OEM parts for cars from the junkyard are cheaper and are much higher in quality than the offshore junk they sell at the chain auto parts stores.