25
Chat with an old TV repair guy changed how I look at modern boards
I was at a flea market two weekends ago in Des Moines and this guy in his 70s was selling old tube radios. We got to talking and he used to fix CRTs back in the day. He said something that stuck with me. "You kids today throw away a whole board for one bad cap. We used to desolder every single joint and test each part." It made me realize I rely too much on swapping whole modules instead of actually diagnosing down to the component. Last month I had a power supply that I just swapped out for $60, but he probably would have fixed it for 50 cents. Has anyone else had a moment where you realized you were being lazy instead of thorough?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
jamesf261mo ago
Just keep a cheap component tester in your drawer, they're like $15 on Amazon and pay for themselves the first time you catch a bad cap that looks fine to the eye.
7
fisher.adam1mo ago
Man I had a buddy who spent like three hours diagnosing a dead monitor with a multimeter and a schematic. Turned out to be a single blown resistor worth maybe a dime.
1