c/electronics-repairers

A cheap power supply from a Phoenix shop nearly fried a client's whole board last month.

I traced a weird voltage spike back to a no-name unit I bought in a pinch, and now I won't touch anything without a proper UL mark, so what's your go-to brand for bench supplies under $200?

Warning: I thought the 'freeze spray for microsoldering' trick was just a joke

A client brought in a water-damaged laptop from a flood in Miami last month, and the BGA chip looked totally gone. I tried the freeze spray before heating it, just as a last resort, and it actually helped the solder reflow without bridging. Has anyone else had a specific component where this weird trick saved the day?

A customer told me my soldering looked like a spider had a seizure

I was fixing a vintage radio for a guy in his 80s, and he watched me reflow a cracked joint on the tuner. When I was done, he squinted and said, 'Son, that looks like a spider had a seizure.' I thought my work was fine, but he was right. I was using too much solder and my iron was too hot, leaving a big, shiny blob. I switched to a finer tip, dropped my temperature by 50 degrees, and started using more flux. Now my joints are small, clean, and actually hold. Has anyone else gotten a piece of feedback that made you change a basic habit you thought was okay?

A customer at my shop in Phoenix brought in a 1980s VCR they said was haunted

They insisted it would rewind tapes by itself at 3 AM. I opened it up and found a single loose screw rolling across a tilted sensor board. Ever had a 'ghost' turn out to be a simple mechanical fault?

Showerthought: I just read that over 50% of e-waste board failures are from bad caps, not chips

Found that in a trade journal survey from last quarter. Makes me wonder if we're all focusing too much on sourcing ICs when we should just bulk order quality capacitors first.

A customer called me out for not checking the fuse first on a simple TV repair

I was fixing a 65-inch Samsung that wouldn't power on, and I spent like an hour checking the main board. The customer, an older guy who used to be an electrician, just asked 'Did you check the fuse on the power supply board?' I hadn't, and of course it was blown. Felt like a total noob move. Now I always start with the fuse and basic power checks before diving deeper. Anyone else have a simple step they used to skip that cost them time?

My kid asked me why I keep a box of old broken radios in the garage

I mean, I was just showing him how to test a capacitor, and he points at this milk crate full of busted 90s boomboxes and clock radios. He goes, 'But you can't fix those, right? They're just junk.' I had to stop and think. I guess to him, if it's not worth money or can't run an app, it's trash. But I pulled out this one Panasonic RF-1400 that's missing half its dial cord. Told him about the time, maybe 15 years back, when a guy brought one in just like it, said it was the last thing his dad listened to ball games on. We got it working. It's not about the radio. It's about knowing you can make broken things whole again, even if it takes hours for a five dollar part. Maybe that sounds corny. Does anyone else hold onto old 'junk' projects just for the practice, or am I turning into a hoarder?

Why does nobody talk about the cheap thermal paste in those off-brand power bricks?

I had a customer's laptop charger from a 2021 Dell model fail completely last Tuesday because the paste inside had dried into dust, which I only found after cracking open the brick itself with a T5 screwdriver, so has anyone else found a good replacement paste for these tiny components?

Had a weird power supply failure on a 2015 iMac yesterday

Was swapping the hard drive for a client when I heard a pop and saw a tiny puff of smoke from the PSU area. The board looked fine, no bulging caps, but the main fuse on the power supply board was blown. I replaced the fuse and it blew again instantly, so there's a short somewhere deeper in the unit. Anyone have a good method for tracking down a short on these thin, multi-layer boards without a schematic?

Checked out the vintage radio exhibit at the county fair and the wiring was a mess

They had a 1950s console with about 30 feet of crumbling cloth-covered wire spliced together. Anyone know a good source for period-correct replacement wire that's actually safe?

Can we talk about a customer who told me they fixed their flickering monitor by baking the main board in their oven?

I overheard a guy at the hardware store yesterday bragging about reviving his dead 32-inch TV by putting the circuit board in a 385-degree oven for 8 minutes, and now I'm just wondering how many devices have been 'repaired' with a kitchen appliance this week.

Rant: I just fixed my 100th busted laptop hinge this year and it's only April

I keep a tally on a whiteboard in my shop, and the number hit triple digits this morning with a 2018 Dell Inspiron. It's wild how many people come in with the exact same plastic mount failure, and I'm starting to think it's a feature, not a bug. What's the one repair you see so often it feels like you're on a factory assembly line?

My new Hakko FX-888D station started acting weird after just two weeks

I was trying to replace a surface mount cap on a Samsung TV board yesterday and the temp started jumping around like crazy, from 700 down to 400 and back up. I had to stop the whole job and dig out my old backup iron, which totally threw off my flow. Has anyone else had a brand new station fail this fast, or did I just get a bad unit?

I used to be so scared of touching a hot air station for microsoldering

Back in my first shop job, I'd avoid any board with a BGA chip like the plague and just swap the whole thing. Then a mentor in Austin showed me his Pace station set to 350C with a specific nozzle, and it clicked. How many of you actually went from component-level fear to doing it daily?

Had a 90s boombox with a stuck tape door that wouldn't budge

The owner said he'd tried everything, even a small pry tool. I was about to start taking the whole front panel off, which looked like a huge job. On a whim, I hit the eject button and gave the side of the unit a firm, open-handed slap right next to the mechanism. The door popped right open. I guess it just needed a percussive maintenance reminder. Anyone else have a weird physical fix that actually worked on an old piece of gear?

Shoutout to the guy who brought in a waterlogged 2018 MacBook Pro from Lake Tahoe

Everyone in the shop said it was a lost cause and to just tell him to buy a new one... but I spent a solid week cleaning every connector with 99% isopropyl and a soft brush. It actually booted on the third try. Does anyone else think we give up on liquid damage too fast sometimes?

The number one mistake I see with phone battery swaps

I've fixed over 50 phones this month and almost every single one had the new battery glued down WAY too hard, making the next repair a nightmare. A tech in my shop said 'more glue means it holds better,' but that's just not true for modern adhesive strips. How much pressure do you guys actually use when seating a fresh battery?

I thought those cheap USB power testers were a total gimmick... until one saved me from a bad motherboard swap.

PSA: I just wasted $150 on a 'universal' laptop charger

Bought one online for a quick repair job, but the voltage regulation was so poor it fried the charging circuit on a perfectly good Dell motherboard. Has anyone found a reliable supplier for these, or should we just stick to OEM parts?

My uncle swore by using a hairdryer on a cold laptop screen, and I just tried it on a MacBook Air

He said it would fix the dark lines from a loose connection, and after 2 minutes on low heat, the display actually cleared up. Has anyone else had a weird trick work when the proper fix seemed too expensive?

Shoutout to the guy who told me to use a thermal camera for intermittent faults

Thought it was a gimmick until I rented one for a day and found a hot cap on a 2012 iMac logic board in under ten minutes. Anyone else have a tool they were wrong about?

My buddy in Denver swore by using a 60/40 leaded solder for everything, even modern boards.

I thought he was stuck in the past and kept using my lead-free stuff. Then I had to rework a BGA on a gaming console and the lead-free just wouldn't flow right, ruining the board. Switched to his old-school mix and the next one went perfect. Anyone else find themselves going back to older methods for certain jobs?

A customer's old VCR in Tacoma almost got me with a hidden spring

I was cleaning the heads when a tiny tension spring shot out from under the loading mechanism and vanished into my shop carpet. Has anyone found a good way to track down those little black metal parts on a dark floor?

I finally understood why the old guy at the swap meet was so picky about his solder

He was selling off his shop's old gear and wouldn't let me buy a spool without asking if I had a proper fume extractor. Said, 'You can fix the board, but you can't fix your lungs.' I'd never really thought about it past opening a window. Anyone else have a simple piece of advice that stuck with you like that?

I've been using the wrong tip on my soldering iron for years without knowing

I was fixing a Nintendo Switch yesterday and kept burning the tiny pads on the board, which never happens to me. After about an hour of messing up, I looked at my iron and realized I'd been using a big chisel tip for all my fine work. I switched to a pointed tip I had in my kit and it was like night and day, the joints were clean in seconds. I guess I just got used to fighting the old tip and thought that was normal. Has anyone else had a moment like that where a simple tool change fixed a long running problem?