I need an old fashion electronic/radio technician

[Cantata]

I know the kind of person you need, Roger, and he lives a few hundred yards away from me. But that would still involve you posting the hefty lump to me, and vice versa.

 

[dolabriform]

That is very kind of you. I can forward a copy of the two pages about how the Control Unit components interact.

Larry and I will be down shortly and I'll report back.

Certainly, email them over and I'll take a look

 

[tillergirl]

Well the tests did not find a quick simple solution. I have sent a report to Daniele and I will wait to see what he says.

David, if you pm me an email I can send you the manual.
Dick, thanks. I was fearing sending the 4.8kg of Control Unit to Italy and back. I'll see what David thinks of the manual and the potetnial task.

Thanks everybody (PS Nigel, I needed to take the plug from the DU connector you gave me to replace mine which we concluded had some damage)

 

[Tomahawk]

Contact the Bishop..
He rebuilt my old Decca Decaler hifi amp, Did a first class job.

 

[matthewriches]

See how you go with it. I have quite a lot on but if you wanted to drop in to me, I'm happy to spend a little while on it. Ipswich or Southwold.

 

[tillergirl]

Thanks Matthew. We have an interim plan to make a start on identifying the problem but Larry is busy on other stuff this week coming so I shall be doing some woodwork this week and a couple of tests that are basic. Once Larry is available again we complete the tests and we will either be smug or shieking for help!

 

[Andy61]

TG, I have read your post and there doesn't seem to be anyone who knows anyone who could tackle defective components in a circuit board. For your info and that of others reading, there is a bloke Kevin Chisnall from Little Clacton (Tel 07772 004 864) who fixes all things electrical. I rang him about what I believe is a resistor fault on the pcb of my Merlin battery charger. He said take it to him and he will look at it. He doesn't charge for an initial looks. He might be worth a phone call and definitely closer than Italy! Andy

 

[tillergirl]

Andy, that's very helpful. And by coincidence I am going over to Greater Clacton this week coming for replacement bunks by Valerie (www.marineupholsterybyval.co.uk) - she is utterly brilliant, professional and efficient. She even re-covered our Conservatory Furniture - better than original.

I am stuck. There has been great support from the forum but I had been loathe to trouble several forumites as I am stuck. Tradeswinds very kindly gave me a Control Unit and to our surprise the same fault - the very identical fault - was a great coincidence and immediately suggested the fault was in the Drive Unit. But since the last time I posted, Larry and I repeated the Drive Unit tests and everything performed correctly - the Drive Unit is essentially a simple collection of relays, fuses, one potentiometer and an electric motor - and each performed.

I had then tried to find a local 'old fashioned' radio engineer and I thought I had been lucky but an exchange of emails has gradually faded away. I had decided I would give it to the end of this weekend and then start again. Daniele in Italy is prepared to look at the Control Unit but locally would be best. As I said I am loathe to trouble forumites such as Matthew and others so I will give Kevin a call.

 

[Tomahawk]

Tillergirl,

Talk to the good Reverend.
He repaired my old Decca amp.

 

[tillergirl]

OK, thanks. I have suspended my hunt for obvious reasons. One day, life will start again.......

 

[Old Bumbulum]

Get in touch with yur local ham radio club, they're bound to have members with the skills you need, or at least know where to fid one.

 

[tillergirl]

I regret you are absolutely wrong. Done local, done a wider trawl. Nice peeps, courteous answers but no-one has the skills needed, they say. Typical electric engineering companies response: 'yes of course, we could do that, but we haven't the time'.

I hope Daniele (in Ancona, Italy) is ok. He hasn't responded to my enquiry of his health.

 

[Tradewinds]

I regret you are absolutely wrong. Done local, done a wider trawl. Nice peeps, courteous answers but no-one has the skills needed, they say. Typical electric engineering companies response: 'yes of course, we could do that, but we haven't the time'.

I hope Daniele (in Ancona, Italy) is ok. He hasn't responded to my enquiry of his health.

I hope so too. Keep me updated if you get a response from Daniele.

 

[tillergirl]

Will do.

If this trouble carries on I was just wondering how difficult it is to learn decent soldering techniques. Without an osciller thingy I would just have to replace a number of capicators and try again. The capacitors seem to be easy to get.