Tag Archives: fried electronics

Craigslist and eBay Antique Radios – Be Careful!

It’s not uncommon to run across antique or vintage radios on Craigslist, eBay and other sales site which are advertised as “working”, “repaired” or “restored”. Many times these are in fact professionally reconditioned items – just like you read about … Continue reading

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Overloaded 1931 Transformer [Fried Electronics]

I’m working on a 1930/31 Westinghouse WR-8 Columnaire clock-radio which had a bad transformer. The filter capacitors failed and shorted the high-voltage secondary, burning it open and causing a lot of heat and melting.   The replacement is a General … Continue reading

Posted in DIY, Electronics, Projects, Radio, Vintage | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Bad Capacitors Strike Again

I’m working on another Bose 901 Series 1 equalizer. It looks to be the same manufacturing run as the first one I wrote up last July, uses the same components, and those components look like they’ve had the same failure … Continue reading

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ViewSonic VP191b Computer Monitor Repair

A little while ago, I picked up a set of seven LCD monitors in various states of not working as a fun side project. The first one was quite easy – it just needed a wire reconnected internally and works … Continue reading

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Westinghouse LCD Repair

After seeing the repair I made on the Samsung LCD monitor, a friend gave me a few-years-old Westinghouse LCD/TV that had quit working – it wouldn’t power on anymore. It’s a Westinghouse SK-19H210S, 19″ LCD accepting VGA or HDMI up … Continue reading

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Dumpster Diving: Samsung 225BW LCD Repair

I found a Samsung 225BW LCD sitting on top of my apartment’s dumpster, and figured I’d drag it upstairs. It’s a few year old model but it’s better than the current older Dell LCD that I’ve been using (1680×1050 versus 1440×900). … Continue reading

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Burned Up Aiphone

This is what happens when you connect the high level output of an audio amplifier, to an input designed to be hooked up to an MP3 player or other line level audio source. This Aiphone PA amplifier was incorrectly installed … Continue reading

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Cost Engineering in 2011

Cost engineering to pick the exact right time of failure has gotten considerably more precise since then. The warranty on the array controller in my enterprise backup server expired on Jan. 2, 2011 – just over two weeks ago. Today, … Continue reading

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Cost Engineering in the 1930s

It looks like cost engineering was already happening back in the 1930s: In the foreground, the destroyed original power transformer from the 1939 Zenith 7-S-363 radio; the rear, an equivalently rated replacement built in October 2010 by Edcor Transformer. In order … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary, Radios and Tubes, Vintage | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments