Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

My daughter said the vac "squealed then stopped". I took it apart and found a wadge of kitchen paper, a wine cork... and a telescopic radio aerial!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Water butt that gathers rain from the utility room lean to roof had cracked at the base and was leaking. Probably the result of getting frozen solid in the winter.

I drilled a hole at each end of the crack. Standard proceedure to stop further propogation of a crack. Gouged out the crack with a small burr on my hobby drill. Roughened up the surface with some 60 grit sandpaper and then filled the crack and holes with some P38 car body filler.

Then mixed up a generous helping of P40, that's the one with glass fibres in it, and covered the whole area to at least 3" beyound the damage.

Set nice and quick in the hot sun so hopefully it's fixed for now, ready to get filled up by storm "Hector" tomorrow. :D

They're not that expensive but a fix with stuff from the cupboard is better and I don't add a plastic butt to the trash overload.

At the same time I got out the stepladder and pushed some of the slates back into place on the roof. Nail fatigue. Rollered on some strips of bituminous flashing to stop them slipping out again. Only needs to hold for a year or two as the whole thing will be demolished soon to make way for a big conservatory that will double up as the utility room at one end.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Do you have something like a 'how to' for these kinds of things? - got a load of solar lamp kind of things in the garden that we inherited when we moved house, but very few of them seem to work - if they can be fixed rather than binning.....

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I'm an electronics engineer by trade so fixing these things, is for me, relatively easy. I don't know of a guide but there's probably something up on on Youtube.

Most of these modern lamps have a single NiMh battery, a 4 pin chip, a choke (coil), the solar cell, an on/off switch and some LEDs.

Most problems I've seen relate to corrosion of the battery holder/battery contacts or trouble with the on/off switch. A good clean of the first and some switch cleaner on the second or even shorting it out with solder do the job.

The batteries can and do die but replacements are easily sourced. I usually keep a look out for when Lidl do a promotion on rechargables as then they're much cheaper than the branded ones.

Only when they get much older do problems with the LEDs and corrosion of the solar cell connections kick in. By then the plastic parts of the lamp are usually getting faded and brittle.

For testing you can use a standard 1.5v battery instead of the rechargable one.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Replaced a few planks of the garden patio set, repainted, and it's all back in use.

When it fails again. I'll just build another out of treated CLS timber.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Fan oven element. Old one blew when I was making bread a week or so ago.

New one from sparkswarehouse for £17 delivered. A few moments of electric screwdriver work to enable the oven to come forward out of the unit it's in to be able to turn off the plug behind: Always isolate before commencing any electrical work. Being only 2Kw loading,oven or grill, it runs on a standard 13A socket.

Then just more screwdriver work to take off the rear panel to remove the spade connectors. I think there's enough slack wire that you might be able to disconnect them after pulling the element forward but I like to make sure the wires are properly dressed back and nothing trapped on replacement.

All back in reverse order and jobs a goodun. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I would have changed both elements, depending on the age/usage of the elements.
I don't fancy a joint cooked only on one side/over cooked depending on location of temperature sensor?

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

There is only a single element for the oven function: A circular one surrounding the fan. The other element is only the grill which I rarely use as I have a separate grill unit and has never needed replacing.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Another solar rock light flaking out early. :rolleyes:

This time a new fault: The solar cell had gone low output. Looked sound enough but only made 2ma in strong sunlight. It's the last of the cheap low output cells so I've fitted the new high output cell (140ma in strong sun) that I upgraded the others to.

A goodly load of silicon sealer to ensure that the water can't get inside and out it's gone.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I put my solar lights in the shed last autumn and only 2 of the 8 still work, maybe there is a battery i can do something with that is cheaper than buying new, will look when i have time.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Batteries, battery contacts and switches. Give it all a good clean and if you have one put the batteries in a charger. Test after a good charge to see if they can provide power.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I took one apart and it looks like the contact terminal is discoloured, is there anything household that i can clean them with or do i need to buy contact cleaner, if i have to buy something then it needs to be super cheap or this exercise is pointless?


For now i have just scrapped it off with a screwdriver, so i will see if it charges up with the sun.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I've used 300 grit wet and dry sand paper on the contacts to clean them up. Takes a bit of time. More recently I have a hobby drill (like a Dremmel) with a small diamond burr does a fine job and much quicker.

A little bit of WD40 on the contacts will help keep the corrosion at bay.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

WD-40 specialist electrical contact cleaner spray I hope?


I sawed the end of a patio chair leg off (rotten) and replaced it.

Whilst sweating buckets, despite the breeze.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I suggested ordinary WD40 for the battery contacts as it's something Snoop might have on the shelf. The contact cleaner that I have also leaves a protective coat to help stop corrosion.

With enough contact pressure the WD40 won't act as an insulator.