#My non-standard life

The keyboard customer says a kid peed into it, smells wonderful; strip the board and clean it, it sticks to the soldering iron, hook up a power supply set to 6V, OK, perfect fix. Two electric cooking pots that light up but don't heat (one setting doesn't work): first check whether the pot is worth fixing; when the heating element in this kind of pot dies it's generally scrap, two coils gone and can't be replaced, wouldn't last even if replaced, the aluminium poured on and hammered by hand is too loose to conduct heat, already broken; don't fix it, see if it can go for scrap. The other lights up but no steam: it sat unused for a while, the pot's dead and not worth fixing; pour the water out after every use, water left standing causes leakage; Shanghai Hongxin was big back in the day; look how corroded the pot is, from standing water, clip on the earth wire and it's a dead short, how did the breaker not trip, leakage should trip it, a miracle it unscrews at all, can be patched up to work, replace both parts, the inside needs cleaning, rinse it out with water often after use. Haier vacuum with short standby, replace the battery: take the battery out, fit domestic grade-A cells, measure 21.6V; cells perfectly fixed, strong suction, brilliant with the new cells; check charging voltage 25.6V 500mA, charging wattage 13W, 14W (half, normal), charging current normal, perfect fix. 52 comments: the most refined man on Douyin (4); dropped off a stew pot a month ago and can't find it; mirror not done in over half a month; air fryer sent in last month, no call yet (contact the repairman, he's busy and doesn't check Douyin); can a sealer be mailed in; what time do you close.

First job: what looks like an ELEX (Edifier) C3100 speaker with mains hum from one speaker, which means a shorted amp chip, so straight in; going by experience the middle amp chip is the problem; swap it (2032) and the hum is gone; pull the two originals, BDI, imported; thermal paste on, fit the amp chips and touch up the solder; power up and test, big brand at a low price, no buzzing; input signal, left and right channels OK, sound from both sides, rich deep bass, play a post-80s DJ favourite. Second job, a Chinese-classics story player with a broken USB port, replace it; charging current 0.7A, 3.8W; the cell has been starved flat, it must not drop below 3V, 30A power cell discharging at 3.8(V); ‘Welcome’; full charge 2.6 (reading), enough to beat Dahuanma (joke), all good. Third job, a Midea handheld vacuum, battery replaced (no commentary), powered up and tested, perfectly fixed, put on charge. Comments: Edifier speaker (creator: yes); swapped mine for an LM1875T, the TDA2030 is retired; which one is the voltage-select wire; assorted repair requests (water dispenser, freezer, range hood); he has every part going.

Opens with welder sparks, ‘too strong, turn it down, down, down’ — the auntie’s stainless-steel skimmer handle is broken at three points; a new one isn’t worth much but it’s a shame to throw it away, and having come this far he’ll sort it, see if it welds, no charge if it won’t hold; hold this, it’s welded, quite solid, as long as she’s happy. Dyson hair dryer, bad connection in the cord, lights come on, everything else fine, take it off and replace it. Dianguoguo 4000W inverter: display fine but it just won’t work, it’s dead inside; the meter probes got blown, swapped for another meter; inverters burn their plugs all the time, fitted it, sits very nicely, perfect repair. The customer’s Samsung TV has sat far too long and he feels bad, just been busy; since the customer definitely wants it fixed, it gets sorted whatever it takes: no response at all, won’t turn on, power/main board fine, panel voltage shorted, short found — a chip badly burnt; chip removed, substrate burnt into a pit and blackened, hard to rework, no spare board so swap in a whole logic board, model looks close enough; fitted, powered up, picture appears, crisp and vivid with deep bass, perfect repair, 3.5 months, very sorry, will call the customer first thing tomorrow to collect, let him sleep well tonight. 171 comments: buy a stainless skimmer for ¥30 and use it as you like; what’s that welder that welds stainless spoons called; everything can be repaired; the boss is generous, gives everything a try; logic board ¥10; can you fix a Sharp 800 (of course); address.