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Bad Alarm Clock

My wife bought a simple clock to put near her bathroom sink.  She just wanted an easy to read clock that would display the time, day and date.  She saw the clock below in a typical blaster pack and thought it was perfect for her needs.  She got it home, installed the two batteries and immediately noticed something funny.  The display numbers did not display correctly. 
 She brought it to me and asked if I could fix it.  I took one look at it and knew the problem.  I have seen this sort of thing before.  Some of the connections to the glass liquid crystal display was open.   I cracked open the clock and poked around. 

Clock with bad LCD Display 

Clock with bad LCD Display

Sure enough, when I pushed on one end of the “zebra” ribbon cable, the display would work. But, it was clear that there was a crack somewhere in the ribbon.  This sort of defect would be impossible to fix.  It is just one more example of a badly done Chinese product.

Zebra ribbon Zebra ribbon Cracked zebra wires and solder flux residue

November 2009     Issue 3

Page 1 Back
Envelope
Circuit
Diagnosis
Experimenter's
Corner
Good Idea
gone Badly
New Products Rants &
Raves
What the World
needs Now
Wily Widget

 


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