The price point which is the dividing line between built down to a price and an item of quality ?

ecc83

My next DN, (sadly gone now, 88) had an electric scooter and asked me to look at the charger. It was a ventilated sheet metal box, pop riveted(!) together about a foot long X4x4 and contained a chunky, 1kg traff and a fan*. At the other end was a PCB about 2"x2 with a New P sized black hole in it. Being the genius tech I am I conclude this MIGHT be the trouble?

Found the company, in UK, "No, cannot (effin' wont!) supply a PCB". "No, cannot service the PSU, have to buy a new one". One hundred and sixteen bloody quid! All for the want of a 2x2" PCB that comes from China and cannot be more than £5.00 top whack.

The old boy was not hard up and I took him down to the Mobility shop for a new charger but now there is a huge chunk of iron and copper, not to mention the energy needed to make it going to landfill.

*'king daft design! The fan PULLLED the hot air from traff and rectifiers ACCROSS the front PCB!

Dave.

darthed1981

ICBM said:

And we're all getting old so things just don't last as long as they did, even if they actually do . Ten years is a lot less time now than it was when we were 20 .

I think that is a sage point there!

I have a Microwave I bought 9 years ago, Tesco Value if I recall, or something equally cheap, cost about £30-40.  Still going strong.

Things can last a good long time these days, maybe not as long as when they lasted a lifetime, but they are VASTLY cheaper.

ecc83

I have NEVER bought a MW oven! My best mate gave me one he found at a landfill site, needed a t'table plate. Ran for years. then a guy at last but one job asked if I wanted his old one. Smaller than what I had (old and HUGE!) and I still have it. It has a 600W rating but seems to run more as a 700-800W unit.

I am passed out-trained to service MWs and if you think the voltages in amps are dangerous? Even an SVT is a pussycat compared to a MW. 1.5kV at about an amp.  Takes NO prisoners!

Dave.

darthed1981

ecc83 said:

I have NEVER bought a MW oven! My best mate gave me one he found at a landfill site, needed a t'table plate. Ran for years. then a guy at last but one job asked if I wanted his old one. Smaller than what I had (old and HUGE!) and I still have it. It has a 600W rating but seems to run more as a 700-800W unit.

I am passed out-trained to service MWs and if you think the voltages in amps are dangerous? Even an SVT is a pussycat compared to a MW. 1.5kV at about an amp.  Takes NO prisoners!

Dave.

Well if I were going to take mine to bits, you would certainly have put me off!

Danny1969

normula1 said:

I recently had a 4 year old dishwasher scrapped of under extended warranty because the sub assembly PCB was no longer available. The fault was actually with a £3 relay that I fitted so we had a working machine ubtil the replacement arrived. I only ever take extended warranties on machines with water as I we've now had four machined replaced with new ones after a good number of years for a next to nothing.

I do a fair amount of commercial dishwasher PCB'c. A typical Hobart dishwasher PCB supplied as a service part cost around £395. It's always the fill and  drain pump relays that goes on them and yeah it cost about £3. I think switching the motors with Triacs properly snubbered might prove more reliable

ecc83

Re MW service (classed as 'White Goods') I was at an Hitachi training session and the guy taking us through the tests said "The front switch/relay PCB is a service replacement item....."

20 hands went in the air amid many moans.."Whaddya mean 'service replacement? We can't get FA pcbs for tellies and VCRs!"

The answer effectively, washing machine engineers can't won't service to component levels AND the dealers had a LOT of clout. Only way to sell them WMs, MWOs and smart toasters was to mollycoddle them!

And! THIS was WAAAAY before SMT!

Dave.

Fuengi

It depends on who's making it and their approach.

Yerasov make this Igor Boiko (yep, that's right folks, THE Igor Boiko) amp which uses high quality components and is hand wired for £767. 

A 'boutique' amp maker would charge three times that. 

Igor Boiko Amp - Yerasov https://imgur.com/gallery/nRbzW