Cell Phone Repair as Dashboard Repair: A Good and Cheap Possibility

[Moto]

This has some relevance to the recent thread on moisture in the Griso dashboard, but applies to all electronic dashes.

My 14-year-old son recently dropped his cell phone into the bathtub. Ignoring my advice not to use it until it dried out, it seems to have succumbed to corrosion. So we took it to a local, independent cell phone fixit place in the neighborhood. With my newfound knowledge of such things, I engaged in a pleasant conversation with the repair person about the likely modality of the failure, and then was even more pleased to hear his offer: He would disassemble and attempt to clean the phone, asking $40 if he succeeded in getting it working, and $20 if he failed. He also would replace parts as needed, after asking for a go ahead.

So today I brought in my Griso dashboard, with the PCB's lower surface exposed, and asked if he'd offer the same service on it, supposing it had been corroded and nonfunctioning. He immediately smiled and said yes, and quoted the same $20/$40 price. He observed that the dash is a much easier job than the tiny cell phone circuits.

He went on to point out all the ordinary modules on the PCB, including the CPU, and said he could easily obtain and replace them if needed. I then mentioned the desoldering needed to remove the PCB from the top half of the enclosure (see Part 3. Applying a Conformal Coating of my recent posts), and the ribbon cable, and asked what if I had left that part of the disassembly for him to do. No problem, he said.

Now this is not a chain store, where they seemingly ask $100 to do anything. It's apparently the go-to place in Madison for micro-soldering repairs, and provides that service to other shops. So I asked about the likelihood that similar places could be found in other cities. No problem, he said, they're always to be found, and likely to help (once they see the PCB). He also suggested regular computer repair shops could help.

The idea is this. If your dashboard fails, take the PCB to a cell phone repair shop, already stripped at least to the point where one side of it can be examined by the repair person at the counter (as described in Part 3, just cited). Don't call or email to ask if they can fix a Moto Whatsi dashboard, since they're likely to refuse because they don't know anything about Moto Whatsi's. If the counter droid won't help you, ask what shop does the microsoldering for them, and take your dashboard there.

Good and cheap is my motto. Hope this works for some of you. As for my dashboard, we both agreed it's in fine shape. By the way, he liked that I had both applied the conformal coating and added a desiccating breather. These seemed to be common-sense and common-place preventative measures in his world.

Moto

[charlie b]

Thanks, something I had not thought of before...but should have.

We used to work with old computers (PDP11).  When a card would go bad we'd send it to a guy to have them fixed (he worked out of his garage).  He could get all the old components from somewhere in Mexico and he had some test rigs he had assembled to test the components before installing (~10% failure rate).  His work was superb and usually lasted longer than the original.

Never thought to apply same logic to the new systems.

[Kentktk]

You really should have offered to pay him much more than you did considering what he saved you, Cheapster.

[Moto]

You really should have offered to pay him much more than you did considering what he saved you, Cheapster.

You talking to me? I didn't offer anyone anything. He quoted a standard rate, and saved me nothing.

You talking to Charlie? He said nothing about payment.

Dry up.

[fotoguzzi]

You talking to me? I didn't offer anyone anything. He quoted a standard rate, and saved me nothing.

You talking to Charlie? He said nothing about payment.

Dry up.

still a tip might have been in order.. or take him out for  beer..

[Moto]

still a tip might have been in order.. or take him out for  beer..

Do you two even read my posts? The guy quoted me his standard rate. I bought nothing. What do you recommend, 15% of nothing, %20?

Find something better to do.

[oldbike54]

 Brad , your Giraffe thingie is needed here 

 Dusty

[Scud]

Good tip, thanks. And by tip, I mean pointer, or suggestion, or idea.

Regarding the financial side - IMO anytime you pay the asking price, and return with more business, that's the "tip." Referring your friends to the repair shop is another tip. Another way to show appreciation is to give the guy a good review on Yelp or some other site.

Who is Brad? What is a Giraffe thingie? and why would one be needed?

[oldbike54]

Good tip, thanks. And by tip, I mean pointer, or suggestion, or idea.

Regarding the financial side - IMO anytime you pay the asking price, and return with more business, that's the "tip." Referring your friends to the repair shop is another tip. Another way to show appreciation is to give the guy a good review on Yelp or some other site.

Who is Brad? What is a Giraffe thingie? and why would one be needed?

 Brad is Fotoguzzi , and the giraffe thingie is his , well , "go to' when we have a misunderstanding . Certain people seem to be having trouble grasping that Moto hasn't actually done any business with the cell phone repairman yet .

 Dusty

[Madtownguzzi]

What is the name of the Cell phone repair shop? I also live in Madison and it is good to know about reputable repair shops.

[Moto]

What is the name of the Cell phone repair shop? I also live in Madison and it is good to know about reputable repair shops.

Tech Heroes, on University Ave.

[fotoguzzi]

[Moto]

You could probably do this yourself.  The wife left her cell phone out in the garden during a rain storm. The tool kit needed to disassemble it was about $7 on Amazon.

Once disassembled, we put the pieces in a canning jar with desiccant from the hobby store; it's used to dry flowers.  We made packets for it using coffee filters.  After a couple of days, her phone was bone dry.  I put it back together and she's still using it.

Good tip. I was looking at my dash's circuit board pondering how I would try to get corrosion and/or dendrites removed if I found them. I decided it was beyond me, so I asked the phone tech.

As for the water removal, the tech opined that the damage to my son's phone was done by letting water stay in it for several days before bringing it in. (He said 2 or 3 days was enough, but in our case it was 5 or 6.) My son and his mom did wipe off the phone and put it in rice (a desiccant), but next time either it gets disassembled and dried by me or it goes to the tech store right away.

Last night I threatened to buy my son a Western Electric black bakelite wall phone. Is this bad parenting?

What kit do you recommend?

Moto

[sturgeon]

Funny, it's something I just take for granted. I did 40+ years in IT and we always had a large in-house electronics repair group. One of my pals managed the group, and although we're both long since retired; I have no qualms about taking anything electronic over to him for repair. (I was a software guy, I suck at soldering.) Most recently I took him the Rider Info Display on my R1150RT (cracked case, broken joint on PCB). He had it fixed in about 5 minutes. In return, I helped him maneuver the transmission back into his '59 MGA. Then we sat in his back yard and had a couple of cold ones 

The cell phone repair guys are just as good. Also camera repair guys that work on digital cameras. All too often, stuff just gets thrown out and replaced, when an inexpensive repair renders it as good as new. I live in a fairly small city and I know of several such independent repair places in town.

[Scud]

Ah... I have seen the giraffe on occasion. 

[LowRyter]

It might be a good deal to post this guy's contact info.

[Kentktk]

Last night I threatened to buy my son a Western Electric black bakelite wall phone. Is this bad parenting?

No, just more evidence of cheapness

[Moto]

No, just more evidence of cheapness

I thought my Guzzi was evidence enough. But, touche! 

[rfguy]

I've had good luck with opening up the phone, remove the battery. Put the phone into a GLASS water-drinking glass (no battery, open back still), fill with dry, uncooked rice. Place on top of your water heater, right next to the exhaust vent pipe. Leave for at least 12 hours. Usually that's all the time it takes. I did have one that took two full days, but it did work.This works especially well for natural gas water heaters. Anyway, what the rice doesn't get, the extremely low humidity air  around the water heater will. This has worked for four phones so far. I'm sure it would work just as well for a Guzzi dash, as long as the water hasn't kept the insides soaked for days on end...

Jim