The problem is you need to be highly skilled to do that repair. So many times I have ordered replacement parts and then either broken something like a plastic ribbon cable connector, or I have installed the new part and it still doesn't work.
I'm not saying this particular repair was hard, but in general you have to get lucky for an easy repair. I have ordered replacement parts a few times and found that it still doesn't work and I just wasted my time as well as money on new parts. When a brand new device is not too expensive and will be an upgrade over the one you are trying to fix, the choice to buy becomes more compelling.
I try to repair as much as I can because I don't want stuff end up in the trash. If the parts are expensive, we need a way to source the parts from the non-fully functional units out there. From my experience, most people find the repair a daunting task and won't even think about it.
The hard part of fixing it can be that the manufacturer used a range of sources for each part. The parts are available, but it can be difficult to tell which easily available part is the right one. This is only a problem for fixing a single device - if you fix many, then you likely have multiple parts anyway.
I wonder if this is people just not realizing that things can be repaired? Between books and youtube videos I've been able to repair our washer and dryer, refrigerator, oven, dishwasher, vehicles (I once repaired a turn signal switch by soldering on a piece of metal from a soda can), etc. I've replaced many damaged ipad/iphone screens and they've all worked flawlessly afterwards. All of these things are already repairable. It just takes a little bit of research to learn how to diagnose what is wrong, figure out what parts are needed, and do the repairs. It used to be a lot more difficult before the WWW.
Often the problem with many modern electronics is not doing the repair itself, but getting the thing back together again or getting it back in to working order, because quite often these devices are not designed to be repairable by the consumer.
Witness the widespread use of "security screws", epoxy on chips, cases which can not be opened without breaking them, and explicit warnings that opening the device would void your warranty.
There's also the ever greater miniaturization of components and the ever greater increase in density of parts inside a case. The former often requires microscopes and other specialized equipment to service them, and the latter results in parts not fitting back in the case after you've completed your repair.
It gets even worse when software is involved, where the user is usually at the mercy of the manufacturer to come up with a software update (if they even ever choose to do so) or require some specialized equipment and authorization to even attempt to do their own repair (as is the case with modern automobiles which have so many computers in them).
Yes but this is more the problem with the mentality around today's disposable electronics than a real human problem. A lot of these skills have been lost.
In the 80s it was totally normal to get an electrical schematic with a TV for instance, and there were repair shops all over (or people doing it from home for a small fee as a side business).
These days it's not as impossible as people think. In fact very often when a TV fails it's a through-hole capacitor that is trivial to replace for a couple bucks. I have repaired several at work and for friends and they still work fine (I always replace it with good quality high-temperature rated ones, manufacturers often use too low a temperature rating so the equipment will fail far too soon and the customers buy a new one).
Repairability is like online security: if companies really cared about it, they'd have built it into the product beginning at the design stage. With most products these days, repairability is actively discouraged at many different levels: components are inaccessible, soldered or glued on, specifications are unavailable, replacement parts are not sold direct to the public, etc. This is all done to shorten product lifetimes such that consumers have to purchase new products more frequently, that's clear enough.
Some companies might realize that there's a market for repairable products and shift tactics, there seem to be a few out there, though not many.
I've fixed things all my life. I just fixed a wireless mouse by harvesting a switch from a wired mouse in my junk bin. It took not much more time than ordering a new mouse.
I get that things have gotten smaller. I can't do transistor level repairs when the transistors are 7 nanometers across.
I've fixed nearly every appliance in my house, some twice or more.
What I've learned is that a remarkable number of repairs involve something that is basically mechanical, and big enough to work on, if you can get at it. I resoldered the headphone jack on my son's cell phone.
But design measures that frustrate repair and don't really add much value, such as tamper proof screws, prevent what might otherwise be a perfectly legitimate and easy repair. That bothers me. Design features that seem to gratuitously frustrate repairs. IP built into components to prevent aftermarket replacement parts from working.
It's not feasible for more than a few components-- we are, of course, talking about repair. You use a microscope, tweezers, a steady hand and accept a high rate of failure.
Board repair only makes economic sense in certain markets where the price of electronics is high compared to to disposable income.
It is a slog trying to keep electronics out of the landfill. This year I have repaired:
Two switch joycons with failing internal flexible cables
A failing switch joycon battery
A dehumidifier that failed due to a faulty on/off switch
Two Casper lights with failing internal batteries
I do my best to research and buy stuff that is somewhat repairable but it is a slog and in many cases a leap of faith that the item be repairable and have parts you can hack or buy.
I don't say it's a problem, I'm was actually making an argument that fixing modern equipment isn't easy, and you need considerably more things than just a cheap soldering station with a hot air gun.
most of them are not repairable. They are manufactured using one-way techniques like fusing plastics vs. screws or clips, or the discrete parts are amalgamated into a single component, or you need special tools (or software) to do anything.
I have seen videos of people buying in batches of broken game consoles and replacing USB connectors and charge controllers since they often break and are not too hard to replace with the right tools.
I also spoke to someone from Russia who worked as a electronics repair person fixing things we would normally throw away because the price of new equipment is very high compared to the price of an expert's time to fix it.
Yes certain commodity parts are pretty easy to get and replace, in fact the wear items I usually find are quite available on big appliances in particular. But getting a replacement circuit board or perhaps a proprietary bracket is often not possible.
I don't think manufacturers should have to offer support in perpetuity though so it becomes an interesting problem. Like samsung shouldn't need to stock the front face of a washing machine for 15 years. Perhaps a better approach is making items that aren't possible to stock long term be made out of repairable materials so at least it can be repaired by a repairman.
Repairmen are expensive now because the skillset disappeared, when everything became so cheap that it was easier to buy new. But I think we can and should bring local repair services back.
I understand the idea of DIY and self repair, but doing some kind of specialized DIY work will require special tools, domain knowledge, ability to fix things on the go, ability to stay focused after a full week of work etc.
I am not dismissing DIY at all, but YouTube repair channels make it sound so easy but viewers forget making these repair videos is their job while your job is writing software. When you try it out IRL these repairs are always considerably more difficult and nobody talks about shipping cost that makes 5 minute replacements considerably more expensive.
I had a phone with a broken part, I went through two $45 parts before giving up and writing off the phone as a total loss. The part had a ribbon cable that you needed to thread through a hole in the case and I ripped the cable on both parts.
Meanwhile I've repaired my old washing machine quite easily.
You can't because if it's going to cost corporations money to make things more repairable then it's not going to happen.
There's always a tendency for technical folks to think that their world view is the view of most people and I submit that's not the case. I mean reality shows that people choose price and functionality over repair-ability.
There seems no rationale to me that would make me sacrifice all of the qualities that makes consumer electronics desirable - affordability, availability, functionality.
It seems mutually exclusive to rapid production of consumer goods.
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