24 Nov 2006, 03:57
Hi everyone,
Last hope rests with you so don't let me down! I just bought a Commodore watch, I think it's LCD but if you look very closely you can see lots of little circuits around the numbers.
Anyway, I bought it 'as seen' and of course it doesn't work when it arrives. I've just fitted a new Silver Oxide battery which is an equivalent to the one I found already in it when I opened it up. There was no obvious damage or leaking from the previous battery and its voltage measures around 0.9v instead of a nominal 1.5v so we can judge how long it's been in.
I fitted it back into the case (although a little confused which way round to position the plastic membrane as it has locating holes...?) and clipped the back on snugly and nothing. Took the back off again, played around with it and managed to get the backlight to light up although it's VERY dim from the front. I put a meter across some terminals on the PCB and am getting 1.5v OK so the battery's definitely in and the buttons seem OK too.
The basic problem is that from the front, when the watch is back together, everything's just black and the buttons don't do anything, except if you look VERY closely you can just see the bulb shine through around the PCB when you push the light button.
I don't have any test equipment apart from a basic multimeter to test voltage, resistance, current so can't check the crystal etc.
I don't have a picture of the PCB yet but there are three button terminals which correspond to 1) Time/Date/Alarm/Snooze 2) Set 3) Alarm.
The module is labelled "Commodore, Unadjusted, NO(0) JEWELS, MADE IN HONG KONG". There are two small springs on the PCB but I don't know what they are for. They appear to be soldered to +ve tracks. The case, I believe, is positive and the button terminals negative.
The PCB is permanently moulded into a plastic module housing which I would rather not tear off. The PCB is additionally labelled in etched copper with the C= Logo and "commodore" and a just-visible part number of sorts.
Just to clarify, I bought this as an LCD watch but when you look at the screen it is all black. Look closely and you can see seven segment displays with circuits but they are all dark, like gunmetal grey. I used to own watches like this and they were always light grey and the numbers were black so I'm a bit confused.
I paid around ?17GBP including the new battery which right now is about 25 USD and I'm not prepared to spend much more than that but I'd love to know for certain what's up, if it's broken and how to fix it. Also what it's worth and how common they are!
Hope you can help.
Thanks
slystav@hotmail.com[/img]
Last hope rests with you so don't let me down! I just bought a Commodore watch, I think it's LCD but if you look very closely you can see lots of little circuits around the numbers.
Anyway, I bought it 'as seen' and of course it doesn't work when it arrives. I've just fitted a new Silver Oxide battery which is an equivalent to the one I found already in it when I opened it up. There was no obvious damage or leaking from the previous battery and its voltage measures around 0.9v instead of a nominal 1.5v so we can judge how long it's been in.
I fitted it back into the case (although a little confused which way round to position the plastic membrane as it has locating holes...?) and clipped the back on snugly and nothing. Took the back off again, played around with it and managed to get the backlight to light up although it's VERY dim from the front. I put a meter across some terminals on the PCB and am getting 1.5v OK so the battery's definitely in and the buttons seem OK too.
The basic problem is that from the front, when the watch is back together, everything's just black and the buttons don't do anything, except if you look VERY closely you can just see the bulb shine through around the PCB when you push the light button.
I don't have any test equipment apart from a basic multimeter to test voltage, resistance, current so can't check the crystal etc.
I don't have a picture of the PCB yet but there are three button terminals which correspond to 1) Time/Date/Alarm/Snooze 2) Set 3) Alarm.
The module is labelled "Commodore, Unadjusted, NO(0) JEWELS, MADE IN HONG KONG". There are two small springs on the PCB but I don't know what they are for. They appear to be soldered to +ve tracks. The case, I believe, is positive and the button terminals negative.
The PCB is permanently moulded into a plastic module housing which I would rather not tear off. The PCB is additionally labelled in etched copper with the C= Logo and "commodore" and a just-visible part number of sorts.
Just to clarify, I bought this as an LCD watch but when you look at the screen it is all black. Look closely and you can see seven segment displays with circuits but they are all dark, like gunmetal grey. I used to own watches like this and they were always light grey and the numbers were black so I'm a bit confused.
I paid around ?17GBP including the new battery which right now is about 25 USD and I'm not prepared to spend much more than that but I'd love to know for certain what's up, if it's broken and how to fix it. Also what it's worth and how common they are!
Hope you can help.
Thanks
slystav@hotmail.com[/img]