P4 Reed Switches

[charger105]

My brother was impressed with my P2 and P3 Pulsars, and so bought a P4 Executive on Ebay, sold as untested. I think he actually wanted a P3.

Anyway, to my surprise, it actually worked......apart from the date readout. The reed switch had broken. I wnet to replace it and found that I couldn't solder onto the ends of the replacement switch. In the end I had to use conductive epoxy to attach it. Has anyone ever had this problem ?

It then worked perfectly, even the auto-command function........until he dropped it at the gym. This shocked the QC, which I have just replaced. It now works perfectly again. I'm a bit hesitant to return it to him now !!

If someone knows how to solder onto the ends of the reed switches, I appreciate a reply.

Rgds,
Andrew.

[retroleds]

If someone knows how to solder onto the ends of the reed switches, I appreciate a reply.

I think many/most people snip the wire on the straight section coming back toward the circuit board, yet close to the reed. Then you can lay the wire of your new reed parralel to the existing wire and still have room for a heat sink clamp between the solder joint and the circuit board. Gentle brushing of the existing wire will expose fresh metal and a small wipe of solder flux will give you good contact quickly. Similar technique is good for the crystal on P2 & P3 modules - no point soldering directly onto the board when you already have a wire coming off it Bruce pointed this out in a thread some time ago -excellent suggestion.

[azimuth_pl]

in the worst event if you suck at soldering you can connect (coil up) both steel ends (the new switch wire and the module steel wire) with a thin copper wire and then apply some solder. however good solder flux and a quick solder should do the job easily once you have brushed both ends.

[charger105]

Thanks for the replies.
Unfortunately, he rang me this morning and said the watch had stopped working !

I've checked it, and it does still work perfectly, except that it had drained the batteries. It seems that for some reason it is drawing too much current. I measured it at about 9mA with no display, and about 25mA with the display lit. Considering it's supposed to last about a year, with only 20-odd display lite-ups per day, 9mA seems far too much.........which is why the batteries drained in about 3 days.

Has anyone got any hints on how I might fix it ?

Rgds.