Pulsar Classic: Help needed, missing segments!

[seansmiller]

Hi all. Excellent forum. I've just bought my first Pulsar, a SS Classic 3310-2, but saddly enough, when i install the batteries the display shows only two upper right segments, and su at the bottom. When i try to set the time and date, all i can get it to show, is the top and the upper right segments
Besiddes that, nothing happens when i push the upper button. The only positive thing is, that the watch is running, the flick-wrist action works, and cosmetictly, the watch is beautiful.
The module is black, and for some reason the battery compartments don't need spacers, there's no room for it? LR44 cell's fits perfectly?
I asume that it's an auto-set module, as the resessed areas on the back are blank? and no magnet came with the watch.
Can anyone please tell me if this sounds repairable, and hopefully if so, does anyone have god experience with, fx Parsec?
I'm from Copenhagen, Denmark, and there's no place to get it checked over here.

[bruce wegmann]

Unfortunately, I see this sort of thing all too often... Unlike P2s and P3s [where the driver transistors are external and accessable], these drivers are integrated onto the clock chip itself. I suspect what you have here is a number of broken wire bonds [five, actually]. Repair would involve totally disassembling the module and exposing the electronics. The defective bonds would be re-established using conductive epoxy, and the whole thing re-assembled [all hopefully without doing any additional damage]. The fact that multiple bonds have broken also suggests some form of corrosion is at work, and the problems, bad as they are, will ultimately get worse. To answer your other questions... All DOW P4s are auto-set, so you are not missing a magnet. Also, all P4s in general are designed to use the smaller, 357-size cell, so no spacers are required. As for Parsec, I really wish these people would stop pretending they service Pulsar watches; in particular, they have no capability to deal with electronic problems, so don't waste your time [or the postage].

[Majestyk]

Hey cool, you're using my Compuchron photo. :)

[seansmiller]

Unfortunately, I see this sort of thing all too often... Unlike P2s and P3s [where the driver transistors are external and accessable], these drivers are integrated onto the clock chip itself. I suspect what you have here is a number of broken wire bonds [five, actually]. Repair would involve totally disassembling the module and exposing the electronics. The defective bonds would be re-established using conductive epoxy, and the whole thing re-assembled [all hopefully without doing any additional damage]. The fact that multiple bonds have broken also suggests some form of corrosion is at work, and the problems, bad as they are, will ultimately get worse. To answer your other questions... All DOW P4s are auto-set, so you are not missing a magnet. Also, all P4s in general are designed to use the smaller, 357-size cell, so no spacers are required. As for Parsec, I really wish these people would stop pretending they service Pulsar watches; in particular, they have no capability to deal with electronic problems, so don't waste your time [or the postage].

Thank you Bruce. It wasn't of course the answer i was hoping for, i guess there's nothing else to do than to find, ($)! another P4 watch, with a working module, and swap it. And thanks for the advice regarding Parsec, that has saved me furthermore time, money and irritation.

[seansmiller]

I forgot to ask, is it possible, and safe enough, swapping a module from another watch, fx: Executive, Bigtime, or another Classic, without risking damaging the new one?

And MJ, thank you for taking such beautiful pictures of your watches I tried taking a picture of my CompuChron, but i couldnt get a good enough quality.

[bruce wegmann]

Provided you guard against static electrical charge [by connecting yourself to a good earth ground, or just doing the change on a humid day], the procedure should work well. Otherwise, the only possible hitch would be a mismatch between the pusher magnet strength and the switch sensitivity. In that case functions might come on without the button actually being pushed [and stay on], or not come up if it is. In that event, it might be necessary to adjust one or both switches to get proper pusher response [where the switch closes when the button is about three-quarters of the way through its' range of travel]. Unfortunately, tolerances in both components allow for situations where there may be some incompatability, so it is not a "given" that any module will function perfectly in any case, but I think the chances are somewhat better than even. Overly-sensitive switches can be compensated for with the use of what Time Computer called a "high-mu [pronounced "mew"] shunt"; a bit of thin, magnetically-conductive foil that went over the button plate on the inside of the case, and diverted some of the magnetic field away from the switch. The effect could be fine-tuned by covering more or less of the plate. Switches that would not close at all in response to the magnet would have to be adjusted or replaced. DOW modules go only in the Classic and Big Time models; the height and shape of the Executive crystal is too small, and blocks the bottom of the DOW display.

[seansmiller]

Thanks again for making all that clear, i wasn't aware that the button functions could be so tricky when changing the module. I was looking at the description of the auto/command models on oldpulsars.com, and i overlooked that the Executive doesn't have the DOW display, but i'm still learning.
So if anyone has a working 403 module that they want to sell, pleeeease let me know, before i go crazy from looking at my non-existing segments , well mayby you have to be a bit crazy collecting LED watches, i'm sure a lot will agree?

[fronzelneekburm]

I would try posting at the marketplace forum, but most probably you will need to buy a "beat down" but working one to get the module. Collectors seem to tend keeping the working modules for themselves. :wink:

[bruce wegmann]

I'm guess I have to second that; there is no such thing as a loose "spare" module anymore...the pool of true spare parts dried up a long time ago. I'm also afraid that we have been reduced to horological cannabalism; scavaging parts from the dead and dying to keep the living alive. I would guess that most of us have transplanted a module from a case in poor cosmetic condition to a nicer one [a phenominon I call "module promotion"]. I shudder to think that every day, there are a few less working Pulsar modules in the world...