Some advice is possible please: Pulsar LED setting problem

[mds]

Hi,

Firstly great site

I'm in need of a little advice if poss please. I've just bought a Pulsar LED and sadly I have a problem.

The Pulsar is a PII and was bought in good working condition. It arrived and the condition was accurately described, and the LED's were nice and crisp and working, the problem is that I cannot set the time. When I place the setting magnet in either of the 2 rear HR or Min slots on the back, it doesn't appear to do anything sadly.

Any help/advice/suggestions greatly appreciated.

Many thanks chaps,

Cheers,


mds

[Supersonic]

Not an uncommon problem particularly with the original magnets which may have lost magnetism over the years. Try and find a stronger magnet, easily available in hobby/craft shops. You may also find that the magnet may need to be placed in a position slightly different from the hr/min slots trial and error.

Failing all that there may be a problem with the reed switches (which can be replaced).

Try different magnets first.

Good luck.

[mds]

Not an uncommon problem particularly with the original magnets which may have lost magnetism over the years. Try and find a stronger magnet, easily available in hobby/craft shops. You may also find that the magnet may need to be placed in a position slightly different from the hr/min slots trial and error.

Failing all that there may be a problem with the reed switches (which can be replaced).

Try different magnets first.

Good luck.

Hi there,

Many thanks for the reply. The magnet in it is the 'C' shaped variety hence as you say may have lost some of its magnetism, so I've just tried a stronger magnet but it's still not working. I've moved the magnet around in different postions as suggested but alas still the same. The only thing that happened was occasionally the single button reed switch was activated when I moved the magnet around the top of the Min area.

Are the reed switches fairly easy to source and fit? Are they cheap/expensive? I have some soldering skills but only on much larger PCB's!

I suppose my main question is relating to the fact that I bought the watch as in a fully working condition, but it appears not to be when it arrived. I'm not that experienced with LED's from a technical perspective but what are the chances of both reed switches becoming 'faulty' during transit? The watch was shipped via airmail from Canada to the UK. Is it common for both the magnet reed switches to fail at exactly the time?

Or to put it another way what are the chances of both the reed's failing during the shipping period of only 4-5 days.

Sorry for all the questions, but any help would be greatly appreciated

Cheers,


mds

[embelton]

mds:Great avatar,great music...respect

[Supersonic]

You may like to visit www.ledwatch.net and look under spares/repairs, Phil gives a good description of how to replace a reed switch. I would say it is unlikely that both reed switches would go in a short time. Phil may be able to have a look at it for you?

[azimuth_pl]

I had a similar problem with a P2 but the opposite.
After some time (after inserting cells) the setting reeds were still working but the command button didn't (although the module was still keeping time - setting reeds when activated showed correct time).
This did not have anything to do with the reeds or magnets getting faulty.
There seemed to be a short somewhere (maybe in the IC?) as the time function started operation after a few hours (days) but still turned into freeze mode from time to time.