huge gamble (UPDATE new pics)

[dutchsiberia]

ohh man, what have i done....



maybe just new rechargeable batteries, maybe a cool dead paperweight...

[Ade51]

I did see this one - I hope it turns out well.

[SASM]

hugh gamble

It´s a bit like betting money on black if the roulette ball already sticks to the red 7

But there´s a hugh difference between your purchase and gambling in Las Vegas: You cannot loose money - the watch was already cheap.

Hanno.

[dutchsiberia]

True, but still a lot of money for me I started my led collection with 12 watches for 150 euro, one of them being a Pulsar

If I fail to revive the watch I can always count on sasm

[egomon]

HI. The Mk3 or higher modules are very risky. The module opening is a very hard if not possible without not damaging the lexan top or the module inside, so be very careful with that. The IC is exposed ( whit all the wire bonds) in this module so be extra careful when chancing the batteries. Btw. I have a lot of original Ragen modules for sale MK1 and MK2 :) if everything else fails.

Best regards

[dutchsiberia]

I'll make some pics tomorrow, but the watch arrived, with two other (dead?) modules without solar panel/ switches, a very complicated manual, some b/w and color leaflets and a cool b/w picture :)




Allright, here are some pics :)

Everything:



Two (dead?) extra modules



the complete module











The case is very light, aluminium?





I'm taking my time with this one, I first have to dig out my desk/ tidy up my room...

[dutchsiberia]

:)

[egomon]

Hi. Nice photos. First I see is that the display is all exposed wire bonds so take extra time to not damage the wire-bonds on display and you have now good idea ( with the two exposed modules) what is inside of the module. GOOD LUCK!!!

Best regards

Egon

[charger105]

I don't know of any aluminium Synch cases. It's probably titanium.
That opened module on the left looks very hopeful to me. Batteries haven't leaked, and the IC looks undamaged.
If the display is undamaged, then it may just be a case of hooking up 3V and seeing what happens.

Let me know if you want any tips on changing the display. I've changed heaps of them and have a pretty good method.
Rgds.

[vpn]

It's been a quite huge gamble indeed, Dutchsiberia, but the best thing is to be optimistic, nothing's impossible, if there's enough willpower. I will keep the fingers crossed and hope that the Synchronar will come back to life!

[dutchsiberia]

kewl titanium

[vpn]

This means that your Synchronar will survive even to a nuclear bomb, without a single scratch!
Hope you'll manage to make it work again!

[SASM]

If it´s very light and because it´s a sunwatch case chances are high you got a zinc case. These have been produced during the early 80s but as far as I know they were rejected at a later point of time because of corrosion problems (especially if you live in a salty area near the ocean).

[dutchsiberia]

So it's even more rare :) (although I would have preferred the titanium case)

[clockace]

actually, from your photos i would say it is stainless. weigh it. it probably is about 12-14 grams being closer to the 12. i have a stainless synch case with the bar and cut corners and it is around that weight. i think titanium would be much less than that. the zinc tops i have look way different than yours. i also have some s/s sunwatch tops that look very similar to your photos. one of them[your photos] even shows slight rust on the inside. peter

[dutchsiberia]

I'll have a closer look asap, I'm hoping the rust like stuff is just contamination. The feel and weight make me think it's not stainless, but then again, there is not much material in the case. (My Tissot T12 would obliterate it in a collision )

[dutchsiberia]

I've done some tinkering, cracked open the case. Very difficult as there were some cracks in it already... The module inside is very dead. Green corrosion eating away the wire bonds. Even the display is green on the backside and the solar cell wires crumbled away. The cell still works though.

The spare module with the least amount of corrosion has one broken reed switch, and the largest display with plastic protection in front of it. So I want to solder an other reed switch on it and see if this one works. I think I'll have to keep most of the "goo" in place, especially on the cpu, I don't want to tare away the wire bonds.

[767Geoff]

I can only admire you Synchronar repairers.

I have tried to restore only one and made a right mess of it. Thank god for SASM!

Charger105, are you near Sydney Australia?

Geoff

[charger105]

I can only admire you Synchronar repairers.

I have tried to restore only one and made a right mess of it. Thank god for SASM!

Charger105, are you near Sydney Australia?

Geoff

Hi Geoff.
I'm in Parramatta, a satellite city, just west of Sydney.
With the MkIIIs and MkIVs, there's not a lot you can do. The IC pretty much either works or it doesn't. If it does, you can replace a damaged display, SC or reed switch, but that's about it............unless you've got a wire-bonding machine of course Although I have got one or to going with an oscillator chip.

Rgds.
P.S. love the HP-01s. Gotta get myself one of these one day !!