Today’s teardown target is an early 1990’s electronic organizer from Casio. Casio Digital Diary SF-4000, complete with a travel guide!
Interesting mix of keys- membranes plus some hard buttons
Casio SF-4000 digital diary teardown
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Category Archives: Teardowns
Rant: Glentronics Basement Watchdog Emergency Sump Pump System
The rant subject
Today’s rant is about a Glentronics Basement Watchdog backup sump pump system I’ve installed a while ago. The system overall is relatively simple- a 12V DC pump lives in the pit and is turned on by the controller when the water level rises above a level set by magnetic float sensors. The pump is fed by a big 12V Lead Acid battery that’s always charging. So when power goes out or the main pump fails, I’d have at least some pumping going on for a bit instead of me having to bail out manually. At least that was the idea. Continue reading
Kidde KN-COEG-3 carbon monoxide/gas alarm teardown
In continuation of Carbon Monoxide teardowns, we now have a Kidde KN-COEG-3 detector designed to handle both carbon monoxide and natural gas in residential use. Unlike the previous target (First Alert FCD2BT), this one never worked that well, causing frequent “GAS” false panics and piercing alarms, so a teardown is a natural progression for this model! Continue reading
First Alert FCD2BT Carbon Monoxide alarm teardown
Today’s teardown target is a retired carbon monoxide detector made by First Alert.
The general consensus is that these should be replaced around every five years or so to minimize the risk of sensor degradation getting in the way of detecting an actual event. So let’s take this thing apart and see what makes it tick. Continue reading
Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ USB debug
It appears there is no end to things breaking and ending up in Kuzyatech lab. Today’s patient is a Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ media streaming box that decided to stop noticing USB drives. The box is a nice little device that can play audio and video content from the network or from one of the three local USB ports: front, rear or a dock-like middle one that’s used to connect Seagate’s own portable hard drive. Both front and back ports were dead. Well, time to take it apart! Continue reading
DLO Power Bug troubleshooting
Today’s teardown target is a DLO Power Bug model MH-01DU. This was a relatively expensive portable charger, that lasted a few years before getting into Kuzyatech lab. The complaint was that it made arching sounds, smelled hot and was not charging. Continue reading
Innolux BT156GW01 TFT LCD Panel teardown
I’ve always wanted to see what the latest LCD panels look like inside, and such a chance just presented itself. I got my hands on a broken 15.6″ panel, used in many laptops these days. This particuar one had DP/N number on it, so I assume it was used in a Dell. Let us see how much we can learn looking at the design with limited access to device datasheets.
Innolux BT156GW
Elenco Resistor Substitution Box RS-500- quick teardown
Bought this thing on Amazon for $25, figuring it’s not a calibrated decade box, but it’s also 1/10 of the price of more professional pieces of gear. Overall look and fit is reasonable until one looks inside the unit.
Philips 8E26A60 LED bulb teardown
Today’s teardown subject is a Philips 8E26A60 LED bulb. (An 8W 450 Lumens 2700K version) These appeared briefly at Home Depot and were replaced by the next generation “yellow tri-blade designs”. I liked the more conventional look of them, and a very nice omnidirectional light pattern, so I bought several. Three are still going strong, but one suddenly became significantly dimmer:
Inserted into one fixture for comparison
With only a year into the six year warranty, Philips was nice enough to replace it. Naturally we now have a teardown subject! Continue reading
Elektronika MK51 calculator teardown
Today we have a teardown of a Soviet calculator Elektronika MK 51( Электроника МК 51) for those familiar with the language. It was bought new in 1993, worked (sorta) for a few years and just drove me absolutely nuts with its lack of any reliability. The design is supposedly a clone of Casio FX-2500
Front view