I had to admit defeat with this electric-fence unit, which was showing no signs of life in spite of having had a new battery fitted. Having tested the battery and the solar panel which is meant to charge it, I was forced to conclude that the electronic control board was faulty – way beyond my capabilities!
Incidentally, as a battery-powered unit this item cannot be given a PAT test. PAT tests only apply to mains-powered devices. However, when working it would generate 10,000 volts, so there was a danger of it coming to life while I was tinkering and delivering a nasty shock. I therefore took a couple of simple precautions:
- Removing the trailing leads from the output terminals; and
- Disconnecting the primary supply to the output transformer (on the bottom circuit board in the photo)
It is a general rule that repairers must assess such risks before attempting repairs.
Not an uncommon problem – a shredder that is just so full up it just can’t manage another sheet! These are designed to stop things being poked into them, other than paper, so off with the covers. As expected this revealed the shredding rollers totally bunged up causing the strippers to bulge and stopping the micro switch from working.
It was all so tightly packed that the end frame needed loosening to get the paper free which was carefully picked out and finally the rollers lubricated, and reassembled.
The unit was finally tested both functionally and PAT tested before being returned to a grateful owner.
Unfortunately the bin it sits on wasn’t brought along, this contains a safety pin which prevents the unit from operating without the bin in place – to stop fingers getting shredded, so we couldn’t test with actual paper.
Please bring every thing with you when you come so we can test the unit before and after the repair.
Tips
- A bit of oil, or lubricated sheet, after every bin of shredded paper helps keep the rollers free of waste.
- Make sure the bin doesn’t get over full, this drags paper back into the rollers.
- Keep the best for last! A nice flat sheet of paper or card at the end helps clear the rollers.
By Martin Roper
Our customer said this lawnmower didn’t work. After checking it out, it worked fine; possible some dirt in the commutator was dislodged when we took the motor cover off. They also wanted the blades sharpened, but the bolt holding them on was unfortunately seized completely solid so we couldn’t help.
Fixing your small personal and household items