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.
One of our repairers asked me to test an extension lead he had acquired at a car boot sale. Our portable appliance tester can test extension leads: in the photo you can see the lead (orange) is plugged into the tester and then connected back at the other end (via the short black lead). The point of this is to check whether the earth wire is connected at both ends; and in this case, we see that the earth continuity test has failed.
How could this be?
The simple answer is that there was no earth lead in the cable, as this photo inside the socket shows. The manufacturers have used two-core flex, and also there’s no clamp on the cable, meaning it could easily be pulled out in use.
Not good. Lesson: get the car registration number when you buy anything potentially risky.
This brand new mini waffle maker failed its appliance safey test because its plug is unfused. It’s a Chinese import bought on Amazon. Be wary buying electrical goods online… This is not an isolated case.
Our insurance does not cover knife sharpening at the moment because insurance companies are generally refusing to provide cover thanks to fears of knife crime. However, we can sharpen shears, secateurs, mower blades, scissors and the like, and expect to be able to do so until there is a rash of mower-blade attacks.
Fixing your small personal and household items