Now I sought the help of one Sandy Taylor who I think most of you know about. Sandy has been very helpful to me in the garden, we have traded stock and track and so on, and it was him who started me off with the TE. On his suggestion I sent the TEs down to his place and he soon came back with bad news. Neither would work, in fact the older one was making very funny noises. I had tried to clean them up a bit but noticed that the retaining screws on top of the grill were solid with rust. So what does this do to a PCB? Not much good, I can tell you. To cut the story short Sandy contacted Bachman Europe with a description of the state of the TEs, and I understand Leicester had a good laugh about it. There was a suggestion that they might be sent back to Aristo, but as most of you know sending stuff to Aristo is like putting it into a black hole. Sandy?s suggestion was that I cut my losses and start afresh. So within 24 hours I was in possession of a new receiver, only one so far, and I am thankfully back in business. The old receivers languish on a shelf with Sandy in the hope that one day someone might come along and see if at least one might be repairable. Indeed, if anyone who reads this, you are still out there, aren?t you? wants to try his hand at fiddling with one of these just let me know. If nothing comes of it I am no worse off..
The Sad Tale of Two TEs Part 2
- Thread starter Glengrant
- Start date
Given that you are not in an emergency situation and the fact that the TE is very light in shipping weight, I would gamble by sending it to Aristo with the requested 20 USD fee. My experience on two occasions has been a repaired older model TE transmitter returned within a week at no extra charge. (I am less than 100 miles away from Aristo headquarters.) I realize you will be subject to additional time and probably additional money, but there is a good possibility that you could end up with a working TE at a good value.
I'm pleased you've solved the mystery Cyril, but sorry it's proved expensive.
I'd go with Arthur's suggestion, either directly or via Bachmann at Barwell. The latter may be cheaper but may take a while. I have been told that they never air freight anything so you have to wait for a container load both ways. I was lucky with mine, must have timed it right.
I'd go with Arthur's suggestion, either directly or via Bachmann at Barwell. The latter may be cheaper but may take a while. I have been told that they never air freight anything so you have to wait for a container load both ways. I was lucky with mine, must have timed it right.
OK Arthur and Neil, I can see the point in what you are saying and yes, I've got time, I'm not in a tearing hurry, thanks for the advice. Incidentally, just to wrap this sorry little tale up, this morning I started to do a bit of experimenting and to my surprise found that the receiver can quite easily be placed in my (brick) garage and despite the distances and corners involved, the transmitter can connect quite easily with the receiver. So there was no need at all for my PCBs to be subjected to such dreadful conditions, they could have been dry and cosy in the garage all this time. OK, it is still a bit on the damp side in there, but easily controlled in the winter etc. Wish I'd though of all of this about £250 ago.