[Paisleychick-lj] Fixing my camera battery charger

[Beatrice M's blog]

[![][1]][2]   
[Fixing my battery charger][3]   
Originally uploaded by [blmurch][4]. 

I bought a replacement battery charger for my point & shoot [Konica Minolta Dimage X50][5] back in early 2006 as the one I had died. It traveled with us all over the United States and South America and served me faithfully while it was used and abused and plugged into outlets all over the world. In September I noticed that the wires at the end of the "strain relief" were frayed. This last week, it finally gave up the ghost when one of the wires broke off from the charger. This presented me with a problem because although I had two batteries, one was empty and the other was in the camera being used when I was taking photos.   
  
We bought a cheap soldering iron from a nearby hardware store, some solder and electrical tape. We thought about how to fix the problem. Initially we though to just solder the wires back in place at the joint where they'd broken. Thinking about it some more, I decided that it would be a better idea to see if I could solder clean wires back in place at the circuit board itself. Less melted plastic that way, plus it would be stronger.  
  
I clumsily popped open the charger case, using the flathead screwdriver part of my swiss army knife. I think I busted some of the snaps, but not to worry. I then was able to take a look "under the hood" and see how things went together. This used to completely overwhelm and frighten me. Seeing Kragen do similar things, I knew that it wasn't impossible and that it was kind of fun, in a *very* geeky way. Besides, it was broken. I could either not try and continue to have a broken charger, try to fix it and fuck up, in which case I would still have a broken charger, or try to fix it and succeed.   
  
So, I snipped off the broken wires, melted the solder on the circuit board to release the other end of the broken wires, but again clumsily, didn't make sure that the circuit board holes were open. D'oh! I had to remelt one of the holes and remove some of the excess solder so that I could put the unbroken wires in there. I had to figure out if we were going to reuse the plastic strain relief or just use electrical tape coming out of the back of the charger. I pulled out the broken wires of the strain relief and figured out that I could pull through new wires into those impossibly small side by side holes. So, I cut the strain relief lengthwise down to the holes and then in half to make it shorter. Because I left the insulator plastic around the wires in the strain relief, it would no longer close, so having it be shorter worked to my advantage.  
  
There was a slight pause because we discovered that it actually did matter which wire went into which hole. We didn't have an ohm meter to tell which wire was positive and which was negative. At this point, I was happy to remember that I could take a look at [this picture][6] to see how the wires went together. Yay, for [documenting the process with pics][7]! I resoldered the wires onto the circuit board. I plugged it into the outlet and the lights turned on, it didn't blow up! I then unplugged it and snapped it back together as best as I could and used electrical tape to close everything up nice and tight.   
  
I can now use my battery charger again and I gained the knowledge of how to do things like this, the self confidence to know that I can and the support of friends like [![[info]][8]][9][**kragen**][10] and [![[info]][8]][11][**roadknight**][12] who helped along the way tonight! Also, thank you to [![[info]][8]][13][**davidturtle**][14] who gave us workspace, tools and advice to [create the MiniPov][15] back in San Francisco in Feb 06 where I did my first soldering project. And to [![[info]][8]][16][**moconnor**][17] who helped me when I [took apart my iBook][18] the first time. Thanks guys. :D There was only one slight mishap this go round with solder dripping on my hand. Not too bad overall.  


   [1]: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2091/1539164150_c0a5a59b00_m.jpg
   [2]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/1539164150/ (photo sharing)
   [3]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/1539164150/
   [4]: http://www.flickr.com/people/blmurch/
   [5]: http://www.flickr.com/cameras/minolta/dimage_x50/
   [6]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/1537709085/
   [7]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/sets/72157602359393248/
   [8]: http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif
   [9]: http://kragen.livejournal.com/profile
   [10]: http://kragen.livejournal.com/
   [11]: http://roadknight.livejournal.com/profile
   [12]: http://roadknight.livejournal.com/
   [13]: http://davidturtle.livejournal.com/profile
   [14]: http://davidturtle.livejournal.com/
   [15]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/sets/72057594069839082/
   [16]: http://moconnor.livejournal.com/profile
   [17]: http://moconnor.livejournal.com/
   [18]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/sets/72157602364043205/

URL: http://paisleychick.livejournal.com/319005.html