#Appliance repair

The H1 is the handiest little tool I've ever used: handheld, rechargeable, fits in a pocket. The cell in the shaver had swollen, so I put in a new one, two welds, put it back together and it buzzed to life — Grandpa's shaver, ten years old, lives again. The joy of these little fixes — if you know, you know.

Where’s the address? Not telling?

Post your address,

First-person repair vlog. Job one, a herbal decoction pot whose light won't come on: both switches fine, resistance reads 23 megohm which is wrong, the resistor is definitely dead, try a 200 ohm (spoken as 240; 499W trips, 300W), burn two resistors and watch the little lantern; the wire is broken too, and after the controller is repaired and powered the LED burns out again; oh well, fix it anyway, charge ¥10. Job two, a cordless vacuum with short runtime: open it up and test the battery; remove the fish paper on both sides; fit new domestic grade-A cells; measure each cell's internal resistance 13.44, 14.60, 15, 16, keep the resistance consistent; spot-weld at gear 16; after welding, voltage 3.8/3.8 OK; charging at 13.5W 500mA, charging is right. Job three, a smart washing machine: keeps filling non-stop and won't wash even when full, carried in; with no power the water doesn't come in with the tap open, but starts the moment it's switched on; check for air leaks; fit a new water-level sensor, sealed with glue, no test needed, 'the thing that senses the water level'; ¥50; glue dries overnight, test tomorrow; 'next time you need me it'll be after New Year'; perfect fix. Comments: can a TV that got knocked be fixed, can a broken clip be fixed, the Taiyuan folks want to visit, good skills and fair prices, why isn't the son on camera.

Opening: a customer blames the boss for not fixing a battery problem — “you’ve got me wrong, have a Zhonghua on me” — the Soaiy speaker shows volume as soon as it’s twisted, turns out it just wasn’t charging; Bluetooth / radio modes fine, no mic mode so Bluetooth is right; voltage measures 3.67 vs 0.7… “this battery is fine; just one volt on the other, that’s a big gap, go buy two batteries”. The kid’s thing works plugged in but not unplugged = the battery inside is dead and won’t charge, swap it and OK; the cable burned and was replaced before, the socket is discolored and needs replacing too, hang on. The old stove has run seven or eight years and is hard to fix; weak water feed is a common fault, try a steering motor first, give up if that doesn’t do it; the board is aging; two motors (rotation / water feed), and a bad water motor upsets the steering too; people often fail to fix things, take them apart and bring the pile over. Soaiy follow-up: “you didn’t even put the batteries in right, you’ve got me wrong” — measured voltage for ages, all normal, small screw fitted, done. A camera with no charge and won’t take one: check for charge current, long unused, the alternating red LED flags two faults — battery bad or water in the board; battery seems more likely, it’s fairly new with no water damage; fit a good cell — “give it unlimited learning opportunities; this cell is a bit wasted in there, overkill, an absolutely good cell”. Dongcheng pack: high-temp fish paper for insulation against cell-to-cell shorts, voltage present, LED steady not blinking, charging at 9W 1.7A; red charge LED steady; bye, kid. Comments: please tell us the fault causes and how you test / fix; a noodle machine unused for ages won’t charge, fixable?; a cordless vacuum won’t run; address; honest repairman.

An embedded automation programmer goes home and fixes appliances for the village elderly for free. 1) Rice cooker: the light flashing on the repair socket means a loose connection, just push it in firmly; boil water to test the response, water temperature rising from 35°C, heating ring at 100-plus, one done. 2) Hair dryer: no response from the switch, so the switch is suspect; two screws out, it has been opened before and the switch tied with string; multimeter on continuity, the switch pressed shows no continuity; the switch clip is broken, inside is a copper leaf + latch + spring, the two contacts on the copper leaf are burnt, and a diode is wired in for the speed change; no such switch on hand, so the burnt parts of the contacts are cleaned and it goes back, fixed with strong glue instead of string; gear one and two latch fine; the original soldering was sloppy — joints must be solid or they arc, and an arc at the grip is dangerous; suggest a varistor in series across the switch input / output; powered up, back to full health. 3) Cordless drill battery bay won’t charge: odd screws, swap the bit; barely charges and the gauge drops on one press, most likely the cells need replacing; 5S, 21V at full charge; when removing the BMS mind the 4 balance leads; clean off the old nickel, keep the holder; originally 1500mAh each, replaced with 5 new 2000mAh cells with 3C certification; measure every cell’s internal resistance before fitting, this batch all around 17mΩ, fine for a Li-ion drill’s power needs; the original had no fish paper but a ring is best, the 18650 shorts most easily right at that ring; in series order, spot-weld the series nickel strips first, then the main + and − strips, last the balance leads; refit the BMS, tin with the iron and solder the balance-lead nickel strips to the board, connect the main + and − last; check for cold joints; fish paper back on, into the battery bay, screws in; the red charge light is normal, the drill pulls hard. 4) Two membrane keyboards merged into one: swap the cable, note the wire order and numbers, the membrane contacts must line up with the board and be pressed with the clamp bar, cable into its slot, add heat-shrink. 5) Hair dryer plug with one long and one short pin: fit a rice-cooker cord, high power so tin the joints to avoid heating, wrap in tape and heat-shrink. Sign-off: night view of the mountain hollow, ‘maybe I can’t make my hometown rich, but I can contribute a little with what I’ve learned’. 260 comments: five cells out of your own pocket, don’t do this kind of job again (3) → creator: lost my shirt; suggest more close-ups (screws, soldering, multimeter readings) → noted; hold the iron by the grip (proper practice); serving the people, down to earth; that workbench is my dream → I’ll make one.

Job one: the customer brings a Dyson vacuum and a switch part he bought himself at home but couldn’t fit — ‘I reckon the repair guy is all talk’ — let’s see today whether he is; take it out, fit a new one, test run, installed, perfect repair. Job two: a speaker that won’t turn on, open it and see what’s wrong: prying like this is the easiest way to set the battery on fire (a warning); grab a new cell, spot weld it; a bit of tape; it has power, OK, see if it plays; fill it up with glue for the customer, a bit more glue; watch the charging current — the wattage comes up, OK; charging; the little heart-shaped color-light speaker with a screen, perfect repair. Comments: the most refined man on Douyin (creator liked it); if you were nearby I’d bring my pressure cooker; should the Dyson be opened and blown out; post your address (creator: you can find it here too); can you come fix a water heater (yes, happy to take that off your hands); can you fix charging shoes.

Can you fix a Xiaomi water purifier tap

Do you fix gas guns

Host, what’s going on with this one

Opens on a snowy day; a carbon-fibre umbrella that stands up to wind, shaft broken in one spot, fixed and painted with rust-proof coating. A fan’s imported speaker (brought back from the US) has sat for a long time — not that I won’t work for fans, just too much on; once it reaches the Boring Appliance Repair Workshop it must get done: open it up, the cells have gone bad and leaked, starved to death, 322mΩ, scrap, big cells; Yu brand; fit two power cells (spot-welded, the high-power unit with the red leads); measure 8.3V, full charge; reassemble and test whether it sings — it sings. A hair dryer, real or fake Dyson unknown, motor won’t spin, one squeak and nothing, reading 30.5, diagnosed as a burnt motor; find a motor (41.3), swap it in, perfect, very OK, revived at once; test again, perfectly repaired, real or fake Dyson, all sorted. A Haier MOOKA TV that keeps rebooting: upgrade it, the upgrade must use factory data, durable, no freezing or crashing; slow first boot after the upgrade is the system buffering; the earlier rebooting was the main board being under-powered; no lag now, start enjoying it, sound and picture perfect, the overtime wasn’t wasted; TV questions answered by Teacher Zhang in the comments. 138 comments: rename it Fix-Anything (creator liked it); where did your son go (I’ll call him back tomorrow); the Dyson sometimes doesn’t respond when powered (minor issue); boss, is my Xiaodu done (hang on); brought back from the US? plenty at Nangong market (you know too much); a 511 umbrella leaks (you have one).

Auntie brings a toy car: steering bad, lights not on, only lighting up now and then; her handle is 'Special Talent'; batteries test 4V/3.1V, charged, all freshly replaced. Auntie says fix the little toy first and if it's done well she'll bring the big e-bike; 'that's not right, I heard you fix things well so I came specially'; the repairman jokes 'that leaves me cold, no mood to fix it, I'll make it up on the price'. Fixed, it responds; the switch was reworked; ¥30 will do; 'come when auntie's not around'. Job two, a floor scrubber: replace a set of 10 cells; the customer brought it from Xinzhou, diagnosed the aged battery himself, doesn't seem to have a spot welder so asked us to weld it; spot-weld cell by cell (1234...); measure the cell voltage 3.79, 'these cells are really standard'; fit and test, check whether the battery locks in, original batteries are just better; plug in and watch the charging response; battery ¥40; charging wattage 36W, full power, floor scrubber perfectly fixed, cells balanced in every respect, let it charge a while. Comments: was the RC car dead because the board was shorted; only you do real repairs; a room full of floor scrubbers; all sorts of repair requests.