David Spalding

@chromejob

David Spalding

5,731	Reputation
30	Solutions
9	Guides
Member Since 11/12/2015

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Former film student, reviewer, musician (Irish Traditional), US Coast Guard avionics tech and aircrewman (I got to play over the caribbean with a super expensive Westinghouse APG-66 F-16 radar system plus more), infopreneur, public radio producer, now software QA and BA, art museum volunteer, track performance driving enthusiast. Love gadgets, home theater tech, person-focused technology advances, hiking, cooking, eating, sleeping, dreaming. My income doesn't support my Criterion Collection aspirations. Things I don't love: technology that is faulty, gadgets with built-in guaranteed obsolescence, software that's poorly conceived or is hostile to the user, companies whose "business needs" outweigh their obligation of service to customers, bad food, selfish people. (I'd say I dislike egoistic, aggressive people, but sometimes I are one. We have seen the enemy....)

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Teardowns I've Worked On

My Guides

Guides I've Contributed To

Completed Guides

Questions

After a pop, no heating, but all else works. Repair or replace? 07/10/2016
After kicking on my over the range GE Spacemaker (circa 2002) microwave/fan, there was a pop, maybe a slight flash of...
Can I use a different AC adapter with this charger? 03/28/2016
If I've lost the original LG charger supplied with the Nexus Wireless Charger, can I use the charger that came with my...

Answers

Answer to "Clock, radio along with display, and ac and heater panel lights aren't" 08/25/2019
There was a common problem in the 2004 models that a fuse/circuit in the audio control head unit (really, it’s the huge control cluster in the center dashboard) would go bad, and the lights in that section failed. See your Acura dealer about a replacement, and ensure you’re sitting down. The control head costs about $1300 wholesale.
Answer to "Google home mini does not respond" 01/23/2019
Sounds like a hardware fault, I’ve read of a few that this happened to. As mentioned, try a factory reset as per the Google support docs, if that doesn’t resolve, try for a warranty return or replacement.
Answer to "How to open google home mini power adapter?" 01/23/2019
Unless you’re experienced in micro-electronics work, I would not recommend this. I’m confident that the manufacturer made the adapter so it could not be disassembled by the consumer, for obvious safety reasons. A suitable charger and cord can be bought for less than the price of lunch (try Monoprice.com). Safety first, get a reliable charger and cord to suit your purposes and keep the GHM’s adapter for another use. ;)
Answer to "Where can I buy a new cord for my google mini" 01/23/2019
The included charger/cord is a simple USB 2.0 charger that produces standard 5 VDC at 1.8A. Any tablet charger (for Apple or Android devices) should work, so long as the cord’s USB Micro B connector is small enough to fit through the recess in the GHM. Don’t whittle one down if it doesn’t fit, you could create a short.
Answer to "Power source. Please help!" 01/23/2019
You may want to look into a battery base. There are a couple on sale on Amazon that look to fit neatly onto the bottom of the Google Home Mini. Or you could use a simple rechargeable battery boost charger like for recharging tablets, or jump starting cars. Just plug it into the Mini’s USB Micro-B port. It needs to provide 1.8A DC minimum as mentioned by previous answers. Use that for as long a needed, then recharge the power supply when your generator runs. :)
Answer to "After a pop, no heating, but all else works. Repair or replace?" 07/13/2016
After running it at 20% and 50% for a minute or two, I heard the louder humming cycling on and off, so clearly something in the control was trying to cycle the magnatron...? Perhaps the HV cap had gone bad, or something in the control I smelled a very faint electronics burning from the area of the control, so that's what I suspect. This may be corroborated by the fact I heard a pop from the front right of the oven. At any rate, some July 4th sales of new units gave me the opportunity to get a CR top-rated unit (convection/microwave oven, much quieter) for as much as 20% or 30% off the original price, and finance for free for 12 - 18 months. As others have pointed out, sometimes it's just best to replace a defective unit with one boasting far more features and flexibility.
Answer to "Magnetron or Diode or both?" 07/10/2016
[edit: clarification] Your suspicion is correct, that one component going bad can lead to another failure. But your measurement of the magnatron suggests it's sound -- it depends upon the design spec variance allowed in the resistance measurement. I would try the diode, and power up the microwave with all covers in place. As others have mentioned, these appliances have very high voltage components and you can get hurt trying a DIY repair. Ensure all capacitors are discharged, you have no jewelry on, etc. If you're new to this, leave it to a professional -- the cost of a replacement is far more economical than the potential injury you can incur.
Answer to "Why is my phone not restarting?" 06/17/2016
What are the indications, will it not even power on at all, or do it perform a "boot loop" where an animation just keeps running without end,...? It sounds like you were overzealous in disabling Google apps, and may likely have disabled some system services and apps that are required to run. If you can't boot into Safe Mode, you may have to reboot into the bootloader and recovery (how will differ from one phone model to another) and perform a factory reset to default settings. You will lose some or all of your data on the phone when you so do. I would not recommend disabling too many apps. If you don't want to use Google services, just don't sign in to a Google account. You can turn off certain Google account data from syncing by turning off sync in the Google account(s) screen. That way, for example, you can use Google Maps, but not sync any Gmail or Google Calendar information.
Answer to "Why doesn't my camera have a led light?" 06/17/2016
I'm not familiar with that model, but in the camera app you may need to enable the "Flash: on" mode. Most cameras operated in a "Flash: auto" mode in which the flash will only work in low light situations.
Answer to "Won't read sim even after replacing sim card flex!?" 06/07/2016
Contact the seller? Is the phone SIM-unlocked (or, are you using SIMs from the same carrier that it was sold for)?

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Google Nest Mini (2nd generation) Teardown July 2

There are a number of clip-on battery bases made for the Google Home Mini (1gen) which plug into the micro-USB connector of that model. I imagine it’s only a matter of time before these firms retool to create a base for the Nest Mini.

I’ve been tempted by them myself for the following use cases … taking out to the patio … on the go (and connected to a phone’s hotstpot) … in a large room where you want to relocate a Mini close by (and the Mini is easier to manage than its larger Home sibling). I myself have an outlet charger/base unit in my bathroom’s outlet — works great.
Open all the windows simultaneously. June 19

Different model car? Check hour car’s manual, or your Toyota dealer. ;)
iPod Touch 5th Generation Battery Replacement March 22

Video is not playing from YT (YT issue? probably). Other than the iPod 5th Gen teardown, looking for other pictorial guides that can be used.
Initiate the HandsFreeLink diagnostic self-test. March 8

That’s beyond the scope of this article. Sounds like your cars’ nav system is broken and needs repair or replacement.
Initiate the HandsFreeLink diagnostic self-test. March 8

See my answer below. You just have to put the same number in the car and the phone when pairing a new phone. If the previous owner’s phone is still paired (it was in my CPO TSX when I took delivery), you can simply delete that phone from HandsFreeLink. Check your manual for specific steps.
Initiate the HandsFreeLink diagnostic self-test. March 8

A more complete description would help. If you mean you were trying to pair your phone with the Civic’s HandsFreeLink Bluetooth system, then you probably encountered the common authentication step that many systems use to ensure you have access to both. Try 0000. Ensure your phone is unlocked with Bluetooth turned on. You may get an alert asking you to confirm the Bluetooth pairing, perhaps entering the same code you enter on the vehicle. ;)
Nexus 5 NFC Board Replacement March 7

My NFC slider under Settings, Wireless & networks, More… also won’t stay. The phone has taken some abuse, so not surprised if something’s awry. BUT wireless (Qi) charging does work … I wonder if the NFC Board connector carries both of these, so if NFC is bad, but Qi charging is good, it’s not the board…? Anyone troubleshot and fixed these same symptoms?
Initiate the instrument cluster self-test January 25

Folks, don’t post here asking about A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT VEHICLE. This page is for the 2004-2008 Acura TSX (Honda CL9), no others. Keep searching.
Initiate the instrument cluster self-test January 25

Make, model, and series is clearly identified on this page.
Initiate the instrument cluster self-test January 25

Probably not.

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