Old world fix for new world mower

Joined
Nov 29, 2017
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My Robomow quit working last week, I was out of the country on a job.

So when I came home I found a bunch of extra growth and a mower complaining that the main power had been cut. Sure enough, the AC adapter & mow control box plugged into the wall was dead. No lights, no activity, nothing.

A replacement was located for $180, but I decided to take a crack at fixing the old one.

I took apart the charger box and found nothing wrong with the low voltage board within. The box also contained an ordinary “laptop brick” AC/DC converter. I decided to open that as well. Fortunately for me it was pretty obvious- a small burn mark on the PCB right at the hot pin for the AC input connector. No continuity from the connector to the board. I cleaned it up and applied a little dab of fresh solder, and that was all it took.

Mower back in service minutes later and I got hand the money to my wife so she could replace other things that broke while I was gone. At least that part doesn’t change.
 

1 Lucky Texan

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Feb 26, 2013
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great job!

do you think there was a 'fusistor' there or did it just burn a trace?
 
Joined
Nov 29, 2017
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great job!

do you think there was a 'fusistor' there or did it just burn a trace?

Nah I think it was just a crap solder job at the factory. It’s obvious that the laptop brick was designed to be stuffed with the customer’s choice of figure 8, mickey mouse or C14 connectors, and when this one was done there was a substantial gap to be made between the pin and the ring trace on the board. It was always going to take more than a little solder, and they tried too little.
 
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