Out of The Box

E-Waste

2012-05-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

Thousands and thousands of reasons could be listed the first one on my list is waste. In my first post I barely touched this matter, but I want to go deeper and what explain what is going on.

The electronic waste or E-waste is a problem that is growing fast. The average cell phone user changes its handset every 18 months (Griffith University). It means that at home you have handsets in perfect condition that could be used for more time or could be used by someone else.

The energy used to produce each item is way less than the energy used to recycle the electronics. Besides the energy wasted, the item are sent oversees to be dismantle and this is done in controversial work conditions. Below you will find a video produced by Greenpeace that explains how the items are taking apart in China. In India, China, and some countries of Africa the E-wastes are sent to be processed and extract the materials that could be used, but the procedures and techniques are primitive. Those primitive techniques create huge amounts of air contamination and are very risky for the health of the workers. Those workers, in some cases, are kids that make just few dollars a day. Do you know that your electronic waste ends up in Ghana?

Greenpeace Video, Where the does E-waste end up?

The quality of the cell phones and cameras is very high, it is possible to change screens without a problem. The items are designed to replace the parts easily, the access to the cables is painless and you do not need to be genius to unplug the cables if you have the right tools (Basic tools required ). Most of the time you just have to remove few screw and disconnect a flex cable to replace a part in any electronic including TV sets.

Journeyman Pictures video, Electronic trash village - China

Dateline SBS, E-Waste Hell

Marketing makes you think two things; first that you need the new item, and second that the item that you have is obsolete. Any of those two ideas are true. The technology is not going as fast as 10 years ago; the items are design many months before they are launch, the replacement of your item is ready when you buy the first one.

Below you will find links that give you interesting information about E-waste if you want to learn more. This OFTB.blogspor.com survive with your help, in the right hand side, and at the end of each post you will find interesting ADS, if you find something interesting for you please click with confidence and it would help us a lot. Thank you for visiting us and please fix your items.

http://www.escrapusa.com/

http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/ecycling/manage.htm

http://www.fourgreensteps.com/infozone/featured/features/what-is-e-waste-a-how-can-i-get-rid-of-it

http://www.secret-life.org/cell_environment.php

http://www.griffith.edu.au/engineering-information-technology/e-waste-research-group/facts-figures

PSP 3000 Analog Stick replacement

2012-05-22T18:46:00.000-07:00

As promised in my last post (PSP 3000 LCD replacement ) now we are going to explain how to replace the Analog Stick of a PSP 3000.

Difficulty: Medium (If you already changed the LCD and read our last post PSP 3000 LCD replacement )

Difficulty: Slightly High (If this is the first time that you open a PSP)

Check List:

· PSP 3000 Analog Stick

· Small Screw Driver x2

· Plastic tools

· Tweezers (Optional)

As always I recommend using a static band to avoid electric damage to the item (Basic tools required ). We start taking the battery off. There are 7 screws around the case, there are two behind the battery, and as soon as you remove the battery you will see them. Please use the correct tools; you will need two different sizes of Phillips screwdrivers, below you will find a really complete set of screwdrivers that is sold on Amazon.

After you assess the screws around the PSP you pick where to start taking them off. As soon as you are done with the screws, use the plastic tool to separate the faceplate, if you notice that the faceplate is not coming out easily probably you missed one of the screws.

The next key step is moving the home board forward to have access to the LCD screen and remove it. The home board has small clips that hold the home board on place, use the plastic tools to move the clips located on each side of the board. As soon as you move the home board you will be able to take the LCD off but it is still attached to the PSP so be really careful. The LCD is held by two flex cables, please be really careful because the flex cables are kept on place by delicate taps, lift the taps with the plastic tool slowly. After lifting those taps just pull and the flex cables will come out.

The next step is tricky, you are going to move the game pad board but it is attached to the main board in two points, one under the game pad board and the other one next to the Analog Stick. What you want to do is to disconnect the one next to the Analog Stick with the plastic tool, and then you are going to lift the part slowly because it is still connected to the main board under the game pad. At that point you are ready to disconnect the Analog Stick and replace it.

It is very important to make sure in what direction the taps open, if you open them to the wrong direction you will break them.

Below you will find the steps

Find the 7 screws and take them out.
Use the plastic tool and remove the faceplate.
Move the home board. Be careful with the clips, use the plastic tool.
Remove the LCD display. Unplug the Flex cables using the Plastic tool.
Take off the screws that hold the part.
Unplug the pad with the plastic tool; unplug the flex cable next to the Analog Stick.
Move the pad slowly because it is still attached to the PSP.
Move the tap that holds the flex cable of the Analog Stick.
Remove the screw that holds the Analog Stick.
Remove the Analog Stick slowly and replace it with the new one.

Where can you find the parts? Below you will find the link where you can find the parts and tools.

PSP 3000 LCD replacement

2012-05-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

As promised today we are going to change the LCD screen of a PSP 3000.

Difficulty: Medium

Check list:

LCD Screen for PSP 3000:

Small Screw Driver x2:

Plastic tools:

Tweezers

Always start assessing the job, go around the case and find the screws. What you are going to find is that there are two screws that are smaller than the other screws; probably you are going to need a smaller screw driver, you could use the same one for every screw but you are going to take an unnecessary risk, you do not want to strip any of the screws because it would be a real mess to take them off.

The videos that I am presenting today are very good and help us to make some remarks. I really like the video because it shows the right way to assess the job, it is long which means that it pays attention to every single detail, and the technician work slowly and it is what we want. As I always highlight, take the battery first before starting any job as it is shown in the video.

How to replace PSP 3000 LCD Screen Video

Despite the technician uses the same screwdriver for all the screws I recommend to buy a really complete screw driver set. As soon as you take the face plate off you will deal with the home board; to move the home board forward DO NOT use the screwdriver use the plastic tools. Why? Because the plastic tool has the right profile to reach inside, because the plastic does not conduct electricity, and because it is design to do so. If you find that the home board is not coming out go around and check if there is part of the grey liner holding the home board, but it should come out easily.

The LCD screen is just laying on the main board, do not turn down the PSP to remove the LCD; you would damage the flex cables of the old screen and you could damage the clips that hold the flex on place, and you can damage the slots.

As soon as you can see the flex cables please use the tweezers to move the clips that hold the flex cables, I have damaged those small doors and luckily I have been able to fix it but it is very delicate, and if you break it you will not find that part anywhere. Use the tweezers to place the flex cables, close the small doors, and lay the screen on the main board.

If you are having trouble with the analog joystick your should change it as well since you have the PSP 3000 open already and the LCD screen is off. Our next post is going to explain how to change the analog joystick.

It is important to go easy on the part that you moved when you are putting everything back, do not push hard to make them fit, just move the parts a little to make them fit. Do not forget to clean a little bit before closing the PSP 3000, if you have compressed air it does the job for you.

Check the items below that you could be interested.

PSP Store

Nikon L15 and L16 LCD replacement

2012-05-16T09:01:00.001-07:00

This first LCD Change is very simple and has everything to learn.
Difficulty: Easy.

What is needed to do the job?

1. LCD Replacement for L15 L16

2. Small Phillips Screwdriver

3. Tweezers (Optional)

The first step is to take the batteries off; you do not want energy flowing when you are installing parts because you can damage the parts.

On the video below, which is in German, the technician uses an electric screwdriver so do not worry about the speed. The video below is good but there are some details that I would like to highlight; take the screws in order, go around the camera and take the screws off in order, you can notice in the video that the technician forgot one of the screws it happens when you do not work in order. When you forget to take screw you can damage the case because you could pull out and break it.

L15 L16 LCD replacement Video

Below you can see the LCD replacement; the flex cable could have a lighter color. Before installing the part check the LCD and make sure that it did not arrive cracked, it happens sometimes. You can buy the LCD on Ebay or Amazon. I prefer Amazon. How to find the parts? On Amazon you type”Nikon L15 LCD”. There you can find few really good sellers, I do not like when the seller is in China because the part would take longer and the risk to receive a bad item is high. As explained in the Inicial Remarks post, for this camera there are two model of LCD, please make sure that you buy the right model, at the end of this post you will find both model with the links of each one.

Around the second fifty you can see that the technician reach the flex cable inside to lift the clip and unattached the LCD from the main board, you can do that with the plastic tools, actually I recommend to do so with the plastic tool especially if you do not have the Static Band (Please check the Basic tools post http://oftb.blogspot.com/2012/05/basic-tools-required.html ). If you have the Tweezers use them to unattached the flex and place it right, if not just push a little with your fingers to place it correctly and you will got it.

Finally you can try the LCD before closing the case, but be careful, if you do not have experience doing that please just close the case and try it. Below you will find the two models of LCDs for the L15 and L16.

Basic tools required

2012-05-14T14:24:00.000-07:00

The basic tools needed to fix most of the cameras, and small devices are 6:

· Plastic openers (Blue items).

· T10 screwdriver.

· T6 screwdriver.

· Small Phillips screwdriver.

· Tweezers.

· Static Band.

Despite that the Static Band is last on the list; the static band is a key item to fix any type of electronic. The static energy could damage delicate electronic parts it is a good idea to use static band all the time while you are manipulating the parts.

The plastic openers will help you to open separate plastic panels, be very careful when you separate the plastic pieces because most of the time they are held with clips. Before separating the plastic panels make sure that all the screws are taken off. The plastic opener is very useful to disconnect the different flex cables if you do not have tweezers. There are different sizes of plastic openers and you use them based on your needs. To disconnect the flex cables you can use this tool as a lever: there are flex cables that have a clip to hold the cable on place and you use the plastic tool to move the cable from the socket.

Different camera models come with different types of screws. The most popular screws are T6, T10, and very small cross screws. Make sure that you are using the right tools; you do not want to strip the screws.

Tweezers are used to separate the cables, unplug the flex and other cables, and plug the cables as well. The tweezers are very useful to avoid damages.

Initial Remarks

2012-05-14T13:06:00.000-07:00

Before starting any job I do a research about what tools I am going to need to do the job. I do not want to open the item with the wrong tools because it would cause irreparable damages to the item, and I do not want to get stuck in the middle of a repair because I do not have the tools to keep going.

I have damaged so many flex cables in my life just because I want to work fast. Just relax, sometimes it is frustrating taking some parts off, the screws get stuck, or you get to the point that you do not remember how the items were located inside that small case. When you get frustrated just stop, take a walk, or do something different, sometimes is better to go away for a while and when you come back you will remember.

I try to have the part that I need on my hand instead to order and then figure out that I ordered the wrong part. The items are made in China, Malaysia, and even Mexico by an extensive variety of supplier and even it is the same camera it could have different displays inside. Why this happen? Because one supplier cannot not provide all the parts for the great demand of the world, and the different supplier have different technologies and can supply a display that has the same characteristic with small differences, the same happen to the main board, if the main board is different the LCD supplier must change the LCD. So try to have the part that you are going to change on your hand and compare it with the one that you are going to order, some seller are very nice and will help you without an extra cost.

If you are installing the item with the help of a video, pay close attention to the small details; sometimes I just focus my attention on how to take the item apart but not small details and I have lost so much time because of that. I changed the lens of a Nintendo Wii, I followed every single step on the video, but I mute the video and I was missing an essential step that was on the spoken part of the video, after hour of working with the item I just have to take of a small piece of soldering on the flex that was there to protect the part.

Just have fun when you fix something, you want to safe a camera that you like, a phone that you love, a game console that has plenty of life, and because you do not want to spend crazy money for a new item. It is nice to learn and figure out how things work. If you are in a hurry just do not start the job you do not have to be as fast as the video on YouTube.

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