I wondered why my garage remote didn't work.

Ricky snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

Absolutely correct. It is IPC acceptance. There are multiple levels (3), but most commercial follow the easy path.

Joe Gwinn snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

The battery looks like it would do it again as well. So it too need to fixturing like two 3 or 4mm holes at the free end near the crystal and a tiny tie wrap. Or a drop of holt melt small enough to be able to be sliced free for replacement.

The crystal can looks like it has glass-to-metal seals which will probably be made of Covar which needs to be plated to make it solderable. As suggested earlier, poor adhesion of the plating would give a weak joint. As it is a relatively large component there will probably have been considerable stress due to shrinkage of the pcb material during cooling after reflow. A mechanical shock from dropping the remote would make it ping off. John

99% of them are probably fine. This one was in the cold corner of the tray, on a day when all the local a/c units were pulling down the line voltage, or some similar thing. Only have to get 90% to pass the warranty period - you won't even hear about the 10% because it's less hassle to replace the fob than to complain.

Clifford Heath

Probably not. The image is a bit misleading. When the board is in the case, the battery is constrained to be more central in its circuit board slot, and cannot touch the crystal.

Sylvia.

If you say so. Per the picture, the metal shroud on the negative terminal wraps around the wrong side, leaving only the spring to keep the battery from hitting the crystal on impact.

However, assuming the crystal survived, the fix is pretty obvious. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

I suspect that the PCBA is housed in a plastic clam-shell case that may very well have interior molded ribs designed to restrict movement of the battery when the remote is fully assembled.

OK, I've soldered it back, and it works. It remains to be seen whether my soldering is better than the original.

The most difficult aspect was getting it back into its enclosure, which seemed to be designed for assembly in zero-g, by someone with five hands, or something.

Sylvia.

You aren't looking at the case!

That's where they get the lowest labor rates.

It probably dislodged from thermal cycling. Common problem in the auto industry.

Cheers

Correct. This is a common problem with larger parts, like coin cell holders etc. They need more time to heat up so you don't get a cold joint.

I had a digital clock made by a PCB assembler that I got for free at some trade show. Something fell off and I told them about it at the next show I ran into them at and they actually offered to RMA and repair it for me as they were embarassed about it.