the importance of truly clean contacts

[William Sommerwerck]

The following might be of interest. More likely it will provoke a "Duh. I
knew that." response.

Since last July, I've had occasional problems with my cell phone's charger.
The plug sometimes refused to make stable contact. The other day it got so
bad I couldn't charge the phone.

I stopped by the nearest Sprint office, and was given the runaround by two
smiling b****es. They had no replacement chargers, nor could they order one.
But they would be perfectly happy to sell me a new phone. I told them this
was unacceptable -- and illegal -- but they wouldn't budge. Oh, and they
didn't have the adapter that would allow them to download the phone's
contents to a new phone. "We don't stock that." Naturally.

The charger's plug was dirty and appeared slightly bent. One of the Bs took
it to the tech, who cleaned it. The cleaning did no good. (I could see only
a minor reduction in the crud.) I left the store contemplating various forms
of legally permissible revenge. (I intend to visit the nearby police station
and get their views on such things.)

I decided to give the plug a proper cleaning with DeOxit. It removed almost
all the schmutz. I also put DeOxit on the cleaned plug and shoved it into
the jack for a while. (This helps remove junk you can't directly reach.)

Needless to say, the charger is now working much better. It's not perfect,
but it's reliable enough. (I've ordered a charger that connects to the
phone's 18-pin interface jack.)

The moral of this? I guess it's that because the bottle's label reads
"contact cleaner", doesn't mean it really cleans contacts.

 

[William Sommerwerck]

Er, does all this not actually point to the phone being the problem
rather than the charger?

Excellent question. The fact that properly cleaning plug resolved most --
though not all -- of the problem suggests that both and plug and jack have
problems.

The possibility that the jack is not in the best of shape is why I bought a
charger that works through the 18-pin interface.

 

[[email protected]]

The following might be of interest. More likely it will provoke a "Duh. I
knew that." response.

Since last July, I've had occasional problems with my cell phone's charger.
The plug sometimes refused to make stable contact. The other day it got so
bad I couldn't charge the phone.

I stopped by the nearest Sprint office, and was given the runaround by two
smiling b****es. They had no replacement chargers, nor could they order one.
But they would be perfectly happy to sell me a new phone. I told them this
was unacceptable -- and illegal -- but they wouldn't budge. Oh, and they
didn't have the adapter that would allow them to download the phone's
contents to a new phone. "We don't stock that." Naturally.

The charger's plug was dirty and appeared slightly bent. One of the Bs took
it to the tech, who cleaned it. The cleaning did no good. (I could see only
a minor reduction in the crud.) I left the store contemplating various forms
of legally permissible revenge. (I intend to visit the nearby police station
and get their views on such things.)

I decided to give the plug a proper cleaning with DeOxit. It removed almost
all the schmutz. I also put DeOxit on the cleaned plug and shoved it into
the jack for a while. (This helps remove junk you can't directly reach.)

Needless to say, the charger is now working much better. It's not perfect,
but it's reliable enough. (I've ordered a charger that connects to the
phone's 18-pin interface jack.)

The moral of this? I guess it's that because the bottle's label reads
"contact cleaner", doesn't mean it really cleans contacts.

There's a reason Motorola used gold on the charger and battery
contacts of their public service radios - no corrosion, no oxidation,
extremely low resistance contacts.

 

[William Sommerwerck]

It may also suggest that cleaning the plug also indirectly cleaned the

jack, which was the culprit all along.
Which may have been what the "smiling b****es" were trying to tell you,
but you wouldn't listen.

I'm supposed to pay attention to people who are trained /not/ to help the
customer? All /they/ told me was "We can't help you -- unless you want to
throw away this phone and buy a new one." I'm supposed to respect that?

Don't blame the victim.

I was fully aware /before/ I went in that the problem could have been with
the charger, the jack, or both. They were unable to provide a substitute
charger, which would have clarified where the problem lay. Whose fault was
that?

 

[William Sommerwerck]

But you might have paid attention to the fact that they know the product,

and quite probably know more about the problem than you do.
This is probably not the first time they have experienced this.

These people /know nothing/.

How many years of experience does it take to know that /any/ jack/plug
interface is subject to wear, tear, and breakdown? You have to study
advanced engineering at MIT to learn that, don't you?

The problem is that they did not have replacement parts -- which is required
by law -- and they had nothing on hand to confirm or deny my diagnosis of
"bad charger". (I did tell them that it wasn't clear whether the charger,
the phone, or both, were at fault.) And if I'd bought a new phone, they
couldn't transfer the data on the old phone.

ALL THEY COULD OFFER was "Throw it away and buy a new one. We don't give a
damn about your having to trash a working phone, or that you'll lose
everything on the phone, and have to re-enter it by hand."

Dig?

 

[William Sommerwerck]

PS: I had an odd problem with my HP 4530s notebook. When I called over the
weekend for help, I was treated courteously by someone who listened to what
I had to say, and told me that other people had had the same problem. So
don't tell me I don't know how to treat people.

When I have a problem, I expect the people assisting me to pretty much bend
over backwards. I do not expect lame excuses, and if I get them, I tell the
people how I feel.

 

[Franc Zabkar]

As a side biz, I resell used cell phones.
....

On the other foot, any phone that uses an 18 pin connect has to be at
least 10 years old. I can see why the Sprint people didn't want to
deal with it. The average lifetime of a cell phone is about 18 months
(30 months for a smartphone). You might want to consider an upgrade.

Some might see an inconsistency here. ;-)

- Franc Zabkar

 

[Franc Zabkar]

I decided to give the plug a proper cleaning with DeOxit.

I use Philips 390CCS contact cleaner. It fixes most of these kinds of
problems.

Otherwise, if the contacts are large enough and flat enough, I use a
cotton bud and Brasso metal polish.

- Franc Zabkar

 

[William Sommerwerck]

On Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:41:38 -0700, "William Sommerwerck"

I know everything.

A fair number of phones use an 18 pin connector:
http://pinouts.ru/pin_CellularPhones-A-N.shtml.

As a side biz, I resell used cell phones. The most common problem
with the big wide 18 pin connector is pocket lint, dirt, and general
crud in the telephone end of the connector. The telephone end has
gold wire contacts, which are easily buried under the crud. A blast
of air, and a stiff acid brush with some alcohol or 409 cleaner is
usually sufficient. The charger end also gets dirty, but since it's
less likely to be carried in the pocket or used to stir crud, it tends
to remain cleaner than the phone. Same fix as the phone. Use
an acid brush and some cleaner.

In my case, the opposite is true. The charger plug got shmutzik, the
connector remained clean.

There is also the problem of the contact wires getting bent out of
line. These wires are held loosely in place by a plastic frame. The
problem is that walls of the frame are rather flimsy and can be
trashed by inserting the connector backwards, stepping on the
charger connector, or trying to fix the connector with a blunt
instrument. Once the wires are bent, it is rather difficult to return
them to their original position.

You can usually tell if it's clean enough with a big magnifying glass,
microscope, or USB closeup camera.

That wasn't what I was talking about, but I appreciate your filling in the
details. Good to know

Rub and scrape please. Your clothes don't wash themselves by simple
immersion. I would not expect connectors to clean themselves by
simply applying some magic cleaner. You need to rub, scrape, and
agitate the cleaner over the connector. Your clothes also don't stay
clean if you forget to rinse afterwards. Try to blow out as much
cleaner as possible, and then add more to rinse out what's left.
Most cleaners just soften the goo, which must then be removed.

DeOxit comes pretty close to being a "magic" cleaner. It does most of the
work.

On the other foot, any phone that uses an 18 pin connect has to be
at least 10 years old. I can see why the Sprint people didn't want to
deal with it. The average lifetime of a cell phone is about 18 months
(30 months for a smartphone). You might want to consider an upgrade.

Well, this phone is slightly less than six years old. Sprint (or Samsung) is
legally obliged to deal with it. I have no desire for an upgrade.

My Palm T3 PDA was purchased at Christmas, 2003. Except for a new battery
(replaced in January, 2012), it's working perfectly. Why should I get a new
one (or a smartphone) if this one meets my needs?

Part of the issue is that huge pile of electronic trash generated when
products become "obsolete" so soon after their introduction.

 

[Archon]

The following might be of interest. More likely it will provoke a "Duh. I
knew that." response.

Since last July, I've had occasional problems with my cell phone's charger.
The plug sometimes refused to make stable contact. The other day it got so
bad I couldn't charge the phone.

I stopped by the nearest Sprint office, and was given the runaround by two
smiling b****es. They had no replacement chargers, nor could they order one.

smiling b****es?

Nope, don't get that one.............my crossword dictionary didn't help
either. bullies? baldies? blondes? not going to get mad at smiling
blondes eh?
JC

 

[William Sommerwerck]

On 4/11/2012 1:41 PM, William Sommerwerck wrote:

Biddies, or perhaps budgies in a variation of a Monty Python sketch.

A budgie (budgerigar) is a kind of parrot. (Americans call them parakeets.)
They might as well have been dead parrots for all the help they provided.

 

[William Sommerwerck]

I used to see drum type TV tuners that had been cleaned with Brasso.

They were nice shiny brass, after the silver plating was removed by the
Brasso. They worked great for about two weeks. Then they had to buy a
new tuner.

Reminds me of travelling "dentists" applying acid to people's teeth to
whiten them. Not long after, the teeth rotted away.

 

[William Sommerwerck]

Immersion in some insolvent often helps...

So I shove the phone down the throat of a bankrupt person?

 

[Franc Zabkar]

I used to see drum type TV tuners that had been cleaned with Brasso.
They were nice shiny brass, after the silver plating was removed by the
Brasso. They worked great for about two weeks. Then they had to buy a
new tuner.

Thanks for that.

I just checked the instructions on my Brasso can.

All it states is that it is "for polishing Brass, Copper, Steel, etc".

I also have a can of silver polish whose instructions warn that it
should not be used on silver or gold plated items.

- Franc Zabkar

 

[Franc Zabkar]

If you have a problem with me refurbishing old phones ...

Not at all. In fact I think it's admirable.

In fact I'm typing this on a 14-year-old Win98SE box.

- Franc Zabkar

 

[josephkk]

But you might have paid attention to the fact that they know the product,
and quite probably know more about the problem than you do.
This is probably not the first time they have experienced this.

I kind of suspect you went in there with an attitude they did not
appreciate, suggesting you know more about this fault than they do, hence
them giving you "the runaround".


Can't say I blame them, if that is indeed the case.

I suspect that you give the phone store salesbots way too much credit. I
have dealt with such several times, and anything faintly resembling some
sort of technical competence beyond showing how to use all the fancy smart
phone features is seriously frowned upon my management (it doesn't sell
phones). Think about the structure of the "market".

 

[josephkk]

No, your problem is you do not know how to interact with people effectively.

You storm in, having "diagnosed" the problem already, but the people youare
trying to convince know you are wrong and clueless.
You then demand a replacement part, which they don't have, and are quite
sure you do not need, because they know far more about this problem thanyou
do.

I suspect you then belittle them with your apparent and incorrect "superior
knowledge", at which point they pretty much say (internally) "f**k you
as****e, come back when you have learnt to be a bit more civil, I'm not
helping you now, even though I can".


Your loss, I'm afraid.


Gareth.

The store personnel were actively driving away a network customer. Do you
really think management would continuously tolerate such mulish behavior
in salesbots?

 

[josephkk]

PS: I had an odd problem with my HP 4530s notebook. When I called over the
weekend for help, I was treated courteously by someone who listened to what
I had to say, and told me that other people had had the same problem. So
don't tell me I don't know how to treat people.

When I have a problem, I expect the people assisting me to pretty much bend
over backwards. I do not expect lame excuses, and if I get them, I tell the
people how I feel.

Expecting them to bend over backwards is a 1950s and earlier approach. Nor
do i tolerate lame excuses. I do require civility and appropriate
responses as limited by the employer (who often has a specific interest in
non-servicability of the [already obsolete when you bought it] product).

?-)

 

[josephkk]

You can reduce the silver sulphide back to silver metal using a bit of
aluminum foil and some sodium carbonate solution. Works great on badly
tarnished silverware, and doesn't leave big copper splodges the way
polish does. (Polish contains abrasive.)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

I'll remember that one.

?-)

 

[William Sommerwerck]

You can reduce the silver sulphide back to silver metal using

I'll remember that one.
?-)

The poster is correct. I have a kit with a large aluminum plate. You put it
and the silverware in a hot washing soda solution, and the tarnish goes
away.