Lights Out - Defective LED

[Scrooge_Mcdude]

Hello,

I have a pressure sensory chess computer with defective LEDs.When I press on the square, sometimes it will lit only one LED when indicating a move, so that I will have to take a guess as to what piece, and where it wants to move it. Can anyone please advise what may be wrong and how it can be fixed?

Thanks in advance.

CCWB

[Larry]

Hello,

I have a pressure sensory chess computer with defective LEDs.When I press on the square, sometimes it will lit only one LED when indicating a move, so that I will have to take a guess as to what piece, and where it wants to move it. Can anyone please advise what may be wrong and how it can be fixed?

Thanks in advance.

CCWB

From what you say it seems the computer is still working except for
the bad LED. You need to take the back off and with a soldering iron
melt the solder holding that LED in place. If this does not do the trick
then the LED itself needs to be replaced. A simple enough job, you just
need to take a trip to your local electronics store. The normal size for
chess comp LED's is 5mm.
hope this helps,
Larry
PS An LED is a diode, which means it must go the right way around. If
you don't have a multimeter to test it you might have to do it by trial
and error.
PPS Your handle suggests you intend being in chess computers for some
time. Might pay to get a little bit of equipment, including a multimeter,
some solder, solder flux, a soldering iron, small screwdriver set, long
nose pliers, etc etc.

[Scrooge_Mcdude]

Hello,

I have a pressure sensory chess computer with defective LEDs.When I press on the square, sometimes it will lit only one LED when indicating a move, so that I will have to take a guess as to what piece, and where it wants to move it. Can anyone please advise what may be wrong and how it can be fixed?

Thanks in advance.

CCWB

From what you say it seems the computer is still working except for
the bad LED. You need to take the back off and with a soldering iron
melt the solder holding that LED in place. If this does not do the trick
then the LED itself needs to be replaced. A simple enough job, you just
need to take a trip to your local electronics store. The normal size for
chess comp LED's is 5mm.
hope this helps,
Larry
PS An LED is a diode, which means it must go the right way around. If
you don't have a multimeter to test it you might have to do it by trial
and error.
PPS Your handle suggests you intend being in chess computers for some
time. Might pay to get a little bit of equipment, including a multimeter,
some solder, solder flux, a soldering iron, small screwdriver set, long
nose pliers, etc etc.

Hi Larry,

Thanks for your reply. You're always the first one to respond to my plea for help. I really appreciate that.

Thanks for your suggestion about tools. I actually have them all, and a friend who's got a little knowledge on electronics. As to my handle, I know it's kind of funny but there's a long story to that.

My friend and I tested all the LEDs using a multimeter, and each one works. I also bought the LEDs to replace if any is burnt out. Like I said, it doesn't look like something is wrong with any of the LEDs as each one works. Now we couldn't figure out how to go from there. Any other ideas?

Regards,
Clarion aka CCWB

[Larry]

My friend and I tested all the LEDs using a multimeter, and each one works. I also bought the LEDs to replace if any is burnt out. Like I said, it doesn't look like something is wrong with any of the LEDs as each one works. Now we couldn't figure out how to go from there. Any other ideas?

Regards,
Clarion aka CCWB

When you are using the computer and suspect that an LED should
be lit but is not, press on it with your finger tip, and tap on it also.
Sometimes this makes it light up.

I'm still running with the faulty LED theory. I'm not a technician, nor
do I think I pretend to be one, and am only giving an idea of how I
would be responding to this or any other problem.
Did you melt the solder joint? If this did'nt work, try replacing the
solder joint. You will need a solder remover for this. They are cheap
enough and you will need one anyway for other jobs later. Taking each
of the two solder joints in turn, remove and replace the solder,
remembering to use solder flux.
I'm sugggesting this because the multimeter probe point may be
making a better contact with the LED prongs than the solder is.
Solder joints dry out over time. These old chess comps are often
older
than their owners nowadays so we can hardly blame the manufacturer.
If this does'nt get a good result, then I'm sorry but I'm all out.

regards,
Larry