Marine GPS repair

[Alan Springthorpe]

I have a Lowrance Globalnav310 in for repair.
The fault doesnt seem to be much of a problem but it defies me to even open
up the case. The only way in that i can figure is almost certainly going to
seiously compomise its water resistance. therefore making it virtualy
useless for the job its designed to do.
The manual downloadable from the Lowrance site was as expected an "how to
plug it in and what buttons to press thing", hence useless!
It is of course way out of guarantee and marine electronics companies are
notorious for the line "we dont support our old product lines. would you
like to buy a new one?"
has anyone any suggestions?
thanks in advance

Alan

 

[Dennis Gibbons]

I hate to say it, but older electronics are not worth repairing. They are
the disposable lighters of our time. Your are correct about compromising
the water seal with any attempt to repair. Look in any catalog and you will
be shocked at how inexpensive a new (and better) GPS is. A repairman could
not charge little enough to make a repair competitive.

 

[Alan Springthorpe]

the fault is probably the most common this item suffers. the button you get
to press after every other button is pressed. the enter button is duff. i
know i can fix it easy because i have lots of other bits from similar rubber
keypads. then again it might just need contacts cleaning!
accessing the switch is the problem, the front facia is acrylic and its
glued on with what i'd guess is not to different to black witch, a wetsuit
glue! if i could get the glue to give i'd get somewhere with it.
tried heat. that usualy works, i did wonder if i was just not heating it
enough.
actualy the problem with fixing old electronics is that the customers cant
believe the bull for doing the job. they will pay a car mech a fortune for
an hours work that took 10mins but if the thing is cheap to replace why pay
to fix. the money is in fixing stuff that costs a fortune to
replace............
thanks for the reply
Alan

 

[Bill Andersen]

First, your GPS isn't working and you can't get it repaired so you have
nothing to lose in trying to fix it yourself. If you are lucky enough to be
able to open the case without too much damage to it, find the problem and
repair it, you can seal the case with silicone seal when you're done.
Second, a new GPS isn't that expensive.

 

[Alan Springthorpe]

damn, wish i'd read that before trying to get in:-(
this one works but the button you use all the time, the enter key, has given
up on us:-(
got to be an easy fix but getting in is an awesome problem
thanks for reply
Alan