Uniden XC610 cordless phone

[Damien]

My damn cat pissed on the base unit, and it stopped working (the phone
itself is still okay). I pulled it apart, and found burn marks on the PCB,
so it is unquestionably dead. I contacted Uniden about a replacement board,
and they said I need to ship it to an authorised repairer, so they can look
at it and give me a quote on the repairs. That is bullshit. They'll charge
an exorbitant amount to look at it, and then even more to replace the board,
and it'll end up costing as much, if not more, than a brand new phone. All
it needs is for the board to be replaced, no need to ship it anywhere for
that, so why would I pay to have them "fix" it instead? (especially when the
phone itself is fine, it's just the base unit that doesn't work).

Anyway, what I'd like to know is this: is it practical to attempt a repair
myself, or should I just go out and buy a new phone? There's no way I'm
paying them to fix it, and it's completely dead as it is, so I can't make
the problem worse if I stuffed it up. If it would be possible to fix it, my
next question is how do I go about determining just what parts are buggered
and in need of replacement? Any particular tools or items of equipment I
might need? I don't exactly have a lot of experience in such matters, but I
do know the basics - and like I said, I can't stuff it any more than it
already is, so why not use it as a learning experience if nothing else? And
if it works, I get my phone back!

Any assistance much appreciated! TIA.

Damien

 

[Jerry G.]

You would not be able to troubleshoot the board without the proper test
facilities, training, and service manuals. Then you would need the proper
soldering tools to work on SMD type boards. Infact, the manufactures
generally change the complete board, and then do a recalibration (done
mostly by software) to match the board back to the base. Servicing most of
these small type boards at the component level usually does not pay, in
relation to the cost of a complete new board.

As for parts, these manufactures generally do not sell them. They tell you
to ship them the complete phone. When any work is done, the boards have to
be matched calibrated between the base and the handset.

At home there is very little you can do for servicing modern electronic
equipment, unless the fault is simple, and you would have a way to know the
exact damaged parts when required, and they be changeable with simple low
cost soldering tools. For most repairs in low cost equipment such as home
appliances, telephones, and simple audio and TV equipment, complete boards
are changed as modules to keep the servicing cost down.

Out of warranty repairs usually does not pay on low cost appliances.

--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
=========================================


My damn cat pissed on the base unit, and it stopped working (the phone
itself is still okay). I pulled it apart, and found burn marks on the PCB,
so it is unquestionably dead. I contacted Uniden about a replacement board,
and they said I need to ship it to an authorised repairer, so they can look
at it and give me a quote on the repairs. That is bullshit. They'll charge
an exorbitant amount to look at it, and then even more to replace the board,
and it'll end up costing as much, if not more, than a brand new phone. All
it needs is for the board to be replaced, no need to ship it anywhere for
that, so why would I pay to have them "fix" it instead? (especially when the
phone itself is fine, it's just the base unit that doesn't work).

Anyway, what I'd like to know is this: is it practical to attempt a repair
myself, or should I just go out and buy a new phone? There's no way I'm
paying them to fix it, and it's completely dead as it is, so I can't make
the problem worse if I stuffed it up. If it would be possible to fix it, my
next question is how do I go about determining just what parts are buggered
and in need of replacement? Any particular tools or items of equipment I
might need? I don't exactly have a lot of experience in such matters, but I
do know the basics - and like I said, I can't stuff it any more than it
already is, so why not use it as a learning experience if nothing else? And
if it works, I get my phone back!

Any assistance much appreciated! TIA.

Damien

 

[James Sweet]

My damn cat pissed on the base unit, and it stopped working (the phone
itself is still okay). I pulled it apart, and found burn marks on the PCB,
so it is unquestionably dead. I contacted Uniden about a replacement board,
and they said I need to ship it to an authorised repairer, so they can look
at it and give me a quote on the repairs. That is bullshit. They'll charge
an exorbitant amount to look at it, and then even more to replace the board,
and it'll end up costing as much, if not more, than a brand new phone. All
it needs is for the board to be replaced, no need to ship it anywhere for
that, so why would I pay to have them "fix" it instead? (especially when the
phone itself is fine, it's just the base unit that doesn't work).

Anyway, what I'd like to know is this: is it practical to attempt a repair
myself, or should I just go out and buy a new phone? There's no way I'm
paying them to fix it, and it's completely dead as it is, so I can't make
the problem worse if I stuffed it up. If it would be possible to fix it, my
next question is how do I go about determining just what parts are buggered
and in need of replacement? Any particular tools or items of equipment I
might need? I don't exactly have a lot of experience in such matters, but I
do know the basics - and like I said, I can't stuff it any more than it
already is, so why not use it as a learning experience if nothing else? And
if it works, I get my phone back!

Any assistance much appreciated! TIA.

Damien

That sounds completely reasonable, even if they did have new boards, it
would cost as much as a new unit, the plastic casing and other part is only
pennies to manufacture. Where are the burn marks? I haven't seen in that
base station but it could be something simple, however without any
troubleshooting skills you won't get very far.

 

[Damien]

That sounds completely reasonable, even if they did have new boards, it
would cost as much as a new unit, the plastic casing and other part is only
pennies to manufacture. Where are the burn marks? I haven't seen in that
base station but it could be something simple, however without any
troubleshooting skills you won't get very far.

Well, it might be reasonable if the phone were stuffed too, but it's only
the base unit, and there's no way I'll pay the cost of a complete new unit
(ie. phone and base unit together), just to get the base unit alone
repaired. From the sounds of things, I'm probably going to be better off
just to junk the lot and buy a new one, which is what I was expecting
anyway. Still, no reason why I can't have a play with the broken one
anyway - it's not like I can break it any more than it already is!

Damien