Date:         Fri, 1 Nov 96 23:53:51 EST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Sean Bartnik <sbart7kb@www.mwc.edu>
Subject:      Oops.  

Well,
Just when I get my sink working well, I go and break the LED panel.
Shoot.  How, you may wonder, did I accomplish this amazing feat?
Simple, I say.  The switch for the panel was very loose, so I removed
the coverplate to investigate.  When you do that, you're faced with a
printed circuit board with LEDs and ICs on it, among other things.
Well, the switch was still loose and the cause was not readily apparent
from there, so I pulled the assembly out a little farther, noticing that
the circuit board is encased in a cheap plastic bin.  Behind this bin
all the wires come out, so you remove the little wire collar there and
you can pull the circuit board out of the plastic bin to see what's
going on behind the board.  While there, i found a cold solder on the
switch, which is the cause of its wiggling.  

Well, not having a soldering iron, I put it back together but now when I
flip the switch, no LEDs.  Hmmmm.  Used to be that you would flip the
switch and the LEDs would come on but as soon as you let go of the
switch, they'd go off.  You know, typical cold solder behavior.  The
jiggle factor.  Well, it was shot before and it's really shot now, tho I
don't know if my poking and prying had anything to do with its other
than speeding the disconnection of the switch from the board (well, it's
still in there and still loose, but I figure I "helped" it some).  

Anyway, seeing as how my sink pump is controlled by the LED panel (yes
it is too -- Haynes even backs me up on this), and now my LED panel
doesn't turn on, neither does my sink.  

So, what I want to ask is if it's worth getting another one of these
panels or trying to have it repaired (it's simple, but it looks like one
of those things VW would charge $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for) or if I
should just wire the pump up to the hot wire directly so the pump is
always available.  I think solution B is better (or at least cheaper)
and will eliminate a lot of goofiness as well.  If this could be
repaired, where would I take it?  Who does soldering nowadays?  

The only useful purpose this panel seems to serve (other than
controlling the water pump) is to indicate battery condition and water
level.  I guess neither of those functions is of dire importance but it
would be nice to have them.  So what do you listies think about the
possibility of repair?  I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who has
had problems with this panel.  

Despite my propensity for breaking things, I'm still really enjoying
this camper :)

Thanks in advance,
Sean