BCD396T "No Battery"

[linuxwrangler]

My BCD396T wouldn't work this morning (on battery) - completely dead. I tried another set of batteries. Nada.

I recharged (externally) both sets and tried again this evening. Nada.

Tried on the AC adapter. Works fine.

Switched the switch from alkaline to rechargeable, inserted the batteries and plugged in the adapter. Works fine but when turned off displays "No Battery".

There is no corrosion or visible physical problem with the battery connections. They are firm and clean.

Any ideas?

 

[slicerwizard]

Take it apart and look for cracked traces, bad solder joints or burnt components; I'd power it off batteries only (via clip leads) and trace how far the power gets.

 

[linuxwrangler]

Take it apart and look for cracked traces, bad solder joints or burnt components; I'd power it off batteries only (via clip leads) and trace how far the power gets.

Yeah, that may be where I'm headed but I won't have time to look at it till probably next week.

Or I may just send it in for rejuvenation. While I like the 396 overall, it has some serious weaknesses. Literally.

As I've griped previously, the earphone jack is a total joke. Who in their right mind thought that a flimsy jack surface-mounted directly to the board was a good idea? In spite of stress-isolating the jack with a loop wire-tied to the antenna, it is still back to flaking out periodically just a few months after my last re-soldering. And since the jack itself has a hairline crack, the speaker doesn't work at all.

It's not like I abuse my equipment - I'm pretty careful with the things I own. But this is supposedly designed to live on someone's belt which is where mine lives 99% of the time and whenever it's on my belt I use an earpiece. Anything hanging on a belt will periodically have people/things brush against it. Robust design would take that into account.

So perhaps I should just bite the bullet and get it all fixed at once.