Mine has small blobs of solder on #5 and #6 but nothing connecting them.

Nice, useful photo Phil

Virgil

so 5 and 6 get tied together and 7 gets the wire antenna? also, 7 looks like it's connected to 6? how does this company get away with stating the range that they do when it's a fraction of that?

quote:

Originally posted by Phil S:
Has anyone gotten a replacement since Darren became aware of this thread? According to my Delivery Confirmation, they received my return on Aug 4.

I emailed Darren on Friday asking for an update on my unit that I mailed to him on 8/5/05. He received the unit, confirmed that it had no antenna, and cc'd someone named Sandra who will be sending out a replacement unit. No word from Sandra yet as to when to expect the new unit.

Thanks Gary B for the reply and thanks to Phil S for the photo. Both clear up my confusion.

I think mine has a component between 5 and 6, but my memory being what it is, I'm going to open it up again and make sure.

It's interesting in Phil S's new photo that there is solder on 5 and 6, but no component. Wonder if the soldering machine ran out of components, but just kept on soldering away.

I have to wonder why there would be solder on 5&6 but no apparent reason for it. Has anyone with good range found anything on these pads?

Hi Phil
I took 20ga solid and put it in the #7 hole and my reception has picked up from my back porch to sofa-25ft to all the way thru the house and into the front yard about 60ft thru 2walls and a door.It seems to help.I used a real fine ga solder so i wouldn't have a lot of runaway solder.I drilled a hole in the top of the case and fed the wire out the top. seems to have worked as i'm getting a lot more updates than i used to.

hope this helps
Jeff

FWIW my receiver already had a 10" (measured it) black wire soldered to 5,6 and 7. I'd say that wire is 18-20g.

My new unit had 15' line of site. I made a poor attempt at adding an antenna and pulled one battery wire loose. With no iron to fix, mine is going back.

I contacted Maverick and was told to return attn: Darren Keller. I told them I was from TVWB and we were wondering what the overall status was. Here is what I was told.

They have identified the problem as a manufacturing problem. The problem has been corrected and they are investigating on how the problem occurred in the first place. She assured me my new unit would work properly.

I asked if Darren or someone could get on the forum and post a status for everyone and that it would go a long ways in restoring some faith in the company. She asked for the site address and I gave it to her. Maybe they will follow up with us.

Sandy has had the site address for weeks.

As I understand, someone there will have to register before being able to post anything. Do they know this?

Maybe they need some hand-holding to get through this first step?

Virgil

Can any one point me to a How To on soldering? Also, where might one get the wire we are talking about, and what guage has been decided to be the best one?

I like to tinker but have never soldered.

PS- -My Maverick won't make it up stairs to my bedroom- -probably 20 feet away with a perfect line of sight through a window to the smoker. But it will work 10 feet away in the kitchen through a glass door to the back deck with no real problem. But like others, I really want it to work in my bedroom, so I can sleep, trusting it to wake me up if the temps need adjusting. Thanks!

Hey Wade
I got mine from radioshack.The wire is specificallyu 2oga that will fit in the hole.I used a 15watt soldering iron and .032 dia solder this way the iron isn't to hot and the solder flows easily but not to much.There are simple soldering directions usally with a new iron.

Hope this helps
Jeff

Let me ask a pregnant question....

What would happen if I open my unit and it has the factory installed antenna (I get decent range, I just haven't checked yet) and I installed a 2nd external wire, similar to Shawn's mod?

Isn't two always better than one? (except for wives and bosses. hmm... hard to distinguish between those two sometimes.)

Perhaps one of you radio frequency rocket scientists can answer that one.

Wade, you don't even have to worry about the soldering. The hole is .032 inches diameter. I had a piece of 18 guage copper wire handy and just filed the end of it down a bit until it fit snugly into the hole. (20 guage is a bit loose) Then I ran the wire out one of the side holes where the plastic stand clamps to the side. Worked great. Improved my range tremendously.

Virgil

After all this fuss which is an obvious flaw in their QA. I simply cannot believe that Maverick is not paying for the RMA / shipping of their faulty product. This leaves a real bad impression on me and ...well... I'll leave it at that.

I tend to agree on the shipping issue and told Darren as much. What might be a bigger issue is are they recalling all of the flawed units at the various stores in their current inventories.

Yeah, I agree too. The whole things seems pretty bogus to me. Even if you disregard the QA issue which is kind of out of mavericks control (even though it IS ultimately their responsibility. Who engineered this thing? I mean get down to the basics, the antenna isn't even the correct length... What else inside of thiis plastic box isn't correct? I bet if it was manufactured as originally engineered it would work much better. I finally got mine to work to my satisfaction, but I'm pretty soured by the fact that we all had to dig inside of these things to make it work correctly.

Anton

Virgil, how long a wire did you use and did you wrap it around the inside of the circuit board before pushing it out the hole?

quote:

Originally posted by Virgil Berry:
Wade, you don't even have to worry about the soldering. The hole is .032 inches diameter. I had a piece of 18 guage copper wire handy and just filed the end of it down a bit until it fit snugly into the hole. (20 guage is a bit loose) Then I ran the wire out one of the side holes where the plastic stand clamps to the side. Worked great. Improved my range tremendously.

Virgil

6 1/2 inches. Bare. I just brought it to the right(as you face the circuit board) and straight out the place where the back has a notch for the clamp-on plastic stand. I then bent the wire upward like a typical outside antenna. As you face the unit, the wire sticks up on the left side, outside.

Because my wire was bare, I made sure it was not touching anything on the circuit board other than the hole I stuck it in.

Virgil

Virgil
Would it help (or hinder) to get a insulated/shielded 18 guage wire (also assuming copper?), and just cut off the insulation around the part going in the hole?

I thought one of the pictures from one mod had grey rubbery looking insulation on it.

Would Home Depot have the 18 guage copper wire?

Thanks

Probably much better to have insulated wire, less chance of shorting out against the board. My copper wire happened to be a roll of bare wire for tying, etc, not for electrical work, but it was the closest in size I had to the hole. I'll probably fix it with some insulated wire later.

HD should have 18 gauge. Or Ace Hdwe, Lowe's etc. It's a common size, though maybe not so common for electrical use, and so they may not have insulated wire of that size. I just don't know 'cause I don't shop around for that stuff much any more.

Virgil