I also recommend Richard Oehm because he has provided excellent service to me
on several Optacons and a Blazie Braille 'N' Speak. One characteristic I
appreciate about Richard is that he will consider any good information a user
can provide him by way of basic troubleshooting processes. I once had an
Optacon which would run while plugged into a charger but die in less than a
minute once unplugged; also the battery charger became warmer than usual. I
gave him that information and indicated that I thought that the battery had an
internal short on one of its cells. When he received the unit, he confirmed
that I had given him good information: The battery was indeed bad. The
charger was getting warmer than usual because more current than normal was
being drawn from it. The charger hadn't been damaged, but the fact that it got
a bit warmer than usual was consistent with the bad battery which he found and
replaced for me.
I mention the above information because I have known in the past of technicians
servicing electronic equipment who think that we don't know anything about the
equipment because we are blind. With my years of handling many pieces of
electronics, I can often have an idea on what might be wrong with a unit. I
also know "when to quit!" When not to take something apart and fool around
inside it. One important lesson I learned about what NOT to take apart
happened years ago when I began taking an old wind-up alarm clock apart. As I
removed the last screw in one area, there was a sort of buzzing, whining sound
and a snap as some gears fell out. My jeweler friend told me that I was
fortunate in not getting a bad cut because the mainspring which I had
inadvertently released spun out with an edge like a blade! I thought one day
of taking a bad microwave oven apart out of curiosity; but one of my close
friends in electronics dissuaded me from that one by telling me that there was
a very dangerous capacitor inside that could hold a charge of 1000 volts for
days. I heard of a person in our town who was electrocuted when he opened up a
power supply to a desktop PC in an attempt to repair it. Though he had
unplugged it, the high-voltage charge on a capacitor "took him out!"
So I have never opened up the case of an Optacon or Blazie Braille 'N' Speak or
the power supply on a PC. After troubleshooting one of those devices as best I
can "from the outside," I'm ready to send it to someone who really knows what
he is doing; and Richard Oehm really knows his stuff!
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf
Of Rob Armstrong
Sent: Monday, January 25, 2021 3:46 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Optacon Repair
If you are in the US, I recommend:
Richard Oehm E-mail: oehmelec@xxxxxxxxxxx
He is in California. He replaced the battery in my optacon a few years ago.
He did a thorough cleaning and replaced some parts in the battery charger
because it wasn't charging the battery.
Rob
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf
Of Howard Traxler
Sent: Monday, January 25, 2021 4:32 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Optacon Repair
Does anyone repair optacons any more? If so, have you had experience with them
and can say how they did? I have a newer one that's giving me some trouble and
would like to get it fixed.
Thanks.
Howard
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