Make do and mend...

Bit of maintenance bodge'ry been going on ..

First - as mentioned briefly in the last post I'd noticed that one of the switches on my switch panel wasn't lighting up when clicked on...  I have a simple 6 gang switch panel - for reference this is it - largely vanilla make as multiple manufacturers seem to market it, so I suspect it originates in China somewhere..

I had assumed it might be the respective fuse (each of them has their own fuse in that square holder to the side) but a check of the fuse showed it to be good, and even when I changed it for a new one the switch still wouldn't light up.  

Time to get the voltmeter out then - which showed the individual switch was good and doing what it should do in 'on' and 'off' modes (I compared it to a working one) so the obvious conclusion is that it is nothing more than a failed bulb/LED in the actual switch, which is a pain in the proverbials

New stiches are cheap though, and although it would be nice, the price of these panels seems to have rocketed in the passage of time since I bought the first one - what was twenty quid in 2016 is now thirty five nine years later - besides - I'm not changing the panel for one failed bulb in one switch! 😏

So down the chandlers and £2.50 later I had a new switch (in fact two, as I bought an extra as a spare)

Note - three connectors - gold is the common neutral (on this one) - middle is positive, and then negative for the device you are connecting

Looking at the back of it though, it's not a straight forward swap as the switches are actually soldered into a common negative "bus bar" integral to the panel - to get the switch out, heat had to be applied,  and then the contact gently separated - once you do that (and my gas soldering iron decided not to work on the day so I had to use a lighter 😕) the individual switches then are held in place by plastic clips. Push them in and the whole switch can be pushed out..

Note common bus bar in foreground - all the switches in the panel are connected/soldered to that - offending switch has been removed in this picture..

Offending switch removed..

..new one could then be orientated so that it's the same as the other switches (so that all of them are in "on" or "off" in the same direction ...  OCD? me? I think not.. 😏) and then you can wire it in. 

Now in an ideal world, where your gas powered soldering iron was working, that would be easy... but in this case an alternative solution had to be arrived at until I can get to mains power source for another soldering attempt. In my case a small spur cable from the main negative with a spade terminal for the new switch - shame it was red but I didn't have any black cable with me so it was "make do and mend"

...and then with positive attached it was time for a test - and the switch lit up.. job's a good 'un..  

New one a slightly different style but it works...

That done it was time to move on to other things...  you may have heard me mentioning that the washboards will need attention/replacement this coming winter as they are beginning to reach the end of their natural lives - by far the worst is the lower one..

The wet got in last winter and the top surface delaminated - I had dried it out as best I could, and then given it multiple coats of paint but it was clear it was getting worse so a stop gap solution was needed to get me to the end of the season without further deterioration...

I had toyed with multiple ideas - more paint, epoxy/filler, epoxy cloth, plastic wood - but in the end went with a simple solution..

Uggghh...

..a good rub down with sanding paper, and then UPVC stuck down with a thick (gap filling) adhesive - with the washboard in I drew a line down the edge of the beading it sits in, slapped the unguent on  (extra for the pitting area) and then stuck some plastic card I had on top, slid it round a little to ensure all edges were sealed, weighted it down and left it to dry..

..once done  the entire board got a couple of coats of paint..

...and I'm surprised how good it looks - time will tell...