Cambridge Audio GO for £25 on eBay | What could go wrong?

I picked up this GO V2 bluetooth speaker for £25 inc. postage. It was sold as faulty, with no power.
Sure enough, it was accurately described, and didn't turn on. What they neglected to mention is that someone with fat fingers had already been poking around inside it...
Let's see if we can get it working again...
Hope you enjoy!
Steve
PS. I'm not an expert in repairs at all. I do this for fun, and it may not be the best or safest way to go about repairing broken stuff. I'm pretty good at melting plastic though. Please don't copy me - I'm an idiot.
SUPPORT ME on PATREON: bit.ly/ssf-patreon
ONE-OFF DONATIONS: www.paypal.me/...
MERCH: stezstixfix.com
AMAZON WISH LIST: bit.ly/ssf-wish
SUBSCRIBE HERE: bit.ly/ssf-sub
FOLLOW ME on Facebook: bit.ly/ssf-fbook
If you want to make a device donation to the channel, please use the following PO Box. PLEASE NOTE that this is not a repair service, and all items are non-returnable.
PO BOX ADDRESS: StezStix Fix?, PO Box 415, BOLTON, BL4 4AZ
Please only use this service if you are a UK resident and using Royal Mail, otherwise they'll probably lose it.
Some of the magic things I use to break stuff;
My soldering iron: UK amzn.to/2Isf360 US amzn.to/3dfq8Xe
My hot air station: UK amzn.to/3kPxaBQ US amzn.to/3xo0SoM
My microscope: UK amzn.to/2VP3msU US amzn.to/3DmDgED
My desoldering gun that goes "moo": UK amzn.to/3HHt73P US amzn.to/3QHJOkb
My multimeter: UK amzn.to/2LjBgnN US amzn.to/3qEiSHy
My blue mat: UK amzn.to/48ZgkI8 US amzn.to/3LcZUkI
Filming equipment;
My camera: UK amzn.to/38IdR7s US amzn.to/3BiwyNg
My 2nd camera: UK amzn.to/3Rfjn6U US amzn.to/3BGOB1i
My microphone: UK amzn.to/3rCriPc US amzn.to/3QJwWtS
VOS's mic: UK amzn.to/3pz2c1L US amzn.to/3Lc7aO1
Links are affiliated where possible to help support the channel. Nice.

[@StezStixFix]

Stupid Spoiler Saver... Nothing to see here.

[@bufordmaddogtannen]

Stupid crack. I was expecting you to use solder braid to repair the larger tracks though...

[@andrewgrant6516]

The comment displayed on the bottom left is the one after the pinned comment, so I'm not sure you're avoiding any spoilers.

[@emmettturner9452]

Use hot melt on the crushed domes. Once cool, pop the dents and release with rubbing alcohol.

[@ShouldHaveBeen]

​@@emmettturner9452There are better ways and using a vacuum with low suction is an industry standard.

[@eightbitriddle]

found this exact speaker in an ewaste bin and it was broken in the exact same way. the battery did in fact come that way originally

[@thadofalltrades]

The vacuum to mostly pull out those domes was quite ingenious

[@main_rouge]

it's a well knows trick (you can also just use you mouth and go "pop") but I highly recommend to start first with some adhesive tape, much less destructive and usually gives better results In his case though tape probably wouldn't be enough with how damaged they were

[@simonupton-millard]

I will have to remember that trick, I am guessing the previous owner was a teen who hated treble just wanted the bass

[@ettcha]

😂 My mind was blown! But I imagine using your hand to control suction is critical to avoid ripping the domes off (some vacuums have a function to reduce suction force but that might still be too much)

[@ShouldHaveBeen]

As soon as a tweeter gets crushed in like that then the true audio quality is compromised. While I highly recommend pulling the membrane back out as opposed to just throwing it away or spending money on new tweeters. The tweeter can never be same. It's worth spending money on new tweeters if it's an expensive/high quality speaker. Using a vacuum is the industry standard as it doesn't leave residue and no direct contact needs to be made.

[@RennieAsh]

Vacuum is ok but sometimes you need more stick. Like blutack, or "alien tape" . But need to know how much force you can use

[@zorko8920]

"I don’t know what I’m doing and I am an idiot", spoken like a true professional. Thank you Steve 🎉 that is now my new moto in life.

[@graham9642]

He needs to put that out on a T=shirt

[@Satwamassive]

"These batteries are quite dangerous.....but I don't care" 🤣🤣

[@scottbaylo]

I’m also in the “self proclaimed stupid idiots club for moronic jerks”, and I’m always surprised whenever I find someone who openly admits that they’re dumb… not sure if this is even a genuine admission, or just self deprecating humor? But if it is genuine, we really need to get this group going… maybe weekly meetings are in order?

[@johnny_fomo]

Beware anyone who declares themselves anything else

[@VenturiLife]

The more you know, you realize the less you know.

[@tomf1dublin1]

About 10 years ago I was browsing ads and someone was selling a Cambridge Minx ( bigger and a lot more powerful version of what you got) . We agreed 90 euro and met the guy on dark winter night in car park of small town - dodgy as hell. Turned out the guy was fantastic and he explained he had bought it for 450 euro at the time. Took it out of box and wife said “ what’s that I don’t like the look of it , it’s not staying in my kitchen”. He never even turned it on. Put it back in box . Wrapped it all up and sold it to me for the 90 euro. I could not believe my luck. I still have it and still as good as day I got it . Play it every day and sound is incredible . Best thing I ever got from an ad.

[@TimpBizkit]

Surely that's within the returns window?

[@raphanunu6912]

He'd better try to sell his wife, or give her !

[@Ea-Nasir_Copper_Co]

@@raphanunu6912Nah, it's not a great idea to put random electronics in a kitchen anyway. Too much aerosolized grease in the air.

[@raphanunu6912]

@@Ea-Nasir_Copper_Co ???

[@neilbarnett3046]

Not long after we moved into this house, we saw an advert for a pair of Wharfedale E70 speakers. Long story short, we still have them, still sound as good as ever, to our (aging) ears. That was 1981...

[@BrentBlueAllen]

Zip-tied before testing? Someone was mighty confident in their repair

[@richie4421]

Hey Steve! I’m going through a bit of a mental health slump at the moment and also struggling to sleep. Your videos really help me to find focus and relax my mind in the wee hours. Just wanted to say thank you :)

[@williamevans9426]

Hang on in there - many of us know what you're going through, and it can be a real bu***r, can't it?

[@JViello]

Hang in there Richie. The world has gone mad right now, it's not all you. Many of us are struggling these days. (Especially MEN.) Almost seems to be by design. You are not alone, and you will be okay. Remember those two things.

[@williamevans9426]

@@JViello ... and, richie4421, do please reach out to someone, even if it's a helpline in your geographical area. I bottled things up for years and experienced consequences I'd not wish on anyone. Learn from those like me - and, it seems, JViello - that taking that first step really is the hardest thing to do, and remember that there are people who genuinely care about you, even if it might not seem that way right now. With very best wishes from Oxford, UK.

[@abz2000123]

I pray that Almighty God heals you and guides you along the straightest path and that your scales at judgement are easy.

[@rickymansfield5487]

Yup. Same. These kinds of videos are oddly calming. It's like you get the zen experience without the frustration of having the little wire pop over onto the other trace while you're trying to solder it.

[@marcbastien6054]

Bought mine in 2014, it kinda died during the pandemic, so I changed the batteries , put in 3000 mah batteries, just enough space for them and the unit is running great since then! Still my everyday radio and bluetooth speaker . By the way, your tweeter repair skills are impressive!

[@DamajaCJ]

Any info/link on the battery you got as replacement pls? 🙏🏼

[@benwinter2420]

Spring is coming For I smell the stench Of a new flu campaign Kochs postulates Lacking

[@thedadbodbiker]

When I need to bridge a broken board like that I typically use solder wick fully saturated, bridges easier and is very strong 👍 brilliant content as usual 👌

[@kaelin000]

I *KNEW* there was a use forr that stuff :P

[@incub8]

YES! 💯 Solder wick -- I have done something similar in the past.

[@andreaseinsiedler3538]

i also use small solder wick to repair smd level traces and once saved an transformer where the lead broke near the winding with a piece of solder wick too

[@RichardMartinke6rji]

Yeah, solder wick works good!

[@Wardyworlds]

I have a track repair kit, it's just loads of various width copper tracks coated in solder, just tin the damaged track and put the repair track on, job done in seconds and barely noticeable apart from the green resistance fluid being a darker green than the resistance coating on the PCB.

[@KonjonoAwesome]

Protected lithium ion cells will shut off the battery's output when the pack voltage drops below a certain voltage. That board in the battery pack probably has a battery protection IC on it that disconnects the battery below 9 volts or so. You have to apply a charging voltage above a certain level to reset the protection circuit.

[@paulsengupta971]

I came here to say this. The battery is probably fine for that reason.

[@bfelten1]

@@paulsengupta971 Me too. The zero reading on the cable showed that the protection circuit worked well, it didn't even leak enough current to get a multimeter reading, which means that it could have been connected for years without being destroyed. The USB charger voltage was far from enough to overcome the protection. Once the proper voltage was applied it took off from the protection voltage very slowly, so with some patience, at least two hours with one amp charging, it'd been up and running as new. Total wasted effort...

[@MikeSchmidt969]

@@bfelten1 As was your post, considering the one you responded to explained all of that more concisely.

[@Flodis]

Came here to say this. I was almost shouting at the screen when he started taking the battery apart!

[@stinkycheese804]

@@paulsengupta971 Except no, "probably" isn't good enough when the potential alternative is a fire. The protection boards on Li-Ion packs don't just cut off at a certain voltage on a whim, on the contrary the manufacturer would love to have longer runtime at no addt'l battery cost if all they had to do was let the voltage drop more before the cutoff point. It's a pretty universal thing, battery protect for Li-Ion packs and trust me that you do not know better than the engineers who put these protection circuits into ALL safely designed implementations - safely until someone ignorant, trys to bypass that and recharge cells that are discharged too low and damaged as a result.

[@jochenrudiger]

Someone may please explain to me why I enjoy watching this guy fixing different stuff so much. It is the kind of education I really enjoy, entertaining and always interesting. He makes me want to learn fixing stuff. You and thecod3r are the two repair channels I really enjoy. Best wishes from Germany.

[@Okurka.]

I may explain to you why you enjoy watching this guy fixing different stuff so much. Because it is the kind of education you really enjoy, entertaining and always interesting.

[@vernonzehr]

Another channel on KZbin showed a movie called "The Brain". An increasingly popular TV show brainwashes its viewers with a giant living brain. I am almost certain something similar is happening here.

[@jochenrudiger]

@@Okurka. You may be correct. Cheers, mate. 🍷

[@Martyn-ey9lw]

An excellent repair channel well worth watching is "Buy it Fix it"

[@theblackswan84]

i enjoy it cause he's adorable to me. I know nothing of electronics. But everytime i learn something with his way to fix it with trial and error. He has a lovely humor and positive attitude. i believe lots of people watch even if they don't understand electronics.

[@JS-bf9dw]

I have only the highest admiration for people who can fix things. Subscribed!

[@sbarncar]

it's the process of elimination.

[@ANTandTEC]

I did the same repair on a Philips 8833 monitor that had been dropped. The main board was completely cracked in two right down the middle 😖 Probably 100 tracks. Worked in the end though 😊

[@MEGAMIGA]

Classic monitor! 😍

[@clarkem4119]

I love a) that you gave us an option to skip the rap, and b) that there is evidence of a lot of people skipping it.

[@Mrch33ky]

If you put a towel or a nylon over the end of the vacuum it works very well for tweeter repair. It won't pull the tweeter material through the end of the hose if that is a concern.

[@NackDSP]

What a dishonest seller to pull the grill off, smash the tweeters in and then hide that damage under the grill. Some people are just crap. Great video.

[@Cyba_IT]

Exactly what I was thinking man. I bet they took it apart trying to fix it, saw the board was broken, pushed in the tweeters in in frustration, put it back together and sold it. Pretty scumbag thing to do really.

[@nrml76]

@@Cyba_IT In fairness to the seller, they made it very clear it was not working and not easily repairable.

[@stinkycheese804]

Dishonest? Probably it was just grabbed ham-fisted while being taken apart previously and someone's finger pushed them in accidentally, then they saw no need to try to bother doing anything about it because it was sold as broken. If the seller had instead taken a picture that showed the two tweeters without the dents, that would have been dishonest but otherwise, there is no expressed condition factor for anything on a product stated as non-working.

[@ianhaylock7409]

15:21 Nice! You replace the standard zip ties with the audiophile grade black zip ties. Going to have much sweeter transients now.

[@andrewgrant6516]

Please explain.

@@andrewgrant6516 It's a joke about all the crazy "audiophile" stuff that is on the market.

[@harpingon]

Don't tell Russ.

[@PorchBass]

Needs a £100 kettle lead to really give best reproduction

[@UpInSmoke54]

But did he use zip ties with metal locking tabs those are even better for sound quality!!! 😅

[@bikeanddogtripsvirtualcycling]

cambridge audio, marantz and technics - all a part of my life in the 90s. oh b&w and kef for the speakers.

[@JViello]

Best decade known to man...

[@Brainwave36]

Nicely done. I love finding discarded electronics and bringing them back to life. I always learn something new with videos like these. I gave my old Cambridge works 5.1 surround sound system to a friend and it's still going strong after twenty years. He built himself a micro-home, so it fits perfect for the space that he has.

[@whodatdere1]

Great lil patch job! Usually for jobs like this I will use the baking soda and super glue trick. I will then use wire and solder wick to bridge the tracks to make sure it is rigid. My concern is where there are jacks there is pressure, it is key to make sure you build up the area behind or around to make sure there is minimal flex in the pcb.

[@showshow_biz]

HI. Great video. May I sugest the following in your bag to tricks. 1. Use detal floss or string to saw throught the adhesives joing the battery cells. Put some grease on the string to keep the adhesive from sticking back together after the string passes. 2. Use wires on all the repaired traces for added streagth. 3. The battery protection board ususally will disconnect the battery cells from the power out to keep the cells from going too low and may not fully charge the individual cells to maximize the cell life.

[@SianaGearz]

Yes braided wire or a piece of wick for wide traces gives a ton of strength.

[@stinkycheese804]

@@SianaGearz No, there is no reason to choose braided wire or wick, zero benefit over just taking a piece of solid core wire, tapping it a bit flat with a hammer or vice/press, and soldering it on if you don't have copper sheeting to emulate the original track profile. It will not only carry more current, and need less solder, but also cost less and be far more commonly available as scrap material.

[@stinkycheese804]

Except there was no reason nor benefit to separating the cells in the first place, just another bungle in this repair.

[@SianaGearz]

@@stinkycheese804 I'm not going to spend time and effort hammering solid core, no. Wick is always at hand and is cheap enough, as is solder, and i don't care about a handful cents here and there. Current carrying is also not worse if you use enough material. Like, you look at the PCB and it's 1oz or 2oz and you're basically boosting the current carrying capability anyway no matter what you add on top.

[@PrinceXTC86]

It's bloody incredible what ideas you come up with in order to fix stuff, Steve. Massive kudos!

[@mangosweet4971]

I was an electrician several decades ago and its fascinating the way things have changed and the way you repaired the printed circuit was really fun to watch. Well done.

[@theowinters6314]

That fix on the board is very clean, far better then I could have done. Well done there. I'm betting that break is because of both an over tightened screw, and the force needed to plug the power jack in as it's right next to break. So maybe be a bit careful with plugging the jack in.

[@eightbitriddle]

foun this exact speaker in an ewaste bin and it was broken in the exact same way.

[@richards7909]

I wonder if it fell and landed with the power cable in as it’s not supported around that area it seems.

[@jd_railfan]

over tightening is possible. my nephew got a computer (from a online seller) that only lasted around 2 weeks. go and find out the motherboard didn't work anymore because the cpu cooler was way too tight on the socket. put the cpu in a different motherboard and it worked just fine.

[@stinkycheese804]

I was thinking it was craptacular. How to do it differently? 1) There was no need to remove that much coating over the traces, 1/2 as much length would have been fine. 2) There was a benefit to instead, use a fine sandpaper, fiberglass pen, or abrasive polish to ensure that all the coating in that area was removed, instead of digging down deeper into the copper trace with the rotary bit. 3) It was misguided to bridge the crack with solder instead of tacking down a flattened solid core piece of wire, or copper sheeting if he had some. Current carrying would be higher and the fortification of the joint better. 4) The cracked area including into the remaining gaps, should have been repaired with epoxy so it was no longer fragile, then after the epoxy has set, can counterbore a hole into the epoxy for a replacement screw to match that counterbore. This is not only theory but practice in the very many similar repairs I've done. Further if you find that plugging in the power plug causes excessive stress, if the stress is only on the socket then put a bead of epoxy around it. If it is stressing the whole board then substitute an added panel mount jack in a hole you put in the chassis and air-wire that to the PCB.

[@Etcher]

@@stinkycheese804 I'd say you're a smash hit at parties

[@markianclark9645]

Steve..use strong double sided foam tape..the best is No More Nails on a Roll..carefully attach it to the tweeter dents and pull gently..i used that method on a pair of speaker cones with centre pressed in..practice first on an old crap speaker

[@spinnerpete]

I wrap electrical PVC tape around my finger sticky side outwards, Then pick at them until I get the crush out.

[@laszlomarktoth7492]

Before use ducktape use the heat gun, then pull gently out the domes, when pulled out use again the heatgun to remove the bendings from the domes. Then will looks good again.

[@ShouldHaveBeen]

While it's better than leaving it or spending money if it's not an overly expensive speaker. The true audio quality is compromised when a tweeter membrane gets crushed. The audio quality is dependent on the structural integrity of the membrane remaining intact.

[@laszlomarktoth7492]

@@ShouldHaveBeen yes, if you have replacement. Anyhow this is plastic and moderate amount of heat reforming the dome like original

[@ShouldHaveBeen]

@@laszlomarktoth7492 One has to be very careful using heat as it can further compromise the structural integrity. It can even deform the membrane even more. That method shouldn't be attempted by the novice repair person on something without accepting that more damage could be done. As an audio engineer I've even seen other professionals mess that procedure up plenty of times. A low suction vacuum is the preferred industry standard.

[@vernonzehr]

I am shocked and dismayed that people skip the rap in the beginning. That music pulls me into the world of this channel. Without it, I'm not emotionally prepared to experience the full restoration or failure of the content.

[@RennieAsh]

The rap would be fine but it's just weird to me when you're singing what you'd normally be speaking in a random video lol

[@mrshaw3794]

If you have been to see John Otway live at a gig, then you will appreciate how good rapping Steve is. 😂 No offence John.

[@AFNacapella]

imho Cambridge Audio (Soundworks) is totally underrated. decent price-quality ratio and the products are reasonably sturdy, my 2.1 daily driver is still going strong in it's 3rd decade (tbh shielding sucks and the original line-cable with pot is only a vague memory now, but crisp sound and enough headroom for my use)

[@jocramkrispy305]

except for their habit of having ridiculously bright LEDs

[@ScottMadeAThing]

OMG my buttocks were clenched when you upped the power to the vacuum cleaner... (I've just read that back and realised that without context to the video, that sounds wierd... so definitely just leaving it there.) Great video as always, thank you!

[@StezStixFix]

🤣🤣 thanks Scott 😁

[@andrewgrant6516]

I work in the ED. We've seen it all before.

[@RennieAsh]

If you use the little air hole in the side of the tube, you can close it to suck the dome, then open it to release easier.

[@Vamptonius]

​@@RennieAsh To be fair, this sounds just as filthy as the Above comment.

[@RennieAsh]

@@Vamptonius many people have a vacuum hose but they mostly blow. Defective

[@habsom1406]

....."....inside my heart 💓 maybe breaking, but the shoe size 11 must go on!" Great work that technician, recovered that speaker from the grave, gave it life again👍.

[@tyronenelson9124]

20 minutes is nowhere near what's needed to charge a totally dead lithium battery, so you may have pulled that battery pack apart for nothing.

[@Madrrrrrrrrrrr]

this.

[@sweetcheeks287]

I agree but still great work from ste as always

[@nickshaffer7659]

The vita worked the same way when it was completely dead it took quite a while for it to go back to normal

[@Heli4772]

i think it wasnt complettly dead .. i think the batterie protection kicked in and cut out the batteries from the rest.

[@krypton1260]

The voltage still goes up. If there is a short inside the battery, then the voltage won't go up and the charging will just cause the battery to heat up or the voltage will quickly go down after charging stops since there's a partial or full short inside.

[@placebomessiah]

I love how we both have the "I must take a picture of this before I ruin it" mentality

I wonder if the battery would have come up to full charge if you had just left it plugged in longer. Your external board charged it at 1A, but the internal charger may use a lower current and take a few hours to fully charge the battery. All in all, well done!

[@Zagroseckt]

At a 0v charge the controler was pulse charging curent draw would sag the14v to 10 and 20 min was no where near long enough to do the recondition cycle. when one of those packs gets that low it's a slow pulse charge till the battery is above 30% in most cases. so ya i was thinking the same thing. he didnt give the circuit time to do a recovery charge. Wich i am impressed that that thing has a pulse mode. Most protection circuits dont try to bring it back they just see less than x volts and stop any further charging for safe fail. You realy have to watch curent draw during that first 5-10% thats where you can form shorts or cause brakedown from heat.

[@WhiteDieselShed]

@@Zagroseckt Same with the TP4056 boards. People said they do not charge if the battery voltage was too low but they probably did not leave them long enough because they do put out a tiny voltage over time to slowly raise the voltage to one where it can be charged properly. Just takes time.

[@kayleas5328]

also he charged the batteries individually then said 'it's not charging the batteries is it' after putting the battery pack back in to the speaker

[@rich1051414]

@@WhiteDieselShed From what I understand, this is a bug and a feature. The chip will randomly wake up, see something asking for a charge, try to charge, see the battery voltage is too low, and then shut down again. I don't think it's intentionally doing it, but it's behavior is acceptable to recondition a cell anyway.

[@rosskj9187]

Battery is knackered at 0v, electronics engineer here, even if you could get voltage it's capacity is negligible at that point sorry

[@devttyUSB0]

Nice display of your excellent experience with fixing speakers, Steve! :D

[@StezStixFix]

Thank you! I'm definitely starting to get the hang of speakers, just need to work on the other things! 😂

[@remley8877]

I went to school for electrical engineering and got an associates degree and worked in the field for 4 years repairing amplifiers and guitars, TVs and VCRs back in the 90s. I approve of your repair. That's a totally physically and electrically solid connection. I probably would like added a strand of wire to each trace, but that's just a me thing, not an industry standard. My electronics professor literally repaired nuclear firing systems and I'm sure he would have given you an A for this.

[@somborn]

Little children are phantastic for high end audio equipment 😂😂😂

[@nikprice2067]

I find a straw works perfectly as a device for pulling tweeter domes out. Smaller area and you can control the suction.

[@mrfitz96]

You ask "who does that"? Well since you asked, a 7 year old daughter does that to my Mordant-Short 442s.

[@kevinabalo]

Bless her ..

[@snafu2350]

..but only once, right? ;)

[@mrfitz96]

@@snafu2350 actually I don't really know, because she was sold for medical experiments shortly afterwards.

[@vinceofarrell2765]

...and my grandchildren did it to my KEF Reference 103s after the nasty foam covering the drivers disintegated into black dust on the carpet.

[@alldjp]

The low battery reading is typically normal when charging a depleted battery. You won't get the same reading when the supply voltage to the battery is not under load. Once a battery is connected, the supply voltage drops while the charging circuit runs on constant current, and the voltage will slowly increase. With that being a 3S battery, and depending on the cells, BMS, etc, the lower voltage cutoff can be close to 9V and the full charge voltage can be around 12.6V. Just something to keep in mind before you go dismantling battery packs in the future. haha! But great video and really enjoyed the music track!

[@JohnMehew-y4i]

I'm actually watching this video whilst listening to the audio on my Go V2, which is still going strong with the original battery. For your info, the LED above the power jack should be Green when fully charged and Orange when charging. Not sure about the flashing, I've never seen mine do that.

[@-Tidgy]

I think that anyone that opens electronics without any experience or care (as shown here) should be jailed for a short period. Absolutely disgraceful to see those tweeters pressed in like it was handled by some 3 year old.

[@Lynsky24]

Jailed😅😅. What are you, 3yrs old.

[@-Tidgy]

@@Lynsky24 add a 0 on the end of that.😂 I just care about audio equipment, what's the matter with that

[@craigclemmens6353]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@lesjones5684]

Hey there 😂😂😂😂

[@lesjones5684]

Can you dig it 😂😂😂😂

[@MordIggity]

Thank you! For an amateur or, I should say, an electronically curious individual, this kind of thing is gold! As someone who's just starting out in the electronic realm (meaning I haven't ventured beyond getting lights to flash), it's awesome to see you work through the troubleshooting process. Many of us who are just beginning wouldn't have had a clue where to start before stumbling upon your guidance. Especially since you take us through all the testing and re-testing of both the individual components and next steps.

[@iPeel]

The board in the battery was a Battery Management System ( BMS ). The BMS did its job and shut off when one cell reached a low voltage state to protect the battery which is why it was reading absolutely nothing on the DVM. As soon as you plugged the PSU in after the repair it woke the BMS which enabled discharge again and started charging the battery.

[@ProfilProfi]

"These batteries are quite dangerous... but I don't care." that level of self-esteem!

[@ChrisGrahamUK]

I recently replaced the bulging non charging batteries in my 2016 Go V2. I wanted the same mAh and ended up with physically slightly smaller cells. (School boy error) The cells I bought had their own battery management systems which I had to remove before fitting. All good now and still a great sound.

[@madMARTYNmarsh1981]

I have found Shark vacuum cleaners to be very good for repairing pushed in tweeters. They have a variable setting on the nozzle handle, so you can apply varying suction directly.

[@Akstergrind]

I’m completely in awe of anyone who can do stuff like this!

[@Akstergrind]

Yep, so impressed was I with that fix that I’ve subscribed to your channel! Wow, if that was me I’d’ve taken one look at that mess inside it and lobbed it straight in the bin…which is probably indicative of the throwaway culture in which we exist these days. Anyway, thanks for the video. I’ll now freak myself out still further by watching a few more.

[@CosmicChicken34Official]

Its crazy to see how youve gone from a beginner to this repair. really awesome to see Steve!

[@rj7855]

You didn't get any voltage out of the battery pack because the over discharge protection circuit had cut the output, by (after repairing the pcb) applying a charge voltage for a while the pack was above the cutoff voltage so output was re- enabled

[@scaleop4]

yea and that was bugging the hell out of me. there is nothing wrong with that battery. as you said, it will cut at at around 3 volt ish its normal lol

[@SisilKabir]

I absolutely admire your tenacity and determination to get that speaker fixed, even when faced with odds that almost made you give up! Subscribed!

[@stevvieb]

oh you made your own Holy Hand Granade at 23:00, Using a vacuum cleaner to get them domes out was a new one, I've used bluetack in the past.

[@FiveStringCommando]

8:34 You could use the dust with the CA glue to fill in the crack better before you bridge the broken traces. Glue + sanding dust is frequently used in guitar repair and rifle stock repair, and that would be a similar repair.

[@ericpode6095]

A lot of people use baking soda with superglue to strengthen the repair.

[@johnmarchington3146]

I was amazed that you were be to resurrect those dome tweeters without damaging them further - and the high percussion in the recording you played indicated that at least one of them was still working so, all in all, an excellent repair job..

[@croolis]

The board in the battery has a cut-off when one of the cells falls below a pre-set voltage (usually 3.2v) - that is why you had 0v on the output. The cut-off is re-set the moment you try to charge them. The board is also probably a top balancer and should bring up the cells to an equal max voltage of about 4.1v before cutting charging.

[@PIERCED6966]

Thoroughly enjoyed this, you remind me of a friend i lost contact with in Brum over 30 yrs ago, he was exactly like you, cool, calm and a genius with electrics. You questioned why there was no light when charging, yet when the battery wasnt charging the red light was flashing showing it was charging. Im guessing because you fully charged the batteries and then plugged it in was why the red light wasnt flashing because like most my devices, it only flashes when needs to charge.

[@Eric-xj4qj]

Using a vacuum cleaner for those tweeters was actually a pretty brilliant idea!

[@Rocket_Try]

Yes, the last time I had to fix those, I hotglued a matchstick to it, pulled them out and loosened it with some IPA after. But Steve's fix is much more elegant.

[@sismofytter]

It's a classic way to do it in the hifi community

[@benbocc1549]

I used a plunger on bigger ones before... worked great 😂

[@billmarsh1971]

Oldskool. When you have kids and speakers you know what to do without hesitation

[@Rocket_Try]

@@billmarsh1971 exactly what I thought, "Who would do that?" "Yeah, children. They are cute, but death to your speakers." 😀

[@SMarcey]

I bought a Bose Soundlink 2 from an online charity shop, an that model speaker came out more than 10 years ago. The battery still not only works, but still works pretty darn close to original spec. I dont know how cause the thing was clearly well used. thankfully its very easy to replace the battery on it and because Bose is such a big brand and the speakers were expensive when they came out people have an interest in maintaing them, so you can still find new battery replacements online. Not from Bose but still, fresh battery cells in the correct configuration to fit the speaker is pretty incredible. I hope to have this little beauty a good long time. I love your videos because it shows people that these devices dont have to go in a bin after a few years and that we need to do whatever we can to keep them out of landfills.

[@Paperghost]

Once you have superglued the board, repaired the traces and used solder mask, for strength use some epoxy resin on each side of the board to give strength to the joint and to reduce the likelihood of future break down. Good video although the vacuum cleaner trick made me wince. Cotton bud with hot glue or cotton bud with double sided tape for me. Gently as we go.......

[@_xano]

If there is room for it I usually use cloth polyester tape, and soak it with epoxy (it is better to use epoxy without additional thickeners, as more thin one penetrate tape better). Without reinforcement epoxy is usually not enough when repairing something prone to vibration.

[@SianaGearz]

I absolutely hate using superglue near wherever i'm going to solder, the fumes seem near deadly if it gets heated beyond about 90°C. Epoxy and cloth, paper or glass fibre is certainly the right material for PCB repair, but soldermask resin will already help somewhat, i think it may just hold up fine like that.

[@vibaek78]

Not a complete mess, especially considering the big black blobs next to your homefix. I wish I had your skills. I love your hits (and misses too)

[@technoman9000]

Nice fix! I enjoyed seeing the giant blobs of solder being applied.

[@awhisperinthewind4253]

always been a Cambridge Audio fan, decent Hi Fi for a reasonable price

[@aisforrebel9310]

Use some hot glue on a q-tip to pop those tweeters back out, alcohol will remove the glue without damaging them.

[@jamesrussel1133]

Thoroughly enjoyed watching you do that. I thought about a vacuum for the speakers before you tried it. I learnt so much about basic electrical repairs watching, found it actually rewarding that you got it to work. What a good feeling that must be. Everything you used including your little hands free holder to help your soldering was just a great little technique. You have inspired me to repair £200 of remote controlled fishing alarm receiver which was ruined by battery corrosion. Now I think it’s doable, even by little old me!😊

[@oliverpolden]

I love it when you find an obvious fault. I was doing the good old power check and found no voltage coming out the other side of a switch. Sure enough, fixing the switch and my device was working again. I've also found that it seems devices have a slow charge to bring low voltage batteries back. It can take some time before the device will turn on and charge normally. Always worth charging something for a few hours before binning the battery.

[@gentle285]

You went the extra mile to repair it! Loved every second of this! Great work!

[@amiganorm]

Used to skip the raps, but after a listen or 2 I can say they are rather fun :)

[@marklondon2008]

Love this sort of stuff. Many years ago I had a CA amp that someone cross wired the speakers to and blew one of the channels. I wasn't very experience with electronics but I got the multimeter out and measured all the components. A few of the ICs and resistors were blown. Changed them out and it worked again. Probably less than a tenner to repair a £300 amp. Always worth giving it a go.

[@julesviolin]

I've been repairing stuff since 4 years old. Started with my Mother's mechanical timer on her washing machine. I took the cover off and millions of cogs and springs flew out everywhere. That began my life's challenge to figure out stuff and how it works and why it fails. My bank has never gone overdrawn like most folks who just keep buying new stuff which as we all know lasts as long as a cheese sandwich 🤬🤬🤬 Keep up your quest Sir 👍

[@Poweruser75]

Super duper, Buddy! You're such a good hearted guy and well learned. I don't comment enough, I know, and I wish you all the best success in everything you do :)

[@firstnamelastname9631]

I was looking for a brake after watching 2 episodes of Fallout back to back and this came up on KZbin. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I never thought that watching someone fix electronics could be so enthralling, something to do with the pace and your voice. Back to Fallout.

[@HarryWho102]

I found the best way of getting the dome tweeters back to resembling a dome, was to get a small ball of "Blue Tack" and dab onto the dome and pull it back in to shape. Also works when the dome in mid range and bass drivers speakers have been pushed in.

[@ScottMadeAThing]

"Hmm? Hairy flux." :D

[@Boogie_the_cat]

I went to school with a Harry Flux. No But my mom had a Harry Mystery in her class in highschool. No comment.

[@P5YcHoKiLLa]

Rumour is that was Steve's nickname in High School (GMM Joke)

[@JerryCrow]

Cool, appreciate people with steady hands :)

[@233kosta]

That climbing and dropping thing... If you put a scope on the terminals instead of a mult-eye-meter (or whatever the yanks call them), you'll see pulsing voltage. That's because the charge controller has to cut off the charging current to take a measurement of battery voltage. Most feedback controlled chargers woll do that. Using my bench PSU on the other hand is an open loop process, relying on the voltage and current limiting circuits to ensure no overcharge. I've never seen any document pointing out a technological (i.e. chemical) advantage of either process, but from an engineering point of view, it's much easier to miniaturise the feedback-controlled circuit, it cuts down the component count by virtue of not needing current and voltage regulators like a bench PSU.

[@retrocomputinggrotto]

1 less thing going in the WEEE (eWaste) so that's always a bonus! Great repair video :)

[@MrRecorder1]

For structural integrity of the board, you can try gluing a washer on top (and back) of the broken screw-hole. That improves structural integrity to the screwhole so that you can reuse it without accidentally cracking the board or just relying on the adhesion of the tracks and big solder blobs...

[@run66]

love listening too you , so much to learn from you

[@TIPP_X]

Always calming to watch u fix things

[@PatMo1888]

Brought back some conflicting memories of serving my time as an electronics technician in the 1970's. Loved the vacuum fix!

[@robinsutcliffe-video_art]

Steve, nice fix as usual! Instead of a sharpie/permanent marker, try an Eddington black Paint marker. The finish is much closer to the original paint than permanent marker is.

[@jonathanrees3765]

Use wire for all the tracks. Tin wire and tracks before soldering - easier. Glue after soldering and joining the tracks - use superglue which will wick into the fibreglass and make as strong bond. Don't want to solder after superglue as it gives off horrible fumes. On wider tracks use multiple wires. Wire you used is perfect for the job.

[@TheMustaros]

Your videos are good, don't stop what you're doing, greetings from Hungary.

[@magicaardvark1]

Felt a certain tightening of the sphincter when you started taking that cell pack apart. Lithium cells contain FIRE! Balls of steel mate! Thanks for the great vid!

[@Nightykk]

Was definitely missing the 'explosion containment pie dish' there 😅

[@brianrivasoconer5543]

Great video.. i never knew that a broken board could be fixed you got me more interested in electronics ..thanks..

[@P5YcHoKiLLa]

0:05 From off from eBay? That repair was almost worthy of a graduate of Cambridge...almost.

[@TasteTheD]

seeing those tweeters doming out again was so satisfying

[@TechBaffle]

Great repair you done there! Cambridge Audio make some decent stuff so worth fixing. Glad I'm not the only one irked by pushed in tweeters! You'd have thought they would have been safe as the grille was on! Oh well - the vacuum cleaner trick worked.

[@jhgpsimons]

Nice video, thanks for sharing. I am a subscriber now :) Wonderfull how you came with the idea to use the vacuur for the dented speakers. I was wondering where you got the UV lamp with the timer or as you called it "the solder mask curing device" I like the timer on it.

[@TheMdog8]

I've just subscribed because you MAKE A SONG FROM YOUR PATREONS!?!?!!? THAT IS FRIGGIN AMAZING!

[@233kosta]

Since no VM is perfect, a neat cheat to balance the cells exactly is to get them close on the VM (around 3.6-3.7 each, ±0.05V), then wire all three in parallel and charge them some more (say up to 4V). You'll want your voltage limit set to 4.00V and you should then wait for current to drop to 0.00A. At that point, all three will be charged to whatever 4.00V actually corresponds to on your bench PSU (mine reads low, so 4.1V goes from 4.100 to 4.199). Then when you wire them in series, they'll remain balanced-ish. Tool batteries include balance circuits, but I don't think this speaker does, so it helps to balance them properly before reconnecting.

[@XSpImmaLion]

Very nice fix! Particularly with a board broken like that, I'd just toss it. xD Word of advice though - you'll wanna replace those battery packs soon... Well, I'm not a specialist really, but afaik it's usually not a good idea to restrict LiPo packs like that. They need a bit of airflow and space to expand when things go bad, because if they don't have the space to become "spicy pillows", the result is thermal runaway. :P Internal pressure will fight against that kapton tape restriction, and things might get a bit blowy... if you know what I mean. Never tested it myself though...

[@wesjb94]

Nice fix Steve. I like when they go so well and we see a good working product!

[@marty-fh1rw]

Well done! I lifted a track on an 1991 Audiosonic clockradio whilst installing a new volume control (played at max ,no adjustment.),Luckily,found another trace without going under the tuning gang and dial string.

[@theantipope4354]

Buckled domes like those tweeters can usually be popped out with suction, eg; with a vacuum cleaner or even your mouth. Tip: I use solder wick to repair broken traces on cracked boards as it adds a lot of mechanical strength to the repair, which is particularly important on boards like that one, where they're cracked right across, & include a mounting point like that screw hole. You didn't give that battery much of a chance. Li-Ion cells get damaged if they're discharged too heavily. IIRC, the minimum is a couple of volts per cell. Nonetheless, there's no harm in giving it a good attempt at a recharge, but you'd need to leave them charging for a couple of days. Personally, I'd cut the cells out of the battery & put them in a dedicated per cell charger for a day to see if they're recoverable. BTW, with a managed battery like that, you need to check the voltage on each cell at the terminals, NOT at the output terminals of the control board!

[@TigraWatanabe]

I would suggest to use an fiberglass Pen to clean up Circuit Boards, a Dremel can maybe cut to deep and a Fiberglass pen keep the surface smooth.

[@Youcanthandlethetruthever]

I like this guy's chilled out approach! Retro background music is easy listening.

[@Dave062YT]

Amazing job and the sound quality comes over on video too .Well worth the time ,fantastic repair

[@alan4yt]

Love the jingle lyrics. Repairs are always a detective case. The actual repair is only a small part of the overall work. Well done, mate, should be a detective constable.

[@yearlingsun6820]

For the tweeters, you might be able to pull them out a bit more using a hot glue stick melted on one end, tacked to the tweeter, and then gently pull. A similar process is used for dent repair on cars.

[@CandyGramForMongo_]

I would have used some solder braid to bridge those bigger traces or just reattach the wires directly to the remaining PCB. Still, any repair that works is a good repair. Enjoy your videos.

[@technoman9000]

Hopefully that board won't be subjected to the stresses it had endured in the past. It looks like that speaker has seen things you wouldn't believe.

[@slaphead2965]

Who'd have thought you could fix your tweeters with a vacuum cleaner! 😮 Great repair btw 👍

[@kimzg1224]

You can try and use solder wick when bridging large traces like that. Gets a bit stonger. Like rebar in concrete. Great video as always!!😊