Trying to FIX: SALTER WEIGHING SCALES - New But Faulty

Hi, in this video I attempt to repair some brand new (but faulty) Salter weighing scales. They were purchased from eBay for £6. They only power up for a few seconds and then turn off so are unusable. Let's see if they can be fixed.
Remember that this is just for entertainment and I am not an expert in these repairs. The processes in the video may not be the best way, the correct way or the safest way to fix these things. I do love fault finding and trying to fix broken things, so I hope that comes across in this 'Trying to FIX' series. Many thanks, Vince.

[@unitedfools3493]

Who needs the bloody scales though when Vince is a highly accurate scale himself?

[@SMAAAASHTV]

Darn it, Vince. I was mentally yelling at you to check those connections and also to resolder that 3v connection. Factory solder looks to be a bodge job.

[@MrRewdtv]

Yes, he drives me fuckin crazy at times!!!

[@GuitarandMusicInstitute]

Is he not just acting the “daft laddie” to ensure maximum length of video/watch time/will it won’t it work re monetisation of the video?

[@UltimatelyEverything]

I was thinking the same thing even though i know nothing about soldering it just looked like an obvious bodge job.

[@chrisrobson8540]

definitely looks like a friday afternoon job in the factory that one🤣

[@MichaelBritt23]

These videos are my favorite. Practically brand new.... simple wiring issue, and you get a product for a fraction of the price after a short troubleshooting.

[@ericthekingthekingtheking4842]

Vince i can imagine your mrs face when the front door goes an shes like vince what shite you bought off ebay now 🤣

[@ewanbremner2818]

I used this video as an accompaniment as I tried to fix my own scales. I was looking for a video of someone opening up some scales so this was very useful. I also found some corrosion on the back of my measuring board. Unfortunately for me, cleaning this up didn't resolve it and I think the corrosion may have effected the display. Thanks for your helpful video though!

[@maximwannabepro3021]

30:50 haahahah, welcome to Metric Vince. Where the unites are not just diced out but actually make sense :D

[@MyRegardsToTheDodo]

Britain has started applying the metric system sometime in the 1960s. They're not quite done yet.

[@NorthCamZ]

@@MyRegardsToTheDodo yep we still use feet to measure our selves most of the time but most people know their height in centimetres.. Some people weigh them selves using stone still, we also use miles. But we do use mostly metric.

[@Fifury161]

I'm just glad I didn't have to work out Pounds, Shillings & Pence!

[@Blacklab99]

Well spotted Vince! A lesson in not taking things for granted.

[@mikekelly9129]

I got as much enjoyment out of you guessing the weights of objects as i did the actual fix 😁

[@chrismanning2999]

Thanks so much. Watched your video and repaired our Salter! Dodgy solder joint. Repair and Recyle; Saving the planet, one Salter at a time!

[@ExecutorQ3]

32:00 We learned that at first physics class at elementary school Vince (and i bet you did too :-) )

[@ewanwickward8587]

Lol, most of us Americans didn't

[@clydedanger5932]

@@ewanwickward8587 I think you learn it as well but americans be like "grams LUL"

[@ewanwickward8587]

@@clydedanger5932 Honestly, yeah, you're right

[@terminationshock1356]

The marvels of the metric system

[@justgodlike589]

Nice to See that someone can have that much fun with an simple weight scale :). I really enjoyed it . Thanks for this great content.

[@robertoneill1979]

This was assembled on a Monday morning by a 16-year-old on their very first day at work who was being trained by someone who finished on Friday morning after a week's night-shift and partied hard all weekend. Trust me... I've been there 😏

[@gibbo9089]

Deffo a Friday afternoon job on the production line.

[@unimportant5122]

Whenever you measure such push buttons, with the suspicion that a button is "sticking", you should measure it with the resistance setting rather then continuity. A faulty button could have several kilo ohms of resistance when not pressed and the microcontroller would still register that as a press due to it's large input resistance. The continuity test would give a false negative.

[@jeremiahsherman2718]

i like your choice of music . very happy feeling

[@Gunzee]

I have the black scales with the metallic circle. The switches are utterly useless, had to replace both the unit & power switches. I got 50 push switches for a few quid they look very different, the push section was round & I think they have a leg in each corner. Funny to see they totally redesigned the internals, mine measures of one point right in the middle & the main board is simpler looking. Very few components, using that light brown pcb, with both switches on the board.

[@nevellgreenough404]

Congratulations on yet another magnificent repair! My vote is for the switch corrosion causing the turn-off issue. The microcontroller's internal pull-up resistors are often a high value to preserve battery life. Corrosion leakage can cause a false switch detection. That white stuff on the PCB is most likely solder flux. They don't bother washing it off on inexpensive stuff.

[@andyfairman7812]

Great catch on that wiring error from the factory Vince! That would be easy to miss even be seasoned tech's and you caught it pretty quickly. This video is also a really good demonstration of the "Achilles heel" of stranded wires when they are soldered. The wire is held rigidly just beyond the solder and creates a 'high stress' point (the wires are no longer flexible at that specific point). This causes the wires to break easily at that spot if they are allowed to flex. The best way to alleviate the problem is to immobilize the wire a short distance past the solder joint with tape or adhesive (hot glue, etc). Again, very nicely done!

[@kennethbarker852]

1st class video to watch thank you take care kind regards from me kenneth

[@brutlern]

Two fix it videos in quick succession? One can never have too many fix it videos.

[@SparkyFace5]

If you go back in there I'd re do all those solder joints as they all look poor quality and in particular the +3v wire coming into the board. Glad you got it working again

[@julieboruta]

At 11:00 the white stuff looks like baking soda and water combo for cleaning corrosion off the board and I think that it has been opened before selling it to you Vince.

[@Asriazh]

I think the ebay seller hasn't been fully honest with You. The wires on the switch-board did look like they were resoldered. No one in their right mind would leave bare wires that long dangling in the breeze. My guess is, that the original fault was the corrosion on the measurement unit switch, they tried to fix that and then put it back together the wrong way. Anyways, that was a nice and satisfying fix :D. And the design of the weighing scales is pretty nice too, i think ^-^ *thumbs up*

[@DEmma1972]

Great fault find and fix. I personally would do a new full rewire of this as there have been so many wire issues. It is NOT well made as it is using wire technology from 50 years ago instead of a circuit board, and was made at quarter to pub on a Friday.

[@haroldpotter5911]

Welcome to the metric system Vince!

[@Zooumberg]

This repair video is of particular interest to me Vince. You see, I do a lot of animal charity work and we use these or a generic version to weigh hedgehogs and other small animals. I'm now trying to figure out how to increase the shut-off time from a minute to five.

[@darklydevious8156]

O M G! Vince managed to fix something WITHOUT an identical working model! Things are improving. :) Maybe ask your lad to explain weights and measures to you? Remember, in Russia, you are the scales. Proschay.

[@marcomarcello2538]

[myself] "Wooohoo, 15 years guarantee! Wait, where is the receipt?" PS thanks VINCE, although it did not help in my case, slightly different model, the switch was glued to the case. Soldering looked OK.

[@Chriva]

One gram is one ml of water @ ~4 deg C :) Can't remember which came first, gram/kg or ml/l, but they're supposed to be interchangeable when water has its maximum density

[@Ratzfaz]

In 1793, the liter was introduced in France as a new Republican unit (in connection with the metric system) and equated to a cubic decimeter.

[@jasonbucy]

The music at 20:00 was a nice touch mate

[@michaeladams9807]

Time to relax 👍👍

[@michaelthomas3646]

Vince the white stuff is battery corrosion due to a bad circuit/connection to the circuit board from arching. I said at the start looks like it is a problem with the switch, but then you said it couldn't be that. my guess would be the seller tried to fix it them self, as you wouldn't have a wire barely in solder like the red wire that you shown us in this video.

[@michaelthomas3646]

you will usually find white stuff around a car battery terminal on a car that has been bodged together. or a loose battery terminal connection.

[@DashDrones]

You just reminded me how much I love taking stuff apart. Epic troubleshoot dude :)

[@AnonymousRepair]

I always test switch in ohm mode never in continuity, A switch could become leaky and keep the scale in a reset or off mode. Great video :)

[@gorjy9610]

continuity on most meters will show you ohm reading, beepeing under resistance of 50 or something like that but show resistance anyway. So there is no big difference between mods

[@Gabriel2.0]

"Hi my name is Vince from a fence not common" what the captions say hahaha

[@mrjsv4935]

Nice fix, simple problem after all. Have one digital weighing scale myself which has some intermittent problem. Sometimes when I try to weigh something, the screen just flashes with all numbers 888,8 and then turns off. I thought that maybe some of the sensors in the corners are bad but when tested, all is good. Usually it works just fine though. Intermittent faults are the worst kind :P

[@kdoland721]

It's fantastic Good job

[@ColossulTitan]

Good guessing on the weight lol and good job as always mate

[@ichhassdievoll]

Fun Fact - if you get somehow a german recipe one Pfund (german for Pound) is 500g ;-) and its 500ml as well :P

[@DamdamF]

Rumor has it that Vince is still trying to guess the weight of all the objects he can get his hands onto 🤣

[@Dave64track]

Great fix Vince you got a bargain in those it's a good job the board was marked up i don't like those black blobs either not much you can do with them. The white residue is from the lead free solder which they use now in manufacturing it's not very reliable for electronics circuits as you know but lead free is better the environment. You just have more electronic circuits failing so more things have to be recycled which is not good for the environment as everything can't be recycled. But it does keep the economy going by making people buys new stuff every couple of years. Keep up the good work see you in your next repair.

[@imzimansvideos]

Another good vid

[@jamiewood4280]

More like this please Vince, all that work on the ps4 with no result is not as satisfying as this.

[@howtowithelizabeth7513]

I like the new zoom camera

[@nameless5413]

so not only counting in grams is simplest multiplication to kil and division to mili but its so well thought out it even weighs water better. its sillier that anyone would use something like ounce.

[@dragon940carp6]

In the U.S.A, I wish we were taught metric. I remember back in 1973 our math teacher told us we were going to metric someday but that only lasted one or two days of teaching then that was all we were taught.

[@BloodAsp]

@@dragon940carp6 We are now. I am competent in both units of measurement, though I am also now in a degree for science, so take that as you will. In middle school lab however we used metric.

[@FGX4000]

Superb job mate!

[@ronbradley8931]

Glad to see you got the scales fixed Vince, I was hoping that you were going to grab a tin of beans or something that has a known weight during the weight tests.

[@mvl6827]

I just bought exactly the same scale, and it was flat after on day (‘Lo’). Changed twice more with new battery, same problem.

[@BenMelluish]

I think they could've done with a few more screws at the bottom. Just to be sure.

[@abdulhkeem.alhadhrami]

I always wondered what the insides look like on these things now i know!

[@Horizon344]

3:21 This is what's technically known in the trade as ..... being "knackered". Remedy = Straight in the bin.

[@TheOldRogue]

You would be surprised how many people do not know about the weight of water, I used to guess weight using 1 litre bottles because 1 litre is 1 Kg, it can come in handy.

[@dodgydruid]

The thing I spotted almost from the start of its opening, was the +V there with two solder strands that look like they might be leaking volts onto the via there next to it, the soldering on this machine is pretty rubbish I thought and looked like one of my cats had done it whilst out of their paws on catnip...

[@dragon940carp6]

As an animal lover, I suggest you keep your cats away from the catnip before allowing them to use a soldering iron.

[@GadgetUK164]

Excellent job =D Thanks for the info on fluid ounces / ml =D

[@thomasesr]

That is the best thing about the metric system, its all inter-related and based of real world physically bound things such as the atmospheric pressure of earth at sea level, the volume and weight of water at that pressure, the centigrade scale is from 0 to 100 grades of kelvin units based on the freezing and the boiling point of water at sea level and distance is based on the speed of light. It's by far the best system. Unlike the imperial system which is now based upon the metric system but was originally based upon the length of the foot of a dead guy and seeds of plants.

[@tgheretford]

That wiring job must rank alongside the TV manufacturer who put a 10V capacitor on a 13V rail which caused them to overvault and fail in a short amount of time in a number of models.

[@bempomaa489]

Our friend aka the Handyman❤️

[@falloutguy8878]

Another great job done? Your my idol

[@davidclarke9767]

Salter an old and respected name in scales, but now made in China I bought a new digital bathroom scales and a new old style bathroom scale both Salter but they give me a 5 lb difference in my weight on the same day, I would have hoped that they would have been closer to each other being the same manufacturer so which set do I believe when checking my weight for health reasons.

[@topranking5745]

Hey Vince hope you are doing okay I think that KZbin algorithm is killing your channel because look at the views and subscriber.... I believe that you should put more 10min video according to the new youtube strategy algorithm ..... Hope you will find this interresting. Love u..

[@blaser80]

Salter never seem to fix they're wiring, first one I ever bought had a wire that came loose sometime from manufacture to me buying it, si was dead on arrival. Normally, I'd have returned it but I really needed it on the day, was a quick fix.

[@bijoyhalder6184]

Nice Video

[@2011MoJo]

I like how it says 15 years guarantee on the box.

[@fouroakfarm]

Typo actually, meant to say 15 days from factory creation (and the boat from China takes 30)

[@kriswillems5661]

That part were you explained basic science was really funny and cute :) Good fix.

[@fluffyblue4006]

Don't feel bad about not knowing that the density of water is 1 g/ml and how convenient that is for measuring volumes of water. You guys are doing very well in changing over into the metric system. In the USA, I bet 90% doesn't know that. But shame on Salter: white goo on the board; corroding switches, misplaced wires, bad soldering job on the wires and the switches. By the way, you did not re-flow that switch. That will break for sure within 15 years. At least, you'll know what the next fault will be.

[@aquatics117]

I couldn't live without my electronic scales. So much easier then machanical ones.

[@yardgrid]

I don't know why this particular video made me think if it but does Vince ever contact the sellers and send them a link to the video of the fix?

[@danilko1]

Vince these scales were made on Monday, by the new guy.

[@garydobbs2085]

Great video vince

[@blunchblack]

This doesn’t make the quality control department down at Salter look very good.

[@Drew-Dastardly]

I have always measured ml of water by using the gram setting on my kitchen scales, so I don't see the point of the ml scale. But then I noticed while measuring your cup of water in grams the scale was rock solid, but when you switched to ml I noticed the last digit fluttering. Is it actually using a temperature sensor to compensate for ambient? That does seem an absurd level of accuracy for a kitchen scale, and it would need another temp probe in the liquid too. It just seems odd to even have a ml scale and that it behaved differently to grams.

[@ches74]

Corrosion on the switch board but the white on the main PCBA looked like conformal coat. There was a shine to that board. Some of that soldering wasn't good. I got a warranty replacement for a Logitech K400 keyboard, multiple keys not working. Before chucking it away I opened it up to find the flexi was bent over during insertion. Flattened it out, reinserted and all was good. Soldering in that was also poor. That flexi fault shouldn't has escaped the factory test. Obviously poor training and inspection at Salters factory but can see how that could escape test even though there's not much mass in a wire for it to break loose in transit.

[@Videotubelord]

White stuff on solder joints is not corrosion. It is No-clean flux, wires where soldered by hand.

[@standishgeezer]

A good simple check of scales is to weigh a can of tomatoes. The can itself is generally weighs 60 grams and the contents, always 400 grams so you should get 460 grams total weight (465 grams is acceptable allowing for margin in can weight).

[@michaeld1879]

Haha, got to keep that banana from rolling of the scale, great vid as always!! Keep it up!

[@DaMu24]

For those of you in the comments motivated by Vince to repair your broken Nintendo Switch USB ports, perhaps start with something like this, first. Please.

[@TATTIEPICKER]

Just going to bed and noticed you uploaded at 2am. 😯 Oh well sleep can wait.

[@imadeosayimwen8437]

Ur one of my fave KZbin channels to watch

[@pakistani123ish]

Hi Vince. Which solder remover are you using? Do you have a link?

[@ftrueck]

The huge solder blobb on the switch looks not very reliable. Solder blobs should have a cone shape with a flat top for through hole components. Also it would be ideal if they have contact over the whole surface of a solder pad, especially for mechanically stressed parts like switches. The white stuff reminds me of conformal coating which lost its adhesion to the surface.

[@godfreymakotore3825]

Hi who where can I get digital weight indicator model P900

[@skybex9045]

Ooo good job Edit 3 likes that’s my record thanks

[@VLC8792]

I’ll take a punt that Salter didn’t manufacture these scales, just had them rebranded. Probably find other brands using the same scales

[@Robertkopp84]

Have fun with the metric system. And all that happened just because someone wanted to know how long it takes to go a specific distance.

[@MayaPosch]

With stranded wire, it is essential that the joint isn't the only thing which holds the wire in place. Even inside the enclosure, a non-secured stranded wire can easily break over time when the device is moved around and stress is put on the individual strands. During troubleshooting it is therefore essential to not move stranded wire too much and tape them down if possible to prevent unnecessary movement.

[@r1nbee759]

In my state is 3:00 AM night Im cant sleep help

[@electronJarvs]

Just turned 3am here lol

[@bazooragamer7951]

In mine it’s 5 am

[@danilko1]

Vince needs to work at the carnival, guessing people's weight.

[@jasejj]

That was really shoddy workmanship, your typical £2 electronic toy is soldered better than that. In fact it's so bad I have to wonder if the previous owner has tinkered with it. Salter stuff is usually (or was at least) fairly good. That said this kind of rubbish is depressingly common in recent years. I bought a customer-returned, Sony alarm clock which was dead because some idiot in the factory had screwed through one of the wires. Shocking that a £60 item from a top manufacturer should have let such a fundamental error through QA.

[@andyfairman7812]

Totally agree. These days it's all about making money as cheaply as possible while quality and 'pride in the product' is allowed to spiral down the toilet.

[@JamesWilliams-vi8zr]

I thought the previous owner was the reason the solder joints looked bad also.

[@raykan4683]

Hi vince you're videos are awesome can you make an videos about how to fix Nintendo errror 2110-3129 I am having this issue

[@alierengam1749]

If i see a Trying To Fix: A Car! From vince i wont be suprised

[@LegendSpecialist]

"you had one job"😉

[@nickh9735]

Just in case of..some of you wonder about the music..well :A Walk in Marais · The Fly Guy Five Walkin' & Talkin' ℗ Epidemic Sound Released on: 2016-10-07 Composer: The Fly Guy Five

[@juliantaylor6661]

Some real shoddy wire work going on there. QC testing is probably minimal as well.

[@swift9431]

It is strange that we dont use the metric system all the time where sort of in flux.

[@JuicyJakeRepairs]

those joints on the wires are soo bad haha

[@odntht]

Welcome to Metrical System. xD

[@jakubkochanowski2934]

gadget electronic scale good

[@muddassirsheeraz]

No matter how much pressure i put it always shows "0" please any help will be appreciated.