Category: Garage Sale
Need your note taker battery replaced? Is your headphone jack scratchy and full of crackling and noise? Does it not work at all?We may have an answer for you that won't
break your bank.
Hello all.
While I myself don't
have the vision, a friend of mine has been doing repairs on my note
takers and other electronics such as my laptop and HAM radio gear for
quite a few years now. I've never had something he has fixed go bad, and while it's not a factory repair, it costs significantly less and often times performance is better than what the factory could have done. My friend Mark's technical knowledge comes from his hobby
of amateur radio and from spending 15 years working in the auto industry doing electronics instrumentation and testing. He's worked with computers since the days of DOS v1. He even makes his own electricity at home with
solar power, all done by his own designs.
The real reason for this post is to extend his offer of repairs to the
blindness community. We sat down one day and decided that we could
help a lot of people out by doing the more simple repairs their note takers
always need like battery replacement and crackly headphone jacks for a
significantly lower price than what the companies offer. We're only doing battery pack and headphone jack replacements on Braille
Note and the classic Braille Lite products at this point. We'll probably be expanding the repair services we're offering, but that's for another day and another thread.
Typical repair costs for the Braille note battery pack replacement will be
somewhere around $125. Typically this job requires about 2 hours of labor time on
the bench and about $30 in parts. Then the unit of course has to be re-packed
and driven to the post office for return to you. So as you can see here
Mark's not going to be getting rich anytime soon doing these repairs. The units
are also inspected and cleaned out. You would not believe what kind of
stuff Mark finds inside some of these note takers.
Shipping can be rather costly. It's primarily the
insurance. For example, if you would like your machine insured for $5000, it will cost
a lot more to ship than if you pay for no insurance. However, if the
package arrives broken with no insurance, you're not going to be able to get it replaced. Typically
shipping with $1000 insurance is around $20-$25 in each direction.
Headphone/microphone jack replacement is $20 per jack. These jacks are
soldered into the main board and have to be removed very carefully. Turnaround time is typically under 2 weeks. Mark wanted me to stress that this is a battery replacement and or headphone
jack fix ONLY. If you are not sure that this is what is wrong with your machine, you might wish to consider returning it to the manufacturer for their repair. He doesn't fix other issues or software although I can help you out with re-configuring the unit after he replaces the battery.
If you have any questions about this offer, feel free to send me a private message, or send email to kc8pnl@gmail.com. If you have general questions, feel free to reply on this board.
Thanks for reading,
Scott
Hi zoners,
I have sent my braillenote to mark for a much needed battery replacement, and I would just like to vouch for this working out quite well. I know that I spent less than $150 where if I had sent the machine back to humanware I would have spent quite a bundle. The braillenote was also ready in a timely manor which I greatly appreciated. I am very greatful that I have a machine back that doesn't have to be on a charger constantly, and would most deffinatly reccomend if you are looking for a battery replacement or a headphone jack replacement to seak Scott out for the information.
Candi