Promax HD Ranger 50 SE

[John]

@John

Very useful info and a great help to Promax Ranger owners.
It makes it realistic to purchase a working Ranger with a screen defect should any pop up on eBay or other marketplaces.

Yep agreed - i bought my first HD Ranger+ many years ago with a small circle of dead pixels for £400 , never seen any more at that price unfortunately .

 

[John]

I've replaced a few of these elsewhere. The trickiest part is getting them off the board - I usually snip the legs and then unsolder each leg individually. Much easier than unsoldering the whole push switch as a unit, unless you have a hot air gun.

Good tip - especially if your old and got fingers like sausages like me

 

[Llew]

Just a quick update on the lcd screen replacement on my Promax HD Ranger+
Ordered from a UK site, the screen was dispatched and arrived very quickly from the USA this morning though - very quick .
A total cost of £124 delivered up to now, with no demand for any Customs payment before delivery - expecting something though.
Took just under three quarters of an hour to strip Promax down and replace lcd luckily all straight forward.
Powered up with no problems and all working as it should.
The new screen came with a screen protector film which can be fitted or not.

Helpful info John, thanks. Was there Customs duty to pay in the end?

I think I will treat my Promax to a new screen after all - I seem to be looking at the imperfections more now every time I use it

 

[John]

Helpful info John, thanks. Was there Customs duty to pay in the end?

I think I will treat my Promax to a new screen after all - I seem to be looking at the imperfections more now every time I use it

Nope - no additional payments requested so far touch wood, i checked just now on FedEx UK site under Customs payments due relating to my tracking number and 'computer says No'
It was the imperfections that i got tired of looking at too
We'll wait and see

 

[John]

For Rolf ... Showing button switch type and also the small plastic led 'light guiding tubes', for want of a better description, which can drop off if your not careful.

** Please tinker at your own risk - my pictures are of my own equipment repair process and not intended to be a web repair instructional video
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[rolfw]

For Rolf ... Showing button switch type and also the small plastic led 'light guiding tubes', for want of a better description, which can drop off if your not careful.

** Please tinker at your own risk - my pictures are of my own equipment repair process and not intended to be a web repair instructional video
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Thanks @John, I wouldn't be doing this myself, my hands are way too shaky and my soldering was always dodgy.

 

[Llew]

For Rolf ... Showing button switch type and also the small plastic led 'light guiding tubes', for want of a better description, which can drop off if your not careful.

** Please tinker at your own risk - my pictures are of my own equipment repair process and not intended to be a web repair instructional video
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

View attachment 161419View attachment 161420View attachment 161421View attachment 161422

Replaced the screen, looks good.

Had to order a new screen ribbon cable to replace the existing one - one of the pins had broken (my fault when removing the cable).

There was a problem with the joystick- it didn't work in the right and down positions. I thought it might be a problem on the actual switch, so I opened up and removed the rubber joystick 'knob', reassembled the meter and tried the positions again without the knob ( the switch pokes through enough for me to operate with my fingertip). Without the knob, all positions worked fine. For now, I'm not replacing the knob in case it repeats the problem again.

 

[John]

Replaced the screen, looks good.

Had to order a new screen ribbon cable to replace the existing one - one of the pins had broken (my fault when removing the cable).

There was a problem with the joystick- it didn't work in the right and down positions. I thought it might be a problem on the actual switch, so I opened up and removed the rubber joystick 'knob', reassembled the meter and tried the positions again without the knob ( the switch pokes through enough for me to operate with my fingertip). Without the knob, all positions worked fine. For now, I'm not replacing the knob in case it repeats the problem again.

View attachment 161608

Nice one, shame about the added hurdles but glad to hear you sourced another ribbon. Was the replacement ribbon also from Mouser Electronics ?.
Can you sleeve the toggle shaft with a bit of larger stiff tube or similar to make operation a bit better ?.
F/W - V31.10 has been out a while now if you chose to do it, one of the added features is for CCTV set ups

 

[Llew]

Nice one, shame about the added hurdles but glad to hear you sourced another ribbon. Was the replacement ribbon also from Mouser Electronics ?.
Can you sleeve the toggle shaft with a bit of larger stiff tube or similar to make operation a bit better ?.
F/W - V31.10 has been out a while now if you chose to do it, one of the added features is for CCTV se

Was the replacement ribbon also from Mouser Electronics ?

No, Ascot City via Amazon. You get four ribbons for about £6 I think it was. They're a few inches longer, but it tucks in well behind the screen.

Can you sleeve the toggle shaft with a bit of larger stiff tube or similar to make operation a bit better ?.

Worth a try John. I'll see what I can come up with.

I haven't updated my version for a while. Thanks.

 

[Llew]

Tried the toggle button in situ once more, but there's still absence of right and down positions despite much toggling.

I'm not disposed to disassembling the meter any more, as it always seems to give the same results, so I beheaded the button and glued it onto the shaft - I was lucky to have a useful amount of the inner core to enable a good fix. Toggles perfectly now NESW

A belated thanks @John for the many useful pics in the thread.

 

[John]

Tried the toggle button in situ once more, but there's still absence of right and down positions despite much toggling.

I'm not disposed to disassembling the meter any more, as it always seems to give the same results, so I beheaded the button and glued it onto the shaft - I was lucky to have a useful amount of the inner core to enable a good fix. Toggles perfectly now NESW

A belated thanks @John for the many useful pics in the thread.



View attachment 161616

Your welcome Squire - i'm a believer in the saying 'Where there's a will, there's a way'

 

[Llew]

F/W - V31.10 has been out a while now if you chose to do it, one of the added features is for CCTV set ups

I tried to update to the latest firmware, but their server is unavailable with automatic update. I don't have the latest update .ini files, so I can't manually update

Options > Check Software Updates returns the same server unavailable message.

I'll try again later.

 

[Llew]

I tried to update to the latest firmware, but their server is unavailable with automatic update. I don't have the latest update .ini files, so I can't manually update

Options > Check Software Updates returns the same server unavailable message.

I'll try again later.

I've downloaded the latest update file from Promax. I'll try that.

 

[John]

I've downloaded the latest update file from Promax. I'll try that.

Ok, ... are you aware of the updating method needed with the meter buttons to set the meter off into updating from the memory stick ?
BTW, just had a email from Mouser Electronics stating the replacement lcd screen has just gone up in price - we jumped in just in time

 

[Llew]

Ok, ... are you aware of the updating method needed with the meter buttons to set the meter off into updating from the memory stick ?

Not aware of that method John. I have the update in my download folder, ready to go.

BTW, just had a email from Mouser Electronics stating the replacement lcd screen has just gone up in price - we jumped in just in time

That's fortunate

 

[Llew]

Updated OK. Now on V31.10.