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  • soapsoapie@catgirl.cloud
    Oct 25, 2026, 10:57 AM

    This is what's in the manual of my 1989 alarm clock in case you didn't know what we lost in repairability in just 10 - 20 years

    Wiring diagram on the main board including components with their serial number
    Logic diagram of the chips and connections
    Explosion diagram with all part descriptions, spec and serial numbers
    Disassembl and electrical adjustment instructions with illustrations and pictures
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Replies

  • dominicbarometz@treehouse.systems
    Oct 25, 2026, 11:14 AM

    @soapie sorry to report '89 is longer ago than that

    And also hell yes my '99 stereo set has a similar service manual and I *wish* everything had that.

    A modern TV is going to be less repairable because of its sheer density (the stereo set is almost entirely through-hole parts!) but I wish manufacturers would just include the dang schematic or something.

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  • soapsoapie@catgirl.cloud
    Oct 25, 2026, 11:25 AM

    @barometz yes but I said that timeframe because something from 2009 also doesn't come with that kind of manual anymore. Actually, we repaired a modern TV the other day by replacing the motherboard, sure that's dense and more costly but still a lot of money and waste saved and anyone with a screwdriver can do it. My european dishwasher in the phase of the right to repair act comes with parts and manuals as well as schematics to change parts like the pump, motherboard, all parts. They also have video instructions.

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  • llewellyllewelly@sauropods.win
    Oct 25, 2026, 10:39 PM

    @barometz @soapie by 1999 most similar electronics no longer provided manuals with schematics like this. Definitely there were exceptions, but they were the minority. By 2009 they had become much rarer.

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  • SonikkuSonic2k@oldbytes.space
    Oct 25, 2026, 12:53 PM

    @soapie

    In my teenage years, I managed to get access to many service manuals such as these, because my uncle owned and operated an authorized repair shop.

    From manuals such as these, I learnt how to design things, how to do technical illustration, how to lay out PCBs for consumer electronics and generally a ton of electronics theory, because such information was not easy to come by, by any other means. Books were scarce due to the international isolation and sanctions during most of my growing up years.

    This was all before the internet and easy access to datasheets.

    By studying the circuit, and treating this as an application note, I was able to create new designs around the integrated circuits used, because those were at least available at reasonable cost.

    They don't do this anymore, and nobody can be bothered to learn the way I did, and it shows nowadays.

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  • soapsoapie@catgirl.cloud
    Oct 25, 2026, 1:35 PM

    @Sonic2k I go taught by my mother and grandparents who all went straight to the schematics when something was off. Following wires or pipes and seeing when something is not connected anymore has solves 95% of our problems is not hard for anyone, the problem is that it's not taught, encouraged and the artificial hurdles put up by companies. Personally I also blame consumerism and try to do my part to counteract it.

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  • Kimkim@fedi.social
    Oct 25, 2026, 1:14 PM

    @soapie@mastodon.catgirl.cloud When I was a teenager I found a broken black & white TV in my parents loft. Figuring that I'd learned some electronics since it stopped working, I opened it up to discover a full schematic and test procedure neatly folded into a slot moulded for the purpose on the inside of the case. (Which it turned out I didn't actually need - it was some trivial problem with the power inlet.)

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  • prokyonidprokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org
    Oct 25, 2026, 4:36 PM

    @kim @soapie My early 80s model dryer had the same thing in its control panel. I've had to do several repairs on it over the last few years, and always put it back when I was done so I didn't lose it. After the last repair, I pulled the schematic out and framed it as a kind of trophy - it's 90% of the way to being a brand new dryer now.

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  • Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.BoydStephenSmithJr@hachyderm.io
    Oct 25, 2026, 2:25 PM

    @soapie You can still get stuff like this, if you are lucky. My Sony MDR-7506 Studio stereo headphones came with an exploded view and parts list for the mechanics, a "mounting diagram" for the wiring, and a "disassembly" diagram that shows you the correct place to use a screw driver as a pry to release the electrics from the mechanics.

    I think I've only had them for 7 years.

    Any "right to repair" movement that stops before requiring free (gratis and libre) access to such documents for _every_ consumer product is not going far enough for me.

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  • Manuelcirku17@puntarella.party
    Oct 25, 2026, 6:12 PM

    @soapie This is great, but in the meantime alarm clocks became obsolete and their functionality is embedded with thousands more in a single object a fraction the size.

    We lost a lot but we gained a lot. The challenge is having repairability and current-year complexity at the same time.

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  • Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.BoydStephenSmithJr@hachyderm.io
    Oct 25, 2026, 7:39 PM

    @bastelwombat @soapie Yep, some companies did it just to cut costs. Many others did it to "protect" their IP. All those losses can be laid at the foot of Capitalism.

    A few did it in some misguided attempt at "security" (by obscurity), and there's no fixing intentional ignorance.

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  • Faraiwefaraiwe@mstdn.social
    Oct 25, 2026, 8:06 PM

    @soapie This HURT.

    Things were built in away they were meant to last longer than the most fragile consumable of their parts. They had diagrams,so end user (who was not a hopeless, de-skilled tiktok brainless scroller) could chase a problem and fix it, themselves.

    Closer to home, stereo/surround receivers and amps were shipped with diagrams for their boards, specs for every component.Now.... ::tears::

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  • Faraiwefaraiwe@mstdn.social
    Oct 25, 2026, 8:07 PM

    @soapie

    My mid-late-00s Harman Kardon AVR254 still had them. The early-mid-10s Harman Kardon AVR1650 no longer had that.Samsung bought HK out,by mid-10s.

    Now, HK makes disposable bluetooth ear buds and plasticky wireless boomboxes.

    Sad. =(

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  • Clifton RoystonCliftonR@wandering.shop
    Oct 25, 2026, 9:46 PM

    @soapie

    And that beautiful circuit board layout, too!

    Laid out at the time when they were done by hand - you can tell by the wide traces with fluid organic-looking curves.

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