Help with how to repair Fisher Price talking James

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I wondered if anyone could point me in the right direction please.
I've recently bought from eBay a new but not working talking James, the seller claimed he just dropped it on the floor while packaged and nowbit doesn't work.
When batteries are inserted there is no movement and no sounds (completely dead).
I've opened the engine and all wires are connected including the ones to the motor itself.
Does anyone knkw where I need to start looking in order to get this working.
I understand its a bit of a long shot but wondered if there is a common fault on these at all.
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks
Joe
Hello Flindersuk

Does this James have the battery in the tender?
Hi,
Yeah it has 3 x AAA batteries in the tender and a white multicore cable from tender to engine.
Joe
I have had to repair wires in other tenders before. I have had them look like they were connected to the positive or negative terminals but they weren't actually making contact. The a wire and its solder had jarred loose. It could also be the wiring from each battery to the next. I don't have a James around to look but I am guessing that the 3 batteries are connected in series for 4.5 volts so if one connection to the next is broken there would be no power even if all the wires are. Its strange that it is completely dead for a supposedly new unit so I would have to assume that there is a missed connection somewhere. I am sure are other more experienced members can help with their experiences to. If you have it apart is it possible for you to post some pictures?
Hi,
Good idea I will take some pics over the next few days hopefully that will help.

Thanks
Joe
Well after a good nights sleep I decided to take him apart again and take some pics....
I took the circuit board out of the tender and separated the wires to show on the pics when suddenly he jumped in to life.
It would appear there is a break in some solder somewhere, unfortunatley I dont have a soldering iron so put him back together, amazingly he still works but at least I now know how to repair him fully should he go faulty again.

Thanks
Joe
[-] The following 4 users Like flindersuk's post:
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Fantastic Joe!

Its like to other day my Daughters furnace went out and I am old school and don't know much about these new fangled electronic high efficiency units. I messed around a bit, cleaning things out and making sure the wiring was intact and it worked. Don't know what I did but it worked.

If the wire needs to be corrected in the future you might check out a computer repair shop that may be able to solder the wire right.

Good job [Image: winking-thumbs-up-smiley-emoticon.gif]
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  • flindersuk, KumaChan



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