Broken and Fixed
The battery in my scooter has been giving me trouble. It will no longer hold a charge, and I need to be jump-started nearly every time now. If the scooter runs for a while, it will start up fine in the next few hours, but if it sits more than a few hours, it needs a jump. I don’t have a good battery charger (I should get one), but even small charges aren’t holding anymore. However, I’m not too bent out of shape, because the battery is 3 years old, and is a fairly small battery. It’s lived a good life, and is ready for retirement.
In case anyone is wondering, and for my own reference, the Aprilia SR50 DiTech (year 2001-2003, and possibly other years) uses a Yuasa YXB5L-BS. Its a 70 CCA, 5Ah absorbed glass mat (AGM) sealed battery. It needs no fluids, can’t leak, and won’t randomly catch on fire (yay!). However, original Yuasa replacements can be around $60, which is a pretty spicy meatball for such a small battery.
I recommend a Westco or Universal replacement, part number X5LB. They are a lot cheaper, have the same specs, the same longevity, and are the same size. I got mine from “Battery Stuff”:http://www.batterystuff.com for $36 including shipping.
In the rest of the broken stuff world, I’m now fixing my old PC. It’s the workhorse PII 400 that sits in the corner sounding like a damn jet engine and serving up MP3s and other goodies to the house. It broke a while back because the hard drive crashed. I wasn’t too bent out of shape about that either, because it was just the system drive (all the important data is stored on other drives), and it was the original 7Gb Maxtor that I put in when I first put it together in 1998. For having run nearly 24/7 for 6 years, I think it held up admirably.
Finally, Madalene’s beloved camera is broken. It is having the same problem it has had two other times, that being that the auto-retracting lens cover detaches from some inner actuator, and hangs loose, unable to fully open or close. The camera, thinking it is closed, refuses to operate, and the lens cannot extend. The first time we had it professionally repaired. The second time was within the warranty period for the first repair, and so was repaired for free. However, this time there is no such warranty, and the camera has been on the fritz in a few other ways, suggesting that a professional repair would not be cost effective right now. Berg is currently disassembling the camera using jewelers tools and a dental pick, and we’ll see if he can fix it.
Keep an eye on your breakables, because they will break. But enjoy fixing them, because if you don’t, then you are going to go crazy.
4 comments Thursday 14 Oct 2004 | Sam | Personal
it’s a breeze to fix….just take off the cover…theres a white plastic lever/switch….glue it down so the camera thinks it’s closed…you can either take the lens cover off completely…reaffix the spring and cover….just don’t lose the screws…
but i do have an extra one of those cameras…so you can use it for parts if you need
Hey guys. look at it this way…there are your proverbial “three things” that bad things come in…pretty minor in the greater scheme of things for bad stuff; at least no people were broken during this spate of seemingly random destruction. I wish you the best of luck getting all your stuff fixed.
Billy,
Not sure what you mean…can you be more specific? My camera is just lonely and sad right now.
And it is very sweet of you to offer yours for parts! I love my camera…but this may be the end of my beloved fujifilm 40i. Berg did open it up, but we didn’t fix it. We did get it back together to its pre-opening condition, though (thanks, Berg!). I have to weigh whether it’s worth it to ship it off to be fixed or I should just buy a new camera…in either case, I don’t have much time. I really want a digital camera at halloween time.
Thanks, Jim, for the support!! I just wish I could fix my own camera, and that dumb people wouldn’t drop it in the first place. Ah, well.
And the other broken things were Sam’s, so at least it’s spread out over two people.
can anyone help me i took my aprilia sr50 ditech 2001 reg to an aprilia dealer (its the only one i have around my area) they say they put an engine caseing on it but it doesent look like it i think i might get in touch with garage from hell anyway ever since it came back it runs hot all the time and cuts out and smells asif its burning and sometimes i can turn the engine off and i can hear all the water bubbleing and air trying to get out the water bottle the bit under the handle bars it was ok before it went to the shop i phoned the shop they wont look at it again coz i was a bit nastie with them on the phone i reckon. water comes out the exhuast and i keep haveing to put water back in can anyone tell me how i would go about fixing it and its the damage bad i dont have a clue and there aint no other aprilia dealers around my area if anyone has and information and could help me out please e-mail me on ben@adie-technologies.co.uk you would be great help thanks Ben.