CitroJim's AX, C3 Picasso, Cycling and Running Tales

[mickthemaverick]

It is imperative this unit is made to work again so I may have to get creative

In view of that comment I am guessing I know exactly which XM that is out of!

[CitroJim]

It is imperative this unit is made to work again so I may have to get creative

In view of that comment I am guessing I know exactly which XM that is out of!

I think you may well do Mick

I don't recall fitting any Clarion units in BXs when I worked at BCC.

That was my belief Mike as I'd never seen a BX so fitted but I'm no BX specialist and was happy to bow to Skull's superior knowledge on these subjects and wondered if it was ever offered as an upgrade option to the standard fare as happened on the S1 AX where there was a choice of Blaupunkt models on offer. My AX has a rather fine one

[Michel]

It is imperative this unit is made to work again so I may have to get creative

In view of that comment I am guessing I know exactly which XM that is out of!

I think you may well do Mick

I don't recall fitting any Clarion units in BXs when I worked at BCC.

That was my belief Mike as I'd never seen a BX so fitted but I'm no BX specialist and was happy to bow to Skull's superior knowledge on these subjects and wondered if it was ever offered as an upgrade option to the standard fare as happened on the S1 AX where there was a choice of Blaupunkt models on offer. My AX has a rather fine one

I only recall fitting various Blaupunkts in AXs and BXs in the late 80s. We only saw a couple of XMs up there back then but my own XM estate had that very one you pictured in it.

I don't remember PDI-ing any other models actually. What new motors were Citroën producing between 1988 and 90?

[CitroJim]

I don't remember PDI-ing any other models actually. What new motors were Citroën producing between 1988 and 90?

I believe Mike, between those dates, at my best guess and not necessarily right: AX, BX, CX, XM (from 1989) and the 2CV. The ZX came along in 1991.

Plus things like the Visa-based C15 van and other vanny things...

Bet anything you like I've forgotten one or two!

[mickthemaverick]

I don't remember PDI-ing any other models actually. What new motors were Citroën producing between 1988 and 90?

All of them were new Mike!!

[CitroJim]

Very little progress on the XM radio today as parkrun and TT racing organisation work got in the way...

Parkrun was great fun and the TT work involved a meeting at the BikeBus Cafe - see the Pubs and Cafe's thread in OTCL - over coffee so very acceptable

This is the Dolby and tape head preamp module in question:

This from another radio I've used as a spares source and test bed... There's lots of suspect electrolytics on the module and I can see at least one leaky one. Chances are these, known to be unreliable, are the issue. Trouble is, I need a proper desolder/rework station to properly deal with this module. Solder wick is not up to the job. I've tried and ended up damaging some critical plated-through holes.

Zel, I believe you have a good rework/desolder station. Can you advise details of it before I blindly go and buy one please? Open to recommendations too

There will be little work done tomorrow too as I'm racing the Ashridge Duathlon

https://www.atwevents.co.uk/e/atw-ashri ... thlon-8971

Only problem is, I may have caught a bit of lurgy from Softy Play with Autumn and Robyn on Wednesday Being full of small children it's going to be a veritable germ factory

Or, all that smelly soggy fluff I dug out of their washing machine was a breeding ground for some new species of virulent superbug

[mickthemaverick]

https://smtinsight.com/best-desoldering-stations/

[CitroJim]

https://smtinsight.com/best-desoldering-stations/

Thanks Mick

[xantia_v6]

You can't safely solder/desolder aluminium electrolytic capacitors using a hot air station, as they tend to explode with the heat.

The low thermal conductivity of air means that the hot air must be well above the melting point of solder, which is also well above the point where the capacitors can explode.

To solder those (safely), you need to heat up the substrate, either on a hot-plate, or with hot air applied from below. If there is sufficient room you can replace individual capacitors using "hot tweezers".

In the case of that module, the ceramic substrate has high thermal conductivity and maybe there are active components on the other side?

NB wear eye protection when heating those capacitors by any means.

[CitroJim]

You can't safely solder/desolder aluminium electrolytic capacitors using a hot air station, as they tend to explode with the heat.

I'm after a powerful vacuum solder sucker for this job Mike, not a hot-air rework apparatus. The module is more a thick-film assembly and those little electrolytics are on legs through the substrate that has tracks on both sides... It's not SMD in the conventional sense.

Trust me, I know all about what an unhappy electrolytic can do, been there a few times! Likewise, little tants!

[Michel]

Only problem is, I may have caught a bit of lurgy from Softy Play with Autumn and Robyn on Wednesday Being full of small children it's going to be a veritable germ factory

I wear a mask at work now if the office is busy, or always if I have to go into the terminals. I'm sure that's where I originally got COVID from right at the beginning..

[CitroJim]

A truly magical Ashridge Duathlon today It was torrential rain all the way to the venue - see POTD for some pics - and I had to plough through quite a lot of floods... Polly coped admirably

It was still pretty biblical when I arrived. It was touch and go if the race would go ahead as a part of the bike course was flooded, along with a lot of standing water on the run course... The photo below is just one of many deep puddles!

With the weather forecast to improve, the decision was taken to delay the race start by an hour and give the floods out opn the bike course time to recede a little.

Happily, they did although we still had to negotiate a fairly deep flood...

All good fun... Sadly no pictures of the actual event as British Triathlon rules ban the use of any media recording devices whilst the race is in progress. Only official photographers are permitted to take pictures.

Even taking photos of the transition area are frowned upon... I took a sly one

Despite not being quite on top form - still got a bit of ball-pit lurgy - I was very pleased with my performance today... It shows

[mickthemaverick]

Well done Jim, another gong for the rack!! Hardly had any rain here today to the point that I actually got the car hoovered and the new mats installed!!

[CitroJim]

Well done Jim, another gong for the rack!! Hardly had any rain here today to the point that I actually got the car hoovered and the new mats installed!!

The weather was absolutely amazing Mick, bordering on bonkers... Once it stopped monsoon raining, the sun came out for a bit and it got quite warm It ended up a lovely day although we did have a brief downpour around midday...

I noted Polly telling me it was 15 degrees outside on my journey home In February! As I say, bonkers!

I wear a mask at work now if the office is busy, or always if I have to go into the terminals. I'm sure that's where I originally got COVID from right at the beginning..

At my work, stuck in a centrally air-conditioned office all day, any bugs were guaranteed to spread to all occupants... It was incredibly unhealthy and once I retired my incidence of suffering many variants of non-specific lurgy plummeted so wearing a mask may well be an excellent move... Have you noticed a difference?

[CitroJim]

In racing action yesterday at the Ashridge Duathlon

Photographer: Mark J Easton

And on the bike...

Photographer: Mark J Easton