Remember that the person answering your question has to start somewhere too. If that happens to be below your exact level of knowledge, it doesn't mean you were being patronised or belittled. It means that the responder was being thoughtful, and had decided to err on the safe side.
Ok, but don't you think "write it down on a piece of paper" sounds like something you'd say to a seven year old?
Not if you were saying it with good humour. Unfortunately you didn't appear to read it with good humour. This is Usenet, you can't see the person posting, and they can't see you - always a good idea to try to see if what they are saying /could/ be seen to be good humoured before getting upset. Have a nice day!
:-)
Dave
You too. Suggestion that Kate should use smileys to convey humorous or sarcastic comments, if that was intended. Or am I stating the obvious? ;-)
Actually; 'writing it down on a piece of paper' and/or sketching (plus nowadays taking digital photographs) of items being taken apart is _standard_ practise for folk. It's amazing how frequently one dismantles something then 're-mantles' it to find several 'bits left over'. A digital photo, that can then be discarded, is a useful accomplice in repair work Also folks at plumber's merchants; tool stores and places such as Maplins are not fazed when someone profers a piece of paper with the query 'Do you have something which is similar to this?', they can consult their data sheets and sometimes suggest a similar item - which may not be the _exact_ item you're attempting to source.
Wouldn't do much without mine nowdays. I've taken pictures of wheels I'm about to re-spoke, laptops I'm taking to bits and it's been great to be able to refer back to them "ahh, that went there"!
If I *don't* write down on a bit of paper what I need I forget what I was after (by the end of the road these days) ..:-(
You would be surprised how often the "let's cover it step by step from the beginning" process discovers summat really 'simple' that may have been overlooked?
I did similar recently whilst trying to help someone (via e-mail) setup a replacement wireless router. That *assumed* they could creat the wireless network at the remote laptop (rather in the router).
It was the "Start internet explorer, replace the url with 192.168.0.1 and when connected enter the username and password. Click on Wireless settings and enter your settings there" bit that gave them the bigger picture .. ;-)
All the best ..
T i m
p.s. I was going to ask if this monitor system was a 'pair' in which case there may have been an identical PSU on the remaining working unit to check / measure?
Apology accepted. If my tone appeared patronising, I apologise for that. It was done to avoid long-winded or over-complex replies, and to avoid confusion.
I see from other posts that the suggestion to write the info on a piece of paper wasn't received too well.
My thinking was that, if you were unfamiliar with voltages, currents, and polarities, it's easy to get confused when looking at a pile of power units in a shop. Having the hard info with you at that point can be very useful!
Also, if you give the assistant the piece of paper and say "give me one of these", than if he gives you the wrong one it's down to the shop, not down to you.......'Nuff said, methinks ;-)
I'd say it to anybody, whenever it's important to remember something in complete and accurate detail.
Wouldn't help if you go into my local Maplins. They seem to have even less of a clue than I do.
On 14 Feb 2006 04:43:10 -0800,it is alleged that snipped-for-privacy@bigmailbox.net spake thusly in uk.d-i-y:
Sadly this is true, Maplin used to be run by clueful and helpful people. Then they went all consumer electronics on us :-).
The suggestion to write down is a good one tho, I often fail to do it myself LOL
In future. With a very sharp knife, you can usually dissect the strain relief bit of the cable. Then, you (after noting polarity) cut off the insulation in the region of where it needs twisted. Cut both wires at that point, and anohter 1/2cm or so. Solder the wire stubs together again, and add lots of insulation tape pulled tightly round as strain relief.
Now, tape the baby monitor cord to the back of the baby monitor, so it can't move.
Or arrange the two wires to leave a few mm air gap between the solder joints, and then flood the whole thing with hot-melt glue.
It's probably stronger than anything you could manage with insulating tape... but in any case:
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