G-Shock Wademan DW-9800 restoration

[rutteger]

Finally had a quiet few minutes to take a look at this.

Back off, new batteries in. Nothing. Doh. Tested the old batteries fitted, supposedly new Sonys, both were flat. New cheapo eBay batteries showed 1.5v as expected.

Took batteries in and out a few times and tried AC, once or twice got something on the screen but the watch didn't 'start'.

As such decided to take it apart and clean the internals. Nothing ventured nothing gained...



Came apart easily enough. Interestingly slightly different construction to other Gs I've taken apart. Normally the module sits in a rubber mount (which supposedly gives the shock resistance) and is decopuled from the case. Not here, the white battery section (bottom right in pic below) is clipped into the case. Once this is removed the whole lot falls out!



Took it down to constituent parts. Cleaned with switch cleaner which is about the strongest stuff I have. Never 100% sure if it's a good idea using this on something as delicate as a module but I've never had issue with it in the past...

Reassembled is easily enough. First time it went back together worked first time. Hooray! Took the battery section off again to replace the alarm springs. Nothing. Doh. Then having taken a closer look at the module I realised I was using the wrong hole in the rear of the module for AC Got the right AC, module started up, all back together and working nicely. Phew. Display seems a little better than before but does seem to dim a little on occasion.




Not sure if it really needed taking apart totally. Either way it works and that's enough for me

 

[macspite]

Good news!

As for contact cleaner it should be find for all electrical components and circuit boards which I believe are glass reinforced plastic. Won't swear to it but probably ok with other resin products like G-Shocks.

What would be good is for someone with some scrap watch platics to stick them in jars with various cleaners and see what degradation there may be after a few months. Maybe broken resin straps would be good test pieces - I can set up a couple of tests shortly.

 

[rutteger]

Glad indeed - thought it was done.

Contact cleaner should indeed be good for PCBs although it is pretty strong stuff. When cleaning up a PCB on a plastic toy previously some split and melted the plastic pretty badly, as such I'd be wary of using on resin directly.

Be an interesting comparison to see what effect chemicals have on resin.

 

[disavowed]

Where's the emoticon for speechlessness???

Your resto work, the pictorial chronology, and the end product all kick @$$...

Congrats - and thanks for the thread.

 

[rutteger]

Where's the emoticon for speechlessness???

Your resto work, the pictorial chronology, and the end product all kick @$$...

Congrats - and thanks for the thread.

Thanks for your kind comments

Sadly not sure as this will end well. Took a look at the watch this evening and the display has gone very dim again May pull it apart one more time if only to check the drain on the batteries. However reckon I might have to write this one off - until I can find another good wademan module

 

[seanobsdot]

ive heard you can use nail polish remover... what do you think? got a 9050 that looks like its colors are dulling out a little bit. someone also told me that nailpolish itself can be used to paint the watch? what do you think?

 

[rutteger]

ive heard you can use nail polish remover... what do you think? got a 9050 that looks like its colors are dulling out a little bit. someone also told me that nailpolish itself can be used to paint the watch? what do you think?

The problem with the wademan is the lcd as opposed to band and bezel.

Be interesting to see if nail polish remover would bring colour back to resin, give it a go it'd clean it if nothjng else.

 

[seanobsdot]

The problem with the wademan is the lcd as opposed to band and bezel.

Be interesting to see if nail polish remover would bring colour back to resin, give it a go it'd clean it if nothjng else.

i was looking at your earlier restoration when i asked that question. i want to brighten up the letters on the CASE but i can take a little sarcasm. u said u used alcohol to remove the white piant on the wademan....i was asking you if remover can be a substitute??? you must think ive gone mad......:disillusionment:

 

[rutteger]

i was looking at your earlier restoration when i asked that question. i want to brighten up the letters on the CASE but i can take a little sarcasm. u said u used alcohol to remove the white piant on the wademan....i was asking you if remover can be a substitute??? you must think ive gone mad......:disillusionment:

Ahh, I see. Wasn't being sarcastic (can be much more sarcastic than that ) but guessed we were talking at cross purposes.

To repaint the text I used model enamel paint (think testors is the big US brand?) But I've seen nail varnish used. Reckon the remover would work to remove the excess just fine. Give it a go!

One thing I have noted is the casio white text is actually off white, so if you redo any white on a bezel you'd be best doing the lot.

 

[seanobsdot]

Ahh, I see. Wasn't being sarcastic (can be much more sarcastic than that ) but guessed we were talking at cross purposes.

To repaint the text I used model enamel paint (think testors is the big US brand?) But I've seen nail varnish used. Reckon the remover would work to remove the excess just fine. Give it a go!

One thing I have noted is the casio white text is actually off white, so if you redo any white on a bezel you'd be best doing the lot.

yes...i wet ahead and did it it looks just like yours when it was in repair...just having problems keeping it neat...my painting looks like a three year olds. for some reason all of the function indicators look perfect except the mode supposed ill try a toothpick or something thanks for the help