I got caught out in a bad rain downpour yesterday, and the robot, data collector, and pretty much everything got soaked. I brought everything in and toweled it off, and left everything sitting out so it could dry out.
I downloaded the data from yesterday, and afterwards the data collector would not turn off with the power key. I left it sitting out, and figured it would turn itself off.
I came in the office this morning, to the clicking of the data collector sounding like I was holding a key down. It still would not turn off. I messed around with it a little, and it finally turned off.
I just picked it up, turned it on, and uploaded an ascii file into it to create a new job field and head out to the field to look for a few corners between rain showers. The keyboard does not work.
Any suggestions?
I really hope I have not lost this data collector. It works great, well until this happened. I have a 500X that I also use. If this one does indeed go down, I will have to find a backup data collector.
Thanks in advance,
Jimmy
That is a common problem with the 200 series. There is a rubber gasket under the keyboard that keeps the water out of the electronics. That gasket wears out under the keys that used a lot and lets water in. The keys usually stop working one at a time, in a cluster, in the area with the leak. Unfortunately, I think the keyboard is toast. I had a similar problem about 3 years ago, and I called Hayes and they told me they had some dead 200s they could get a keyboard off, and get me a "used" replacement. That keyboard worked fine for years, until I traded that DC in recently.
There is a TDS "upgrade" program, where you can trade in a 200 series (as long as it turns on), and get a Ranger 3 with the same TDS components activated for about $2900. You are basically paying for the new hardware, and keeping your software).
Here's a link, or call your local TDS guy and see if they can do an "upgrade", if you want to go that route.
http://www.stakemill.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=226_114_1045_1201
If you really want to save the data collector, get on ebay and find one without software. Send them to Troy and he will swap keyboards.
That being said, TPR has the right idea. Have a little memorial service, then send it off to purgatory.
