I know there's a lot of expertise on here so I'm hoping someone can identify the frazzled component from my portable compressor/jump starter. If I can find out what it is, I can replace it.
I take it you are talking about the components at the top of the board, where the scorch marks are? These are two resistors and a diode. Sorry, I can't remember the colour-coding for resistors, so I can't tell you the values. Providing the copper track on the back of the board is not burnt out it should be possible to unsolder the components and replace them with new ones. Any decent electronics shop should be able to provide the necessary parts - look up your local Maplins...
Thanks. If they're resistors I'll look them up on the chart. I didn't want to blunder about if it turned out to be a capacitor or something. The diode I recognised, and will replace with one I've already got. If it turns out to be something else which has blown the resistor, then I'll only have wasted a few pence and a little time. The thing stopped taking a charge. I've traced the mains charger (rated at 12v but putting out 23!) up to this point, when the voltage drops to <11v. Which explains why it wouldn't recharge.
Keith may be right - it may be something else that has caused the resistor to overheat, and in doing so it may also have trashed the eprom on the board. However, I'm a big believer in "if it's already broken you can't make it worse" theory. For the cost of a couple of cheap components it's probably worth having a go at fixing it...
