Anyone Any Good At PCB's?!

[jagillham]

Got a claymore remote, which has decided to drastically reduce it's range on me. It won't work any further than a foot from the claymore, unless I touch the aerial.

I don't know anything about these, changed the battery, which did not help. But the also seems to be a button battery soldered onto the board (R315).

Anyone got any ideas where to start?!

[bravotwozero]

Re: Anyone Any Good At PCB's?!

Make sure the Ariel is connected properly, and that all the solder still covers all the wires.

[Oath]

Re: Anyone Any Good At PCB's?!

unless I touch the aerial.

This implies to me that it is simply a loose conection somewhere, either conecting the actual ariel itself, or that the movement of the ariel shifts something else.
I don't know how the PCB fits in the claymore, but if you can activate it whist being able to see the board it is possible that you may be able to see a spark when you wiggle the ariel.

It's either that, or possibly something isn't insulated properly and is earthing, so make sure there isn't any interfierence from anything.

Other than that I'm at a loss, the battery may be at fault, but as with many of these things, its odd that it works a little bit, and then a lot. It should either work only a little bit (battery problem) or not at all untill you wiggle it then everything (conection or earth).