jalberts Posted December 19, 2004 Share Posted December 19, 2004 Hi Alpahdromers,I know some of you out there are pretty good at fixing robots. (Unfortunately, I'm not). I have a Mr. Mercury that pretty much quit working on me. The remote was intermittent (some functions would work sometimes), then it just quit. I took the remote apart and tried to fix it. I resoldered some of the wire connections,but I ended up just making it not work altogther. Since all the functions worked at one time. I have to assume the problem is in the remote, not the robot. I hesitate to take apart the robot, I had trouble enough with the remote. It seems to me that the contact system is very finicky.Any thoughts about how to fix it, or someone who can fix it? Can you buy replacement remotes?I would appreciate any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartzenegger Posted December 19, 2004 Share Posted December 19, 2004 do you have and no how to use a multi-meter? that will help you find the loose connection. good luck, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robothut Posted December 19, 2004 Share Posted December 19, 2004 First you need to find out if the problem is the remote. Do it this way. Go to radio shack and by a 2 battery type holder that has 2 bare wires leading from the battery pack. then you can use the 2 wure to touch the wires in the button part of the Mr. Merc battery controler to see if the robot still runs. Just pop off the 4 button plastic top, the 4 wires that come from the robot "for the 2 motors" are connected tot he button leaf spring fingers, just touch the leafs or wires where the solder to the ;eafs and see if you can get the robot to run. Be sire to push one of the 2 leaf connectore down as if they are both left in the up position you will just short out your radio shack battery pack. If you can not find any life then its in to the bot you must go.If you have a volt meter then you can just put batterys in the Mr merc remote and check for 3 volts by connecting your volt meter to the top metal part and the bottom metal bar part in the push button section, these top and botton contact bars are supped to be electricaly connected to the batterys at all times. The 4 leaf switch springs are connected to the 2 motors. Normaly all the leaf springs will be contacting the top contact bar. With all motor wires contacting the same votage point the motors will not run but if you push any 1 of the buttones then you make a connection to the other battery source and the motor will run, by pushing the oposite button you reverse the voltage to the motor and that causes the gear box in the robot to perform a different fuction, like walk or bend, thats 1 motor or raise / lower arms or Open close arms thats 1 motor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetalRobotHead Posted December 19, 2004 Share Posted December 19, 2004 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...ssPageName=WDVWCan you buy replacement remotes? This one made $125, ended a few days ago. Perhaps another one will come along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jalberts Posted December 19, 2004 Author Share Posted December 19, 2004 Robothut, thanks for the reply.I have a voltmeter, and have confirmed that there are 3 volts between the top and bottom contact bars on the remote.However, even with that being the case, all actions are intermittent. From time to time, the arm up/down and open/close will work, but the bend and walk functions usually don't at all.All functions are intermittent, like maybe the leaf contacts don't distribute the current well.Do I have a short inside the robot itself? If so, how can I tell without tearing it down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robothut Posted December 19, 2004 Share Posted December 19, 2004 Easy, Look at the button top cover to find the WALK and Bend buttons, now take the button top off, now you know what 2 leaf contacts are for the Walk and Bend control. put your volt meter on the 2 contacts for the Walk and bend control. Now push on 1 of the control leafs contacts. Even if the robot does not run look at the volt meter, does it show voltage. If it shows voltage and the robot is not running then your intermitant problem is in the robot or wires leading to the robot. If you don't see any voltage when you push on just 1 of the leaf contacts then you do have a problem with the leaf contacts maeking connection with either the top or bottom supply rail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jalberts Posted December 20, 2004 Author Share Posted December 20, 2004 Thanks for your help.My problem appears to be inside.I'm not confortable opening this guy up.Any suggestions for people who do repairs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electric Robot and Son Posted December 20, 2004 Share Posted December 20, 2004 I don't believe that remote was really a Mr Mercury remote. It didn't seem to have the button functions labelled below the buttons. I think it was from a sears exploding tank toy. The remotes are almost identical except the buttons are not labelled on the tank remote. I guess I won't be able to buy any more of these tanks at a low price anymore. You frequently see them on ebay for a lot less than what that one went for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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