Dead HR92

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  • DBMandrake
    Automated Home Legend
    • Sep 2014
    • 2361

    Dead HR92

    Well the picture says it all:

    IMG_0566.jpg

    My first failed HR92. It's not really it's fault, sort of...

    Over a year ago it was mounted in the living room on the corner of a bay window and got knocked by a small furniture "cube" being dragged past it - I wasn't around at the time and didn't see what happened, only the aftermath.

    Despite having the screen supported by the angled wedge - which gives the impression of holding the screen securely, the wedge had popped out, one of the tiny pivot pins on the screen at broken off and the ribbon cable had been pulled clean out of the main unit with the screen lying by itself on the floor, but miraculously it wasn't otherwise damaged.

    At the time I managed to find and re-glue the TINY little bump of plastic on the edge of the screen that forms the pivot point, take the whole thing apart, thread the ribbon cable through the front and plug it back in, put it back together, and it worked fine for another year or so.

    Then a few months ago I'm not sure if it got knocked again or whether the glued pin finally gave up the ghost and fell out again, but the screen then became loose and was only hanging by one side but still working. I could have put it back in the angle wedge again but it just sticks out too far in a heavily trafficked corner of the room so I thought it was best to just leave it pushed flat.

    In hindsight I should have cellotaped it down because yesterday I came into the room to find my not quite 2 year old crouched down in front of the radiator holding the screen in his hand with a huge grin on his face and a cackle of delight in his voice... after he had clearly pulled the screen off and torn the ribbon cable. Why it tore right through the middle this time when last time when it only unplugged itself from the board I'm not sure!

    I thought I would try to keep using it without a screen until I can replace it, but curiously it doesn't work properly without the screen...

    It is still bound, if I turn the knob on the top the set point change is communicated to the controller, if I have the adaptor clicked into the base and I turn the set point from very low to very high the motor turns one way or the other as you'd expect, however it will not perform the pin calibration (cycle mode) one minute after fitting it to the radiator as it normally should. I tried removing and fitting it a few times and trying to provoke it but it won't do a calibration, meaning it won't control the radiator properly. Weird.

    When I say it's not its fault that it was physically knocked and broken, I think that's only partially true, and I have some reservations about the robustness of the physical design in hindsight.

    The angle wedge looks big and strong but the truth is it is easily knocked off leaving a vulnerable screen sticking out, and it sticks out too far in many locations - for example in the hall way I have it turned at 90 degrees so it points along the wall specifically so it doesn't get kicked as easily as it would if sticking out at right angles from the wall as it is intended to be fitted...

    But the only alternative is to not fit the wedge and leave the screen folded flat - but there is nothing to hold it like that, no latch that you can apply at the bottom. So there is absolutely nothing to stop an inquisitive toddler from tilting the screen up and doing their best to rip it off. The pivot points that hold the screen on are really tiny and flimsy, which I can attest to after having had to glue one back on again the first time it was knocked. I'm sure a 2 year old could rip the screen off if they tried even if the pivot points weren't initially already damaged.

    They really could have done with a metal pin for the pivot point to make it a bit stronger, and some sort of latch at the bottom to lock the screen into the folded flat position and secure it against small, fiddly and surprisingly strong fingers.

    When I get a replacement I'll be leaving the screen folded flat and wrapping a couple of strips of cellotape right around the entire body of the HR92 over the screen so that the little boy can't tilt the screen out and break it off again...which I don't think is particularly satisfactory but I don't see any other solution when the screen and its pivot points are so flimsy!

    Yes I am aware of the security case that can go over an HR92 to lock and protect it, but apart from it being very expensive for basically a big ugly piece of plastic designed for use in locations like community halls, it wouldn't actually fit as the HR92 body already only clears the skirting board by a few mm...

    So if you have small children and HR92's, watch out!
    Last edited by DBMandrake; 19 February 2018, 02:26 PM.
  • Dan_Robinson
    Automated Home Ninja
    • Jun 2012
    • 347

    #2
    Hr91? ..
    Kind Regards - Dan Robinson (Jennings Heating Ltd)

    Comment

    • paulockenden
      Automated Home Legend
      • Apr 2015
      • 1719

      #3
      Long cable tie preferable to sticky tape. It's less, well, 'sticky'.

      P.

      Comment

      • DBMandrake
        Automated Home Legend
        • Sep 2014
        • 2361

        #4
        Originally posted by Dan_Robinson View Post
        Hr91? ..
        If only an HR91 was compatible with my valve bodies, but it isn't. No stroke 1 mode, so not usable. I beta tested one before it was released and ended up sending it back early because it just didn't like my valve bodies so I couldn't really test it properly.

        Originally posted by paulockenden View Post
        Long cable tie preferable to sticky tape. It's less, well, 'sticky'.
        A cable tie is likely to scratch the gloss finish, and unless it was very tight, due to the curved shape he's likely to be able to push the cable tie until it slides off the bottom as the tie would be easy to grip and apply force to, not to mention tempting looking...

        The cellotape idea is just to prevent the screen being flipped out with something he can't really feel or notice. If he can't flip the screen out he can't get leverage to try to snap it off! You can get non staining versions of cellotape that don't leave residue or go yellow.
        Last edited by DBMandrake; 19 February 2018, 04:58 PM.

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