Does the display have a ribbon connector? If so they can loosen.

I’ve had a similar problem before with an older Warco fitted DRO – always in cold weather!

If I warmed up the unit with a hair drier it started working again.

Last winter I removed the cicuit board and went over all the joints with a soldering iron to get rid of any dry joints and haven’t had the problem yet this winter. Having said that I’m tempting fate aren’t I?

Worth trying?

What are the symptoms Steve?  By ‘expired’ I assume totally dead, no smoke, scorch marks, and nothing lights up. If there’s any sign of life, please say what it is.

The most common reason electronics fail is mechanical!

• Condensation
• Corrosion due to condensation
• Loose connections or cracked circuit board tracks due to warming and cooling or vibration.
• Dirty switch and pot contacts and pots.
• Dry joints
• Damaged insulation
• Overheating
• Assembly errors.

Quite often, simply reseating plugs and sockets will fix, ideally with a squirt of switch cleaner.  Corrosion requires more aggressive cleaning.  Also check screw terminals and look for loose crimps.

Make sure the electronics are dry and well ventilated.

Dry joints and cracked traces are easy to fix if you can find them.  A freeze spray helps isolate problem areas.

Unfortunately, some mechanical failures result in fatally overstressed electronics.  That’s hard to fix without a circuit, a reasonably good understanding, and the right equipment.   For that reason when my stuff fails, I run through the basic mechanical checks and, unless the problem is fairly obvious, I replace rather than repair.   It’s because my time is valuable and I don’t enjoy repair work.  I assume Steve doesn’t have any test gear, in which case explaining how to diagnose and fix even a mild electronic problem is unlikely to help.

Dave