Barclay Enterprises, Inc.
 TELEPHONE EQUIPMENT REPAIR & SALES

 

Cordless telephone sales and expert repair service.

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 Universal Pad Mate® Troubleshooting Guide

01/01/2010

 

While the Pad Mate's® contacts are manufactured and designed to be easily installed on many different models, the possibility of installation problems is inevitable, even for the most experienced technicians.  While these problems are very far and few between, we have described below the most common problems that may occur while installing your contacts.

If you find you have a problem not described below, or you have a problem you cannot correct, please email us with the symptoms you're having and the model you're applying the contacts on, and we'll hopefully be able to give you additional tips on how to solve your problem. A technician will reply to you within 8 business hours. Please do not call.

Also, keep in mind that --- while we have successfully installed the contacts in the exact same manner, on the exact same model telephones --- do-it-yourself repair is not for everyone, and accidents do happen during the process. If you have a problem that cannot be corrected, we do provide a money back guarantee if you cannot successfully install the contacts on your telephone or ultimately end up with a phone that is unusable. Or, alternatively, in most cases we could repair your unit for you and apply what you paid for the contacts to your repair order. Let us know if you need to go this route. We're here to help.

 

1. Telephone will not power up.

Probable cause and solution: Most likely the charging contacts are not connecting properly, or the battery contacts are not touching the board (some are soldered, some make contact with the board when it is closed and tightened). Ensure you have installed the charge contacts properly and that they are touching the surface of the board as they were prior to the installation by removing and reinstalling.  Note: Some model handsets must be set in the charger to power up, even though you have installed the battery. Note: If your handset is completely dead, and you think you may have jabbed the circuit board with your screwdriver, you can take a magnifying glass and closely look at the circuit board. If this happens, most likely it will be to sent in for repair, and let us know what happened while you were working on it.  We can normally fix most problems, and do not beat yourself up over it. It happens, even to the most experienced technicians.

 

2. Telephone powers up, but NONE of the buttons work.

Probable cause and solution: There is a button stuck down (rubber keypad button or Pad Mate® contact making contact when it should not). First, take a close look at the rubber buttons on the outside of the handset, and make sure none of them are stuck or pushed down. You can take your fingernail or small tool to pull up any buttons stuck under the plastic. If none of the buttons are stuck down, then you will need to disassemble the handset and do a close inspection of the installation of the membrane contacts. Ensure that they are centered over the contact area, and that you have applied the “insulator” between the board contact and the membrane contact. If you do not see any contacts out of place, you will need to either remove them one at a time and attempt to power up the handset to see if the buttons are working now, or you can remove them all, verify that your buttons are working, then re-apply each membrane individually, or in groups of threes, each time testing the handset to ensure the buttons are working again. Note: With many handsets you can merely install the battery without re-assembling the entire handset, and test the buttons (any button) to see if they are working again.

 

3. Handset seems to dial by itself, or a button is too sensitive.

Probable cause and solution: In this case, a membrane contact is too close to the circuit board or/and it is sticking down from debris and the contact area on the board needs to be re-cleaned. A way to determine which button is being too sensitive: While the phone is idle, take your palm and rub it across the buttons very lightly so not to push the buttons down. The one overly sensitive button should activate, and in most cases you can hear it beep, or/and see which button activated by looking at the display. Once you figure out which button it is, remove the contact, clean the board, and ensure you have installed the insulator properly centered over the contact on the board, prior to installing the membrane contact.

 

4. Phone powers up, and the buttons beep, but will not get dial tone.

Probable cause and solution: The handset has lost its ability to communicate with your base station. This could be from (a) losing its programming or (b) the radio module or electronics getting damaged when you took the phone apart. If the phone is not damaged, but merely needs re-registering to your base (depending on the model), you will need to attempt to re-register it to your base station. If you have a base that has a built in charger on it that the handset sits in, power down the base, set the handset in the charger, then power up the base. Wait about a minute, then see if the handset will access the line, or use the locator or intercom button to see if the base and handset are now “seeing” each other. If this is not successful, you need to refer to “handset registration” in the index of your system user instructions. If you cannot find your instructions, Panasonic provides all manuals via the web. You can also email us for a link if you cannot find it on their website yourself.

 

5. Phone gets very warm during recharging or is intermittently dying.

Probable cause and solution: It is normal for the phone to get warm during charging, but not hot. If this is happening, open the handset and make sure your charge contacts are properly in place so they are touching the board properly. If these look fine, then you may have a membrane contact or insulator that is not centered properly, allowing the membrane contact to touch a part of the circuit it should not be touching. You will need to remove each contact and insulator and re-apply, ensuring that the center opening of the insulator is centered over the contact of the board, and not allowing any conductive surfaces on the circuit board that may surround the contact are not being exposed to the conductive membrane contact. Note: If you need more insulators, they are very inexpensive (paper reinforcers) and easily found at your local office supply store.

 

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