I had an interesting customer this week. He had purchased a 755cm HP Designjet from me a couple years ago. He's only called me twice needing help with the machine. He called two days ago saying that the LCD lights on his front panel no longer worked after he moved the plotter from a commercial space to his home. It was fine before the move but died when they first plugged it in at the new spot. "We only moved it three miles and we kept it vertical and it didn't get dropped."
I said he should bring it by my workshop and I'd pop another front panel into the machine. He did. I did. It worked great. We were both quite pleased. I reminded him that plotters should always be plugged into a true surge protector and then they should be left on...as they really don't suck much power and turning them on and off is actually harder on the old electronics than just leaving them on.
An hour later he called to say he'd gotten it home, plugged it in and there was even a little spark as he plugged it directly into the wall outlet...he'd buy a surge protector tomorrow...
You might have seen this one coming. He burned up the replaced front panel. Obviously he has some electrical problem with that outlet. A surge protector would have saved him time and money -- a lot of each. He assured me that he'd always left his plotter on since he bought it from me, but the surge protector message had been missed.
Lucky for him, I have one more panel I can sell to him.
I said he should bring it by my workshop and I'd pop another front panel into the machine. He did. I did. It worked great. We were both quite pleased. I reminded him that plotters should always be plugged into a true surge protector and then they should be left on...as they really don't suck much power and turning them on and off is actually harder on the old electronics than just leaving them on.
An hour later he called to say he'd gotten it home, plugged it in and there was even a little spark as he plugged it directly into the wall outlet...he'd buy a surge protector tomorrow...
You might have seen this one coming. He burned up the replaced front panel. Obviously he has some electrical problem with that outlet. A surge protector would have saved him time and money -- a lot of each. He assured me that he'd always left his plotter on since he bought it from me, but the surge protector message had been missed.
Lucky for him, I have one more panel I can sell to him.