Re: Anyone here repair Casio ABC watches - Baro/Alti not working

Alright I guess after 134 views and 36 hours that nobody else works on these watches or knows about the insides. ??? I find that a little hard to believe.

My motto has always been "if it can break I can fix it" but finding a sensor is a problem I can't fix. I could, maybe, find another watch in bad or broken condition with a good sensor.

Or...I could just buy a PRG270 that I have been looking at and just use this one as a watch with a compass and thermometer. I think I am selling my PAG1100 because I just don't like how it looks.

 

Re: Anyone here repair Casio ABC watches - Baro/Alti not working

I can answer most of my questions now.

I tried for three days to find info on the sensor, I looked for a replacement but there doesn't seem to one available anywhere, yes I tried PacParts and even looked at all the other models that might use the same sensor.

I found a PAG80 on ebay that was working except for the LCD, the back light works and the watch beeps when buttons are pushed. I purchased it in hope that it had a good sensor and it would be the same as the PAG40 for $35. It arrived a few days ago.

I tried to find info on removing the sensor from the watch because I'm not sure how it is removed. I removed the silver metal ring held on with two screws under the sensor cover at the top of the watch. There is an O ring under it and the metal ring holds in a small spring. But I don't want to damage the sensor by trying to pry it out.

The sensors are removed by removing the outer sensor guard and then the two small screws holding the silver ring that holds the sensor into the case. Inside the watch is one small screw and a plate with three holes, one for the screw and two go over plastic posts to hold the sensor's ribbon cable to the circuit board of the module. After those are removed place a small tweezers into the hole in the cable to pull it up and off of the two posts. It should then come out of the case. If not, it needs a nudge from the inside, once loose it will come out of the case.

I suspect the small spring is a contact for the TEMP which gets it's reading from the temp of the metal ring.

True. On the PAG40 the temp is sensed through the spring to the small metal ring that holds in the sensor only. On the PAG80 it goes a bit further, the rings contacts a piece of metal that then makes contact with the watch back.

Does anyone know how to further troubleshoot this?

Yes, if you get an ERROR rather than a reading for Barometer or Altimeter you most likely have a bad sensor, or a bad connection a the ribbon cable/circuit board. Also look closely at the sensor at the outside of the watch. Remove the outer sensor guard and then look at the face of the sensor under the silver ring held to the case with two screws. If there are any holes for tears in the rubber membrane it is ruined. Any holes or tears will stop the sensor from obtaining a pressure reading.
SO, IF YOU EVER CLEAN THE FACE OF THE SENSOR BE VERY CAREFUL, THEY DO GET DIRTY.

Does anyone know if the TEMP is actually part of the sensor as I suspect, or does it get the temp from somewhere else?

Yes it is, see above.

Are the sensors replaceable if I can find one?

Yes they are. And I suspect that all version 2 sensors are the same or very close. I replaced the PAG40 with one from a PAG80. There was one small difference in them. The length of the ribbon cable at the circuit board end after the holes that go over the two posts was a little bit longer from the PAG80 that made it difficult to get into place but it went on and is working fine now.

b-)

Sorry I did not take any pictures, I was working and didn't feel like stopping at every step to take a picture. And the biggest reason is that I doubt anyone here really cares to see how to change the sensor. Notice how many replies this thread has so far, just me. If you do have an interest, let me know and I will take some pictures to make it more clear on how to do this.

BARO

ALTI

COMPASS, TEMP, Time and all the other functions were working before, and they still do,

 

Re: Anyone here repair Casio ABC watches - Baro/Alti not working

I can answer most of my questions now.



I found a PAG80 on ebay that was working except for the LCD, the back light works and the watch beeps when buttons are pushed. I purchased it in hope that it had a good sensor and it would be the same as the PAG40 for $35. It arrived a few days ago.



The sensors are removed by removing the outer sensor guard and then the two small screws holding the silver ring that holds the sensor into the case. Inside the watch is one small screw and a plate with three holes, one for the screw and two go over plastic posts to hold the sensor's ribbon cable to the circuit board of the module. After those are removed place a small tweezers into the hole in the cable to pull it up and off of the two posts. It should then come out of the case. If not, it needs a nudge from the inside, once loose it will come out of the case.



True. On the PAG40 the temp is sensed through the spring to the small metal ring that holds in the sensor only. On the PAG80 it goes a bit further, the rings contacts a piece of metal that then makes contact with the watch back.



Yes, if you get an ERROR rather than a reading for Barometer or Altimeter you most likely have a bad sensor, or a bad connection a the ribbon cable/circuit board. Also look closely at the sensor at the outside of the watch. Remove the outer sensor guard and then look at the face of the sensor under the silver ring held to the case with two screws. If there are any holes for tears in the rubber membrane it is ruined. Any holes or tears will stop the sensor from obtaining a pressure reading.
SO, IF YOU EVER CLEAN THE FACE OF THE SENSOR BE VERY CAREFUL, THEY DO GET DIRTY.



Yes it is, see above.



Yes they are. And I suspect that all version 2 sensors are the same or very close. I replaced the PAG40 with one from a PAG80. There was one small difference in them. The length of the ribbon cable at the circuit board end after the holes that go over the two posts was a little bit longer from the PAG80 that made it difficult to get into place but it went on and is working fine now.

b-)

Sorry I did not take any pictures, I was working and didn't feel like stopping at every step to take a picture. And the biggest reason is that I doubt anyone here really cares to see how to change the sensor. Notice how many replies this thread has so far, just me. If you do have an interest, let me know and I will take some pictures to make it more clear on how to do this.

BARO
View attachment 2073234

ALTI
View attachment 2073250

COMPASS, TEMP, Time and all the other functions were working before, and they still do,
View attachment 2073282
View attachment 2073290

Thank you for your post.

I damaged the rubber membrane of the sensor when cleaning it and now I get ERR

At least now I understand what happened.

 

Great job!!! A legendary beast back from the death. Regards.

 

Thanks Subafan. I do like the PAG40, happy it's working again.

 

Re: Anyone here repair Casio ABC watches - Baro/Alti not working

Congrats! Glad you were able to revive it and share to the community how you did it. First time seeing your post though i know nothing in pro trek repair so i wont be any help if I saw this earlier. Regardless, awesome work dude! Now the question is, will you be keeping it or will sell it?

 

Re: Anyone here repair Casio ABC watches - Baro/Alti not working

Congrats! Glad you were able to revive it and share to the community how you did it. First time seeing your post though i know nothing in pro trek repair so i wont be any help if I saw this earlier. Regardless, awesome work dude! Now the question is, will you be keeping it or will sell it?

Thank you.
Finding any info about repairing these watches is near impossible, I searched for a week or more and there isn't anything. So I figured there's only one way, get in there and try.

I do sometimes wonder why I do share my hard earned repair knowledge here since it doesn't appear that it is even noticed. But when someone has an ERR message and wants to fix their bad sensor they will hopefully find this thread and it will help them fix it. I repair clocks and watches for a living so again...why do I share, seems not very smart does it?

Will I keep it or sell it? I seem to be collecting Casio ABC watches (see pic below). It's the oldest, not as up to date as the others I own but it's a favorite. I might part with one but it won't be the PAG40. But I will be buying more of ABC's, since I first purchased one I thought this is the watch for me.

 

Why dont you create a blog and put the details there too? That way you have total control of your repair guide. It would be very valuable specially since it is not common.

That prg 270 there looks very nice!

 

Hi TixTox - I'm not so well versed with the models - can you please list the model numbers that you posted above on your arm? Thanks so much.

 

No problem.

Left to right. PAG40-3V (4 batteries) - PAW1100-1V (Solar and Atomic) - PAG240-1CR (Solar) - PRG270-1 (Solar and it has the new Version 3 sensor)

 

You did good work. And yes, as you know, everyone eventually has to repair a watch of some sort or another and this will be used by someone in the near future.

 

Hello,

Can you help me please with some suggestions. I have a Vintage Casio 950 ALT-6000 received as a gift. The other days, I cleaned alt/bar sensor and now indicates "error". The altimeter and barometter not working any more.
I think I should not touch rubber/sponge (the sensor is a smal round pill covered with a type of sponge that I think I pricked it )

Is it fixable? Or I should buy another sensor and were I find it?

Thank you for your time!

 

Hello

THank you for the information. This is the kind of useful thread that I was looking for. I will try to repaisr the watch as I like it a lot.
Regards

 

Thanks and keep posting. I am a happy spf-40 wearer and will probably need some of your tips in the future[emoji3]

Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk

 

Hello, I have a problem with PAG40: also purchased a used one with "need replace battery" label. Everything is just okay, besides the baro. When I'm not in baro mode, it's not making the graph. Any gues what it might be?

 

Maybe you need some hours at the same hight to have it set?

Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk

 

Thank You for this solution, but didn't worked out. Yesterday PAG40 made a nice graph (all day in one location), but today morning it showed only one dot (actual baro), and the rest (yesterday graph) is blank.

 

Hopefully someone, maybe OP will see this request on an old thread....

I had exactly the same problem with my PRG 40 - compass OK, temp OK, new batteries etc.
Sensor wiring inside is OK.
But, there are tiny gashes in the soft rubbery substance that covers the sensor.

does anyone know if this can be plugged with a very tiny pin ..... of silicone gel? The OP reported that any holes or rips ruin the sensor, even if the sensor head is OK. I assume that pressure change push onto the rubber and then the sensor -rips will then equalize pressure rendering it useless (I assume this is the mode of operation).

Love my old PRG 40 and the alti/baro ERR mode is likely the small pin ..... rip in the rubber over the sensor, maybe I will try and put a bit of silicone to at least make it air tight and see what happens. Any info would be really useful here, on teh anatomy or construction of the sensor in pro treks.

Thanks, col

 

Hopefully someone, maybe OP will see this request on an old thread....

I had exactly the same problem with my PRG 40 - compass OK, temp OK, new batteries etc.
Sensor wiring inside is OK.
But, there are tiny gashes in the soft rubbery substance that covers the sensor.

does anyone know if this can be plugged with a very tiny pin ..... of silicone gel? The OP reported that any holes or rips ruin the sensor, even if the sensor head is OK. I assume that pressure change push onto the rubber and then the sensor -rips will then equalize pressure rendering it useless (I assume this is the mode of operation).

Love my old PRG 40 and the alti/baro ERR mode is likely the small pin ..... rip in the rubber over the sensor, maybe I will try and put a bit of silicone to at least make it air tight and see what happens. Any info would be really useful here, on teh anatomy or construction of the sensor in pro treks.

Thanks, col

 

the ..... twice in that post were for the word p_r_i_c_k, as in pin p_r_i_c_k....funny how it automatically censored the vulgar definition first....anyway.

 

So... I don't know if anyone will see this message and be able to help but here goes. I recently had the batteries on my PAG40-3V go out, and decided to replace them myself. After disassembling the watch completely to clean it since it was incredibly dirty (hiking through rain-forests will do that), I replaced the batteries with new ones (they were Renata 399's) and it sprang back to life! However, I noticed a piece of the bracket that held the batteries in place was bent, so I decided to fix that by taking out the batteries again, bending it back, and then replacing the new batteries once more. This time the display DID NOT come back on. I have tried resetting the AC, taking the batteries out multiple times and making sure all the contacts were clean, and still nothing. Do think the batteries are duds, and I need to exchange them, or might it be something else? Thanks by the way @TixTox for starting this thread and sharing your knowledge, as it is very hard to find info for this watch!

 

UPDATE: So, after doing a bit more research, I was able to get the watch working with those same batteries. It turns out that you have to contact the AC for AT LEAST 3 secs while resetting for it to work. In other news, I found out that while I was cleaning the Alti/Baro sensor, I ended up tearing the black silicon film over the front inadvertently. I had no luck finding a replacement sensor, so I decided to try to repair the film over the front since nothing else was damaged on the sensor. I applied a small dab of silicon gel over the front and smoothed it over. Then to cure it, I stuck it in a small homemade vacuum chamber, since the way the sensor works is by detecting pressure changes to the film over the front with a chip inside that has a small airspace that is vacuum sealed. It turns out that this home repair WORKED! So for those of you look to keep this watch, but the A/B sensor has gone bad, this may work! Hope someone finds this info useful down the road. Cheers!

 

hi, nice work! for my part i got a pathfinder paw 1500t with solar panel and triple sensor. i did a bezel swap tona new one but i did "clean up" the face of the sensor from its "dirt". Now i got ERR message from it . i want to know what kind of product you did apply to recreate pressurize membrane on the sensor and your vacuum chamber?

Envoyé de mon SM-G950W en utilisant Tapatalk

 

great post and thank you for posting. just purchased a used prg 40 so may need some advice as bought not functioning not had chance to look at it yet ;-)

 

Is it like this? Would be?

https://www.fujikura.co.jp/eng/resource/pdf/fpbs_e.pdf

 

If anyone's chasing some parts watches to cannibalise, I have a couple of Casio ABCs up on eBay, just search Casio PRT-40 & DPX-500 for parts or repair, or drop me a PM