I was looking for a good meat thermometer and chose this one on amazon because of the fast read time and good reviews. Their customer service is excellent and they replaced it under warranty.
Mine only lasted about a month before it quit working. We noticed that if you open it just enough to turn on, it would work. But that didn't last long until it quit completely. The display would just read "Lo", like this:
So after I received my replacement unit, I figured this would be a great opportunity to do some failure analysis. Here's how I did it.
First, I removed the battery and then peeled off the face plate.
Then I unscrewed the five screws that hold the case together.
The next part was a little tricky. I had to pry the case apart carefully. This end had pegs that snapped together.
As suspected, there's the broken wire. This broke because of an error in assembly. The wire got pinched in the center part during assembly. You can tell because of the flat spot on the black wire's insulation. I have a suggestion for the engineers that made this. If you're going to make a flexible pivot, then you need to choose wires that are more flexible. These wires are too stiff for a lifetime warranty product. You need thinner strand wire, same gauge, to be more flexible and longer lasting.
I soldered the wires together.
After re-assembly, it works!
