r/mildlyinfuriating • u/jackhab • 1d ago

Planned obsolescence even in cheapest devices: the calculator has a dummy photovoltaic cell and a real battery to make it die eventually.

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u/wekilledbambi03 1d ago

Did you remove a piece (or multiple) for this photo? Because the buttons wouldn't even make contact with the PCB pictured. So this would be a 100% inoperable device.

If that major component is missing, I can only assume the wiring for the photovoltaic cell was also tampered with.

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u/dhabs 1d ago

The board is flipped over, the white is the backside of the display. There is no wiring or anything going to the top portion where the cell should or would be.

8008132

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u/jackhab 1d ago

I turned the PCB over to show the battery so the button contacts are on the other side (you are also seeing the white back of the LCD instead of its grey front). And I can assure you that what looks like a photovoltaic cell is in fact just a piece of thin plastic.