Waiting to have your Intercom repaired will cost you more money - sometimes -

Last week I had a customer send in her IM3003 for repair.  It had failed about 4 years ago and because she couldn't find anyone to repair it all of the volume controls were turned down to mask the loud hum on the speakers.

When I received the IM3003 I verified that it had a failed power supply and set off to rebuild it.  My method of repairing any intercom Master Station is to verify all of its problems, once the master works well enough to properly evaluate it.

Once I had the power supply rebuilt, I reconnected this IM3003 to my bench "system" which consists of 3 remote inside station and a entry door speaker.  What I found were the following problems:

1.  There were no intercom functions, at all.

2.  The IA29 chime module did not work.

3.  The clock display was not as brightly lit as it should have been and it flickered somewhat.

4.  The radio would play for about 10 minutes then slowly fade away.

There was obviously a lot more wrong than a failed power supply.  

What typically happens is when the power supply fails and the master is left in that condition for a long time (years) it progressively gets worse and worse.  The damage (from incorrect voltages) spreads throughout the master and more and more things will need to be repaired.  I have seen some masters where the amplifier IC needs to be replaced because it has completely failed from being run so very hot.

So, waiting will cost you more money in the end when you decided to finally get your intercom repaired.  This IM3003 repair cost and additional $30.00 in parts and labor to sort all of the problems.

In the end everything worked well and the customer was happy to have her intercom back.