D3200 with GPS (GP 1-A)

View Point

New member
[h=1]I have Nikon D3200 with GPS (GP 1-A). It worked fine but now the GPS connector of my camera is damaged due to some reasons. The Nikon dealer is saying that we have to change the main board of the camera not only the connector and obviously I will have to pay for it around $120. Is there any other solution? Please help me in this regard.[/h]
 

AC016

Senior Member
I highly doubt it. These days, it is all about rip and replace. No one is truly interested in taking the time to desolder the connection from the board and then solder a new one on. Quicker and easier to just rip and replace. It also cuts down on over-head. Instead of having all the tiny little parts, they just keep the board in stock and replace the whole thing.
 

marce

Senior Member
Its not that nobody is interested, its the cost of repairs on small SMD components and connectors on todays boards. If the board is $120 then the build price is going to be $60 or less, work out how much to return the board, technicians time to replace the part, retesting the board and its cheaper to bin it and fit a new board.
This is what to expect with the price of todays electronics and the speed of production and reliability of units. To put it in perspective about 6 billion passive components are placed on PCBs every day in the world, a lot for handheld consumer devices.
The reduction in size of connectors does not help, they are not as robust and can easily be damaged, so take care when plugging things in to keep the two parts as straight as possible, putting a connector in at a slight angle or twisting it can deform the very delicate compliant pins, so the connector does not work or is intermittent.
 
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