These days when something electronic dies the repair bill is usually so high that it doesn’t make financial sense to repair it since there is no guarantee that the repaired out of warranty item isn’t going to fail for some other reason in a week. When Sam from the Parallax forum was faced with this dilemma with a gate opener he decided to scrap the old gate controller and make his own DIY Gate Opener Controller. In the end the gate is working again thanks to a Basic Stamp Board, a H25 Motor Controller, a Parallax Position Controller, a few RFID Card Readers and a few other miscellaneous electronic bits. I am of the same mind that it is better to extend the life of the stuff around us instead of just taking the easy road and tossing it in the bin and picking one up from the local department store. It would be hard to justify the financial benefit since the hours put into a project like this could have most likely generated much more than the replacement cost if it were spent at work but the enjoyment and learning would outweigh the financial consideration.
Unfortunately a lightning strike seems to have fried the electronics. Looks like some troubleshooting is in order. 🙁