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Smelly Internet Radio

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JD

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Jan 1, 2010, 10:04:52 PM1/1/10
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Hi Experts,

Have you recently bought any plastic-bodied
electronics and found an
unpleasant chemical stench?

I bought an Aluratek internet radio and, after 10
days, it is still sitting
in my garage.

The stink appears to be coming from the plastic
casing but it's hard to
tell because the case has ventilation slots.

I'm pondering whether to return it.

Any experience of stinks like this?

TIA

kony

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Jan 1, 2010, 10:51:27 PM1/1/10
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Might be the plastic, might be coatings used in
manufacturing, either way it's hardly worth discussing as it
is not all that rare to encounter.

Plug it in and leave it running with a fan pointed at it.
If after a couple days you still find the smell intolerable,
return it.

VanguardLH

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Jan 2, 2010, 2:05:44 AM1/2/10
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JD wrote:

Might it be yet another tainted Chinese product?

Toys with leaded paint. Dried apples with a cancer-causing agent. Frozen
catfish with banned antibiotics. Scallops and sardines with putrefying
bacteria. Mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides. Faulty manufacture of
car tires. Cough syrup tainted with glcol that killed 100 in Panama. Wheat
glutin tainted with malamime (used to make plastics and fertilizer) found in
pet food that caused kidney ailments in dogs and cats. Malamine showing up
in Chinese dairy products. Toothpaste found containing glycol. Noxious
vapors and sulfide gases emitted from Chinese-made sheetrock in Florida
homes that are even corrosive to A/C coils. Getting a small sample of the
banned items returned than they try to send it back through again.

Apparently China's solution to disposing of their hazardous waste is to put
it into their exported products. Check if the product says "Made in China".
If so, read that as "We Poison You". Then decide if you're going to keep it
or return it as a chemical hazard.

Paul

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Jan 2, 2010, 3:29:09 AM1/2/10
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Paul

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Jan 2, 2010, 3:33:20 AM1/2/10
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I've had a few computer fans that smelled funny, and perhaps it is the
same smell. It is hard to tell whether the plastic has had something
added to it, or it is simply poorly made plastic. The smell was bad
enough, that the fans could not be installed in a system, and had to be
left inside the original boxes.

I've had one power supply, that had a strong solvent type smell when the
box was opened. But fortunately for that one, the smell dissipated in a
few hours.

The smelly plastic problem, on the other hand, only seems to get worse
with time. So perhaps it is just poorly made plastic.

I used to think it was a fire retardant that was applied, but it
doesn't seem to be cleanable.

Paul

JD

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Jan 2, 2010, 3:07:32 PM1/2/10
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That is also my opinion. I would not eat anything
that originated in China. I'm
trying the find what the chemical in that outgas
is likely to be. Anyone have a
spectrometer handy? ;-)

A few months ago I saw cans of beans in Trader
Joes with the label "Made in
China" or something very similar. The only thing I
would feed that to is a hole
in the ground.

JD

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Jan 4, 2010, 5:17:16 PM1/4/10
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Thanks Paul and have a great New Year :-)

philo

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Jan 4, 2010, 6:47:23 PM1/4/10
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Just figured out why the radio stinks

probably tuned in to Howard Stern!!!!

Ian D

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Jan 4, 2010, 8:20:56 PM1/4/10
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"JD" <J...@NoDen.con> wrote in message news:7q7rdc...@mid.individual.net...

If you want something stinky, try Xcelite screwdrivers and
nutdrivers, etc. I have a set of small Xcelite nutdrivers in
a small plastic case, and they still smell after over 40 years.
Xcelite have been top quality tools. It's the type of plastic
used in the handles. Craftsman and some other brands
have also had similar smells, but not as powerful. These
are all, made in USA, tools.


kony

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Jan 4, 2010, 8:25:21 PM1/4/10
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On Sat, 02 Jan 2010 12:07:32 -0800, JD <J...@NoDen.con> wrote:


>That is also my opinion. I would not eat anything
>that originated in China. I'm
>trying the find what the chemical in that outgas
>is likely to be. Anyone have a
>spectrometer handy? ;-)
>
>A few months ago I saw cans of beans in Trader
>Joes with the label "Made in
>China" or something very similar. The only thing I
>would feed that to is a hole
>in the ground.


Yeah but, there's bound to be people in China shaking their
heads at the US shipping our garbage to them. Their cheap
and nasty manufacturing processes seem to pay off in that
their economy is looking a lot stronger in the future while
the US is going to have to relearn the idea of buying
domestic goods.

philo

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Jan 4, 2010, 8:30:53 PM1/4/10
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WOW

I still have my set from 1966

every time I open it

yep that same smell

but it's a pleasant smell

must be the same set...a small plastic case...nut drivers


other than a few soldering gun burns still in good shape

Ian D

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Jan 4, 2010, 8:53:18 PM1/4/10
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"philo" <ph...@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:U8udnfZK79LQC9_W...@ntd.net...

1966? That's the same year mine were bought. My dad
ordered them from the Allied Radio catalog. The smell
doesn't bother me either, but some people complain that
it's really offensive. Google, "xcelite tools stink". I have a
whole set of Xcelite tools. Excellent tools, and I actually find
it to be a pleasant smell, also.


philo

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Jan 4, 2010, 9:09:17 PM1/4/10
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Ian D wrote:
> "philo" <ph...@privacy.net> wrote in message
> news:U8udnfZK79LQC9_W...@ntd.net...
>> Ian D wrote:
>>> "JD" <J...@NoDen.con> wrote in message
>>
<snip>

>> WOW
>>
>> I still have my set from 1966
>>
>> every time I open it
>>
>> yep that same smell
>>
>> but it's a pleasant smell
>>
>> must be the same set...a small plastic case...nut drivers
>>
>>
>> other than a few soldering gun burns still in good shape
>
> 1966? That's the same year mine were bought. My dad
> ordered them from the Allied Radio catalog. The smell
> doesn't bother me either, but some people complain that
> it's really offensive. Google, "xcelite tools stink". I have a
> whole set of Xcelite tools. Excellent tools, and I actually find
> it to be a pleasant smell, also.
>
>

what a riot


when I cut and pasted "xcelite tools stink"


I cut the "k" off and when I went to Google

the "Birthday of Sir Isaac Newton" apple fell
and in my mind I saw it as the "k" falling off

anyway the part number is PS-120

our family moved out of town in 1966
and I was the president of the Amateur Radio Club in my high school.
they chipped in and bought it for me as a going away present

more than likely they ordered it from Allied

because it seems that we ordered most all of our stuff from them

VanguardLH

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Jan 5, 2010, 10:14:26 PM1/5/10
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kony wrote:

Of course the devaluing of the US dollar has nothing to do with the loss of
any backing of the dollar (since going off the gold standard) which allowed
the Federal Reserve (which is not part of the US gov't but a private world
bank of foreign investors) to print more money to loan the USA to the point
that all income tax now collected only pays the interest on those loans and
none of the gov't services that they'll need to get more loans for the next
year, along with the stimulus package that made trillions disappear to the
world banks that hoarded it. Of course other nations look stronger when we
deliberately devalue our own money by printing more of it to hide tax
increases or provide stimulus packages.

kony

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Jan 6, 2010, 3:37:38 AM1/6/10
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On Tue, 5 Jan 2010 21:14:26 -0600, VanguardLH <V...@nguard.LH>
wrote:

... and yet, we're having auto bailouts when the Japanese
devalued the yen which helped their autos gain ground in the
US.

Jon Danniken

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Jan 5, 2010, 4:03:24 PM1/5/10
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JD wrote:
> That is also my opinion. I would not eat anything
> that originated in China. I'm
> trying the find what the chemical in that outgas
> is likely to be. Anyone have a
> spectrometer handy? ;-)
>
> A few months ago I saw cans of beans in Trader
> Joes with the label "Made in
> China" or something very similar. The only thing I
> would feed that to is a hole
> in the ground.

I recently bought a set of fitted sheets which were, of course, made in
maoland. When I brought them home and opened the cute plastic container,
they had a very strong smell of the same grease/chemical/whatever that I can
detect on some of the metal tools I have bought from Harbor Freight.

Took about three loads of hot soapy water to all but get rid of the stink.

Jon


JD

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Jan 6, 2010, 11:16:06 AM1/6/10
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Try again. The radio was never connected up.

VanguardLH

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Jan 6, 2010, 12:54:38 PM1/6/10
to
kony wrote:

And as a consequence the Japanese economy is in tatters. Yes, the
devaluation helps with exports, especially with a country that primarily
exports manufactured goods. Japan is an export economy. Their strategy for
prosperity is producing goods and selling them to foreigners. The Bank of
Japan prints money and then exchanges the yen for *dollars* in the foreign
exchange market, pushing down its price. Japan's economy is much worse than
back in 2003-2004. Their stock market is close to 20-year lows and their
GDP is shrinking. Their interest rate is world's second lowest (after the
USA) and there's no room to cut interest rates. Japan's gov't is the most
indebted in the world; see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_debt (I haven't
investigated Zimbabwe as regards to what effect their ruined economy from
hyperinflation has on any of the major 6 nations but I doubt it has any
effect).

Our devaluation doesn't help us in the USA. We aren't an export economy (of
manufactured goods versus raw materials). We are a consumer nation. We're
an import economy. Once we went off the gold standard in 1971 (which
eliminated the government's restraint on printing money) and let our dollar
float and kept borrowing from the Fed and let them keep on printing (to hide
tax increases and cause inflation), our debt ratio started to grow; see
http://zfacts.com/p/318.html. Has there been a time in the past where we
dumped $9.7 trillion all at once ($3 trillion in last 2 years, $5.7 trillion
more pledged) into our money supply? Look at the graph and then realize
that the hockey stick rise (hyperinflation) is coming.

philo

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Jan 6, 2010, 3:43:18 PM1/6/10
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no shit sherlock

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