No sound- help

[corgiluver]

I posted this in off topic where it probably belongs, but I'm really hoping someone has any idea for me.


I recently found a lovely Worlds of Wonder Julie doll in her box with original outfit and book at a garage sale of all places! I am super excited to have found her. Tested her out with new batteries today (she was stored without any thank goodness) The good news is her eyes and mouth are working perfectly! The bad news is there's no sound coming out at all, no matter how much I fiddle with the volume control. Being the naturally curious person I am (and since I've disassembled and repaired many a teddy ruxpin) I went for it and unscrewed her battery cover to take a look at everything. Volume control looks fine, all wires are firmly soldered, molex is connected tightly to the circuit board. I finally figured out how to access the speaker and all wires and solder points look fine there as well. I can get her to talk for random periods of time by shifting the speaker and it's wires around, but can't pinpoint a particular point in the wire where it could be broken or anything.

Many thanks

[late2theparty]

Great find! Julie really was a leap forward for WoW before it fell off the cliff. It is unfortunate that the accessory chips/cartridges are so difficult to find, unlike those for Pamela which seem pretty abundant.

But in terms of your problem, the fact that you get sound by somehow maneuvering or jiggling the speaker seems to say that the jiggling of the speaker is actually pushing or pulling on the molex plug and somehow completing the speaker circuit.  Could be a funky wire, but I think that's unlikely.  If you have access to a continuity tester or a multimeter that has that function, that's an easy test to do Ask around to friends if not, as those multimeters have become pretty cheap and anyone doing minor electrical work is likely to have one. Assuming the wires show good continuity from the plug to the speaker connections,  I'd check the contacts in the female molex plug to be sure they are clean and tight, and the two male plug ends attached into the circuitboard to insure they aren't loosely connected to the board. A bad speaker generally does not come to life and completely cut out, but it can happen.  I'm thinking you don't have a replacement speaker or you'd have tried a changeout.  But if a continuity test shows that you are getting a signal at the connections at the speaker but with no sound and everything noted above is in good order, you would need find one.  Fortunately it seems that while the accessory chips are difficult to find, ratty Julies seem to appear on ebay with some regularity.  So a part source can be obtained.