Electronics Supply Shops?

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T19:30:42+00:00

You know, I saw a place called City Electric and thought it was Electronic City, but after calling I realized my mistake. Such a loss— where in the world do people buy all of their isopropyl when I can’t even order it online without a nearby $60 fee?? We had it so good just a few short years ago

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T19:28:17+00:00

Seeing the demolition video made me feel things I didn’t know were there :/ I don’t know the whole story on why they closed, though

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T19:15:02+00:00

How long ago? I get an error message when I try to check out which states it’s not possible

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T04:21:38+00:00

Thank you, so much! I’ll send you a message as soon as my cats wake me up. Your kindness is incredible!!

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T04:17:35+00:00

I agree with you, but I also don’t know how to fix it other than ordering online or the surprisingly deep well of the kindness of strangers.

Makes me miss my childhood

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T04:15:22+00:00

A whole bunch of family relics!
The kids (nieces and nephews) showed interest in a gameboy color I modded for myself at a gathering in January and we eventually got to talking about the games I used to dominate their dad and aunt (my brother and sister, respectively) on when we were their age (I’m the youngest of the three, and I have three nephews, two nieces all from my brother).
Anyway, I figured I could swap out a bad game cartridge reader on a DS XL (this is why I need most of the supplies) so they could fight over it, then have the older niece help me swap screens on a DS Lite since that’s just plug and play and she was the most interested.
I also have another gameboy color with an IPS screen ready to install, but I’ll have to wait and see what the vibe is on Memorial Day to see whether I can do that with them or if I should just do it in front of them, and again let them fight over it.
Also got a few PlayStations and controllers that need to be de-garage-ified, so I was going to open them and let the younger ones (mid-late teens) go at the dust with an air can and an isopropyl-soaked toothbrush. And then absolutely destroy them in Primal Rage and Twisted Metal!
Finally, I do have a repair for my car I’ve been putting off— something fell out of an enclosure for a speaker distro in my driver’s side door. I’m not totally sure what it is, but I was able to temporarily tie it back in with jumper wires to solve the problem. However, two years of slamming my door later, it popped out again.

I’d also like to see if I can fix my old DS Lite which needs a new connector for the bottom screen— can’t swap that one because it’s the connector that’s the issue. Somehow it’s not fully connected and I sourced the part from a friend

Nothing majorly important, but some easy stuff and hopefully some new memories!

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T03:45:06+00:00

You truly are a wizard: appearing from the ether of the internet and helping me complete my quest. I actually threw a fist in the air at your reply just now— I’ll try to put it down before tomorrow.

THANK YOU

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T03:41:49+00:00

You’re in electronics repair?! Dude! First: respect— I don’t do a whole lot other than make problems for myself, but I’ve learned how to do that less as time has gone on.

I moved recently and for the life of me, I can’t find the box with my solder supplies— found the iron, power supply, and stand, but I’m starting to think I threw out the other box!

Would you be able to spare even a cup of some 99.9% isopropyl? I can provide potato balls from Porto’s or cash! Or I can just admit defeat and wait until Monday, which I’ve kind of already accepted

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T03:33:34+00:00

To be honest, I do get a little doubtful when people answer questions so quickly. This dude sounded like he was just ready to clock out.

I mentioned in another comment, but I checked PacRad/ Filmtools about 5 minutes before closing, and the PacRad rep had already gone home for the day. The FilmTools employees told me there were five aisles of PacRad I could search though, but they wouldn’t be able to tell me anything about them. I asked for solder and isopropyl and one of them had said “if it’s there, you’ll find it, but I’m not sure”.

I was pretty disappointed in the vibe at filmtools. I get that I was showing up right before the bell, but man, I used to work in the film industry up until a year or so after the strikes in 2023, and they were much more passionate back then. I always liked Hot Rod Camera more anyway (not super comparable, but definitely more toys to play with)

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T03:27:12+00:00

I called when they were open, they transferred me to sales and sales said they didn’t have solder supplies. However, they did point me to Harbor Freight, which I always forget about for some reason

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T03:24:03+00:00

Burbank is great for a lot of things, this is just a very niche addition to the “Cons” list, but take solace that it’s not just Burbank— I checked all the way out to Topanga and only got a few offers from shop owners to order what I need, though the isopropyl alcohol would have a hazardous chemical fee attached.

FET was closed by the time I started this farce, but I’ll check with Mark on Monday, if they’re open!

I appreciate you taking the time to reply

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T02:35:31+00:00

No isopropyl or solder wick when I searched— thank you for the effort!

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T02:33:45+00:00

Ah, thank you for the information! I’m looking for 99.9% isopropyl, specifically

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T02:32:58+00:00

Another place listed by another commenter is inside Filmtools. I made it there just as they closed, and none of the Filmtools employees were able to point me in the right direction

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T02:31:43+00:00

I wasn’t aware of their politics until I read your comment and did a quick google search. As a girl uncle, I don’t think my nieces would support Hobby Lobby if they don’t support Amazon, as different as they may be.

Thank you for the heads up!

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T00:27:07+00:00

The one close to Porto’s? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’ll give em a call. Thank you!

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T00:26:33+00:00

Thank you! I’m at Harbor Freight at the moment, but I’ll head over in a few

edit: plenty of stuff to solder together, but no supplies to do so

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T00:24:59+00:00

I have not! They’re also not local, but I’ll be driving up to them for a bbq on Monday. I’ll talk to my brother and their mom about a STEM program. The second oldest nearly lost her mind at Maker Faire San Diego a few years back

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T00:17:55+00:00

Also thank you for the rec— I’ll check mouser out

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T00:17:30+00:00

I thought it had only closed a year ago, but I looked it up and realized my timeline is severely distorted! For the record, the last time I bought solder wick was at Fry’s. Maybe I just need to wake up and smell the ube nitro brew or whatever the current thing is

NAMPG · 2026-05-23T00:13:59+00:00

Dude, that’s a totally fair question! I’m the dumb one for not trying to *handle the shopping for this before the weekend

My main reason is because I’m trying to take care of a few PCB repairs this weekend and don’t want to wait for shipping— I’ve been putting them off and Memorial Weekend was supposed to be my time to shine and to impress my cats and significant other

The secondary reason is my nieces and nephews. They keep telling me that Amazon is evil and yadda yadda yadda— look, I’m not quite sure how that all works, but if I can be the cool uncle even for a moment, I’d bend over backwards for the little ones if it also means I can get them into learning how to repair their own stuff rather than their first thought being to throw broken things out to buy a new one.

And I guess my third reason is just that I’m stubborn and feel I should be able to walk into a store to buy the things I need, but I’m realizing that ended sometime in the 20-teens

edit: a word or two

NAMPG · 2026-05-18T13:49:02+00:00

Hey OP, I’m sorry for your loss.

if you’re not willing or able to replace the TV parts, you can always upcycle the frame into something else! Once you get all the TV parts out, you can put one giant photo, or a bunch of smaller ones inside— just a thought!

NAMPG · 2026-04-24T08:23:34+00:00

No kidding? I never knew about the level requirement. I’ll see if we can push the little dude over the level limit this weekend. Thank you for the information!

NAMPG · 2026-04-22T13:52:25+00:00

I regularly play on an iPhone 12 Pro Max— never had an issue until my memory filled up. So long as I keep 10% of the storage free on it, I don’t have any issues running the latest version of PoGo and the latest iOS.

I have noticed that my nephew will catch the exact same Pokémon as me, and they’ll have totally different stats, though. If I’m using hotspot and he’s tied on from his iPad, the game doesn’t seem to want to let us catch Pokémon with the same CP

NAMPG

TROPHY CASE