Allow me to vent my frustration and alert others. i've had a National
"Fuzzy Logic" Rice Cooker, model SR-MM10N, for approximately three
years and recently when the unit is not plugged into the mains/ac-power
the display is blank. The display was visibly until a few weeks ago. As
the User Manual explains this is due to the internal Lithium battery
being depleted. Since I live over 130 miles from the nearest Service
Center and have done electronic repair, I decided to purchase both a
Service Manual and a Lithium battery, assuming that since this would be
a regularly-replaced component, it would be relatively easy to replace.


WRONG!

First, it is fairly difficult to disassemble the unit, even with the
Service Manual. It's written in "Japanese-English". After disassembling
the Cooker I discovered that the Lithium battery is _soldered_ to one
of the Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) and the board is almost
inaccessable. I do have a low-wattage soldering iron and a
"solder-sucker" but this will be a messy job to say the least. I
reassembled the Cooker without attempting the replacement. I will call
the Service Center tomorrow and ask the cost of battery replacement.
Even discounting the long drive, I'm willing to bet the battery
replacement will cost as much as a new unit! Inexcusable design for a
device whose battery needs to be replaced every few years. Shame on you
Matsushita (the parent company of Panasonic and National)!

I should add that the Rice Cooker is still operable and the display
will work as long as it is plugged in. But why design a unit that can't
continue to work as it did when it was originally purchased?

Yes, the SR-MM10N is an excellent rice cooker. But...

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