Consultation Log: Repairs No.1 — The Store Closed and the Power Switch for My Butsudan’s Automatic Doors Broke | Soka Gakkai Buddhist Altar

Hello, everyone. This is Shima from Oubaitori.

On our website, we keep a page called the Customer Consultation Log. So far, about 185 consultations have come in.

From time to time, I answer them in videos like this one.

Today’s is one we hear often: “The store where I bought my altar has closed. And the power switch has cracked.”

The Consultation

The power switch on a Buddhist altar (butsudan) with automatic doors cracked. The store where it was bought has gone out of business, so there is no one to ask. The customer wants to replace the switch.

Our Answer

The switch is not replaced on its own. It is replaced together with the whole switch box.

We do not supply individual parts. With a single part, you can end up replacing it without ever finding the real cause — and it still doesn’t work. With the whole switch box, that worry goes away. We have several types on hand, so we look at your photos and choose the one that fits.

Because the customer lives far away, we proceed by sending a matching switch box for you to fit yourself. First, please send photos of the switch box and the connector that links it to the altar.

When I see them on LINE, I can tell which company made it and what shape the switch is. Then I can tell you right there on LINE, “Connect this one to this one.” You place an order, we ship it, and you connect it yourself.

To take the photos, remove the back panel on the lower part of the altar. Undo the screws with a Phillips screwdriver, and you’ll find the switch box inside. Please photograph the connector — the terminal — inside it.

When the store is gone, there’s nothing to be done about that. But if you show us the situation in photos, we can begin to see which set will fit. Once we know, we send it, and you fit it.

If the altar is very old, the part may simply no longer exist. Even then, there is one last possibility. Send it in, and the manufacturer may be able to repair it.

So please don’t give up. Register on LINE and just tell us, “It broke.”

What Happened

We delivered a switch box repaired by the manufacturer.

Next Step

Please send photos that show the switch box and the ends of the two cords coming out of it. If we can’t tell from those, we’ll ask, “Could you take it from a different angle?” A different number of pins, or a different size, can mean a different part.

The mechanisms that open and close altar doors aren’t made by altar shops. They’re made by machinery companies — and some of those companies have closed down, too.

So if you’re having trouble, please register on LINE. Talking with us there is, of course, free.

Well then — Let’s Daimoku! Thank you for today. Please send us a message on LINE.