I own a Smart Vac 4870! Now what?

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amtraksebo1997

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Feb 13, 2022
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Vacmasterthegreats basement
As I mentioned in my previous thread about my trash-picked Panasonic, I treated myself to a new vacuum cleaner for my birthday. In this case, I decided upon a Eureka The Boss Smart Vac, more specifically the purple "Pet Lovers" edition, as I like its color the most out of all of the Smart Vac models (not that I don't like the others, I just like the purple color the best).

This isn't just going to a collection piece, though. Assuming everything goes to plan, I want to take this thing this thing to my mom's house and use it as a daily driver, as what I'm using is my Nacecare Henry and my Bissell Lift Off 3554. I like them both, but sometimes using the Henry is cumbersome, and the Lift Off was meant to be more of a collector's piece, and I don't want to risk breaking it by using it constantly. So I decided on the Smart Vac, as it sounds like it'll have good cleaning performance, filtration, and airflow.

Unfortunately, my mom doesn't take too kindly to me bringing in new vacuums to the house. She's mainly concerned about how sanitary the machines are. I get that, and that's why I'm in the process of cleaning it out with Lysol wipes before I take it over there. I also need to get a set of belts, filters, and bags for it (kudos to the seller for not including a bag full of their dirt and dust).

Additionally, there's some other things I need to get for it, such as some extra screws, because the ones that hold down the front hood and the clutch mechanism are missing. I also need a set of tools for it, including the turbo brush and its holster.

So far, the thing turned on. However, when I got it it was extremely loose on its right side, which is probably because the hood and the clear plastic base were not screwed down correctly/at all. Caused the shaft to make an awful grinding noise when it hit something he belt chamber. Other than that, I think the motor sounds fine, just needs a cleaning.

Finally, and this is probably the most concerning problem to me, is that when I opened up the top of the main body and inspected the power switch wires, one of there turns out to have some exposed copper, and both plastic bits of the connectors are burnt. This is making me wonder both how to go about fixing it, hopefully what I have will suffice.
 

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Little bit of an update...

So I cut off the rubber coverings of the connectors for the switch. It turns out that the connectors on the switch are alright (although the one attached to the stripped wires have some oxidation on it). I've got a few theories as to what happened here, they mainly came from people who are more knowledgeable with electricity. Theory #1: The machine experienced some kind of power surge, causing the wires to the power switch to heat up and slightly burn. Theory #2: Since there aren't a lot of places for heat to escape in the top housing, the wires again heated up and were slightly burnt. Theory #3: The switch is going bad, and somehow that caused the wires to... you guessed it, heat up and slightly burn. Theory #4: It's some sort of combination of these factors. I'm thinking the simple solution would be to wrap some electrical tape around the damaged parts, but to be on the safe side, I ordered a new switch and some of those connectors and the rubber coverings. Hopefully that prevents anything bad from happening, but what do you guys think is going on?
 
The 'burnt' plastic bits: if you are talking about discoloration on the clear insulation covering the crimp on terminals, that is from factory heat shrinking. No need to worry about that at all.

The missing insulation: my guess is its rubbed off from contact with the handle.
 
I don't think these are heat shrink covers. I would assume that if they were, the process of heating them up might melt the wires. Even if they are, I cut them up to remove them, so I'll have to get new ones anyways.

Also, I'm not sure how simple rubbing and vibration from using the machine could cause that type of damage to the wire.
 
If you’re talking about the clear plastic pieces covering the terminals, it looks like he shrink in the picture. Even if it’s not heat shrink, if it is not shrunk and tight to the metal a little bit of brown discoloration is normal.
 
herbicide

I am referring to those. Like I said, I don't think they're heat shrink coverings, but regardless, I still need to get new ones, as apparently they were there to prevent electricity from bypassing the switch, preventing the machine from turning off, or something like that.
 
Ohh. now I see... I zoomed in and see that one in the top is indeed burnt. I'm not familiar with that switch, but I am a 'semi retired' electrician (old career); They are probably there to keep 'accidental' operation as if the two connectors touch the vac would turn on.

The burn is in a weird spot, It may be nothing; the vac may have just momentarily overloaded and got hot there, but I would say the safe move is to replace that switch.
 
herbicide

The switch is just a standard rocker switch, though apparently these switches have a habit of going bad on Smart Vacs. I'm inclined to believe it, as when I got the chance to use a distant relative's Smart Vac, it arched very brightly. Like I said, I ordered a new one, so hopefully that should settle it.
 
herbicide

The switch is just a standard rocker switch, though apparently these switches have a habit of going bad on Smart Vacs. I'm inclined to believe it, as when I got the chance to use a distant relative's Smart Vac, it arched very brightly. Like I said, I ordered a new one, so hopefully that should settle it.
I am not familiar with those machines, are they a two motor setup?

I ask because if they are, I would propose turning the machine 'on' in stages to minimize the starting current the switch sees (motors always draw a bunch more than their rated current at startup). ie if you can leave the brushroller off when you first turn it on, then start it after the vac motor is stable, it will 'extend the life' of the switch.
 
I am not familiar with those machines, are they a two motor setup?

I ask because if they are, I would propose turning the machine 'on' in stages to minimize the starting current the switch sees (motors always draw a bunch more than their rated current at startup). ie if you can leave the brushroller off when you first turn it on, then start it after the vac motor is stable, it will 'extend the life' of the switch.
Good advice.
 
One machines with speed control and a seperate brush motor (E.G. Sebo K3 Premium) I turn it on low power and slowly ramp it up until max and then after a bit I turn the brush on.
Soft start bs. Never saw the need for it. For over a hundred years vacuums managed just fine without it. Just a lot of electronics to kludge up the machine and cause problems. On my Lindhaus Aria the soft start is so slow it is aggravating waiting for the vacuum motor to spin up. A Patriot or Metrovac Evolution, or Kenmore's of any vintage including our modern 600 Series don't have soft start and don't need it. It is a great example of the Germans going overboard on electronics just to have some bragging rights. They do this with their cars and motorcycles too and it has alienated my from most German products. The Germans usually do the mechanical part right but they have terrible electronics and their software is even scarier. Anyone who has had to use SAP at work or has a BMW anything built after 2004 knows this all too well.
 
The same concept should still hope I think, leaving the clutch/brushroller 'off' for the motor startup should have less overall initial load (amp draw) on the motor.
So when you have a clutch style brush roll shut off you need to disengage and engage the clutch with the motor off to prevent clutch wear. That means you turn the vacuum on with the brush roll engaged to use it to clean carpets. If you turn it on then engage the brush roll you quickly ruin the clutch.
 
Yeah,clutches are too complicated for many people.
It is not the complexity but most users do not realized the clutch is supposed to be operated when the vacuum is turned off. I didn't understand this until seeing a video showing the overhaul of a Riccar brush roll with the clutch. Now I get it. With the old two belt Panasonic design you moved the selector from carpets to hard floors with the motor running. That control moved the belt from the motor to the selector from an idler over to the side to drive the round belt that spun the brush roll. You couldn't move it with the vacuum off. But with the clutch you have one belt from the motor to the brush roll and you shut the vacuum off to operate the carpet/hard floor selector. Hence the confusion going from the old original Panasonic design to the later Tacony clutch design.
 

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