Hoover HushTone 15 circuit board problems? Help!

[evolutionclean1]

Hey all, just picked this machine up for commercial cleaning, and 5 minutes after bringing it home, it went on the fritz. It wouldn't turn on but instead the status light for the brush roll was blinking red. Before it did this, it tripped the circuit breaker to the bedroom I was able to get it to run again by spinning the brush roll a couple of times, and now it's sputtering on low power like it isn't getting enough power to the circuit board to start?? I don't know enough about the internal workings of Hoover's commercial cleaners, anyone knowledgeable? Thank you!

 

[huskyvacs]

Might be a bad motor for the brushroll or a bad motherboard for the 2 speed motor system.

"This HushTone upright vacuum has a 10A, 1200W 2-speed motor that operates in both "hush" and "boost" modes. Hush mode ensures less disruption during daytime cleaning or as otherwise needed, while boost mode kicks performance up a notch to a maximum airflow of 95 CFM to help you tackle tough jobs"


I have a Hoover Windtunnel with a faulty motor that had done the same thing - made the lights flicker and would surge high and low randomly and had trouble running.

 

[evolutionclean1]

Can the board

Be replaced? It is a single motor machine xD after messing with it more it almost seems like a capacitor or something is going out because it's not letting the machine get the current it needs to start up. It's like the soft start system is going out?

 

[huskyvacs]

Yeah maybe sounds like a capacitor that regulates the voltage. Did you try and see if it will start immediately on high power? The brushroll problem might be irrelevant to the main problem, it could just be not getting enough power to the motor and causing it to stall with just the slightest resistance.

You could replace the entire board or individual components if you know how to solder and diagnose circuits, they will be just random off the shelf circuits from china or malaysia or whatever. It depends on what the motherboard looks like if it's assembled in a way that swapping diodes is possible - sometimes they coat the entire things in thick glue or they use some stupid way of interconnecting all of the parts so they can't be removed without damaging the traces. You should ask MadMan on here, he knows about circuit boards.

This vacuum is fairly new so I won't think there will be spare parts available nor would they provide a new logic board. If you're lucky you might can find one used.

 

[evolutionclean1]

Fortunately it's still under warranty from the shop I bought it at, the owner called Hoover today as far as I know, so going to check back in tomorrow. Honestly unimpressed with the HushTone if that's Hoover's quality standard nowadays I will post back with updates! Might come home with something better, otherwise I have a 70s Sanitaire that probably won't ever die!

 

[huskyvacs]

Yeah from what I have seen of Hoover's commercial line it's just dressed-up domestic vacuums with fancy colors and a couple of gimmicks. I have seen a lot of angry reviews from commercial users/janitors/restauranteurs for this model and one of the most common complaints is the wheels break off or the foot pedal breaks off.

It does look really nice though and the quiet run feature does sound useful.

 

[evolutionclean1]

The board

Was apparently defective from the factory. I managed to get the old one out (and unnecessarily disassembled the entire machine only to find the board is under the handle ) and I don't see any visible component failure. Assuming one of the small transistor ish things failed. Luckily the shop owner contacted Hoover and a new board is on the way, fingers crossed it don't fail too! This is why you don't mix computers and vacuums, kids

 

[huskyvacs]

Wow, yeah good call. I'm sure if you're handy with a multimeter you could probably trace the problem circuit down and replace that part and have a backup board. But yeah that kind of unreliability is why Hoover's commercial line is not as successful as they hoped it would be. I have a Dyson with a failed board too, one of the old uprights that has the auto-leveling brush head. Miele canisters also fall victim to the same problem. I am not sure if it's just heat from the motor or just the dusty environment but usually any vacuum with a circuit board in it, they go kaput.

Glad to hear it will soon be resolved! Let us know how it works

 

[panasonicvac]

Personally, I think these are good vacuums. They're not perfect, no vacuum is. But I don't think anything would stop me from buying or recommending one to anybody.