Kenmore Progressive Canister Vacuum Question..

[fantomfan57]

Hi folks, I was given a canister that would not turn on. I understand it may be a motor controller board problem.

Why do these vacuums have motor controller boards at all?

I checked out the board, looked good to me. I noticed a shrink wrapped item above the motor housing and found it to be a fuse. Scraping away the wrapping I noticed the fuse had blown.

I disconnected the fuse and joined the wire ends. When I applied power, the vacuum motor struggled and then shut down...3 times.

I removed the motor to find scorching and damage to the brushes.

Was the Motor Controller the real culprit and did my actions of bypassing the fuse, RUIN the motor?

 

[n0oxy]

circuit boards in vacuums

It's possible the motor was already on its last leg and was drawing too much power which is why the fuse blew, if the motor was good, I doubt if bypassing the fuse would have destroyed the motor, normally you want to have a fuse for safety reasons, but there's nothing wrong with bypassing it for testing purposes. I'm guessing either the motor was going bad anyway, or was shorted.
I'm not a fan of having electronic boards in vacuums, it's just more components to go out. They are mainly used for things such as speed control, automatic speed control, or allowing you to set the speed from the hose, personally I don't think you need a speed control at all, just open the suction relief on the hose. If you find you do need to replace the motor, rather than replacing it with the same motor, you may be able to find an Ametek motor that will fit that vacuum and provide more power than the original motor did.

 

[cuffs054]

Fan, my KM blueberry canister acted possessed till I changed board, which looked fine. It would always start, but not stop. It would run at slow speed, change speeds and when off it would try to start. I had never even touched a 'board' before and found the replacement very easy.

 

[fantomfan57]

Thanks Mike and Tom...

So I will be digging through my KM motor stash and see if I find a replacement. I would have to go buy a replacement fuse if I choose to have one integrated in the system.

I will try the motor out very briefly and see if in fact the board has failed.
Hopefully that will not damage the motor.

Then I will take a PCB out of a parts vac. and replace it for the (potentially) damaged one.

*I hope I kept the PCB from the parts vac".

Thanks Guys, for your responses.