vacerator
Well-known member
Thanks also to Charlie Kirby, and Bill W. (Tazcatsdad) for the welocome.
Wow Gary, you live way up near North Bay! I've been to Montreal, and my folks took us camping in Peterborough when we were kids.
Bill W, I've seen several of your youtube videos. All those nice machines keep you occupied during the harsh winters.
Now, the repair nightmare. From now on, I will avoid all newer plastic cheezy machines.
Our daughter bought a nice (looking) Electrolux Oxygen 3 from Lowes about 4 years ago. I remember she paid $400 to $500 for it. Three weeks ago, she calls and says it won't run. No led strobe lights on the canister, nothing!
So, she drops it off and I go online to do research. Common trouble #1 is the glass fuse on the sumo board. #2 is the hose continuity. #3 is the cord reel connections.
A multitetser revealed hose continuity, so I removed the top cover on the canister. Sure enough, the glass buss fuse was blown. Not much room to connect a heat sink to re solder on a new one, so I call my local vac repair shop and they got me a new sumo board for $35. I figured not bad, as this machine is still too nice to pitch in the trash. A meter check also revealed power cable continuity.
After connecting the new board and plugging in the unit, all the led strobe lights were lit and cycling. I touched the on button on the hose handle, and nothing! A second or two later, it starts on it's own on low speed. What?
It would not shut off now, nor would it switch to a higher speed. I unplugged it, and plugged it back in. Nothing again!
Surely, the culprit must be the strain gauge array in the handle switch. Little printed circuits under conductive rubber buttons below the plastic buttons. Not avaialable sepaeratly of course. A $100 new hose the only option. No, just no. The wires on this switch array look about as durable as from 1960's Japanese or Hong Kong battery toy.
So, what to do? A fine looking, very quiet running machine assembled in Hungary, but with 4 Chinese Leffoo pressure sensor transducers and three circuit boards to control motor speed. Why? An environmentally designed product says AB Electrolux.
Really? If it has to be recycled so young, it needs more energy, and more raw materials to do so. The automatic motor speed regulation must save at least a penny a month in power.
Now I know some Miele models also use this auto speed control.
So, I go buy a three way two pole rocker switch. I take apart the switch array, and figure out which wires go to the power nozzle, and which turn on the main motor. I disconnect the switch array altogether, and wire in the new rocker switch.
I drilled a hole in the side of the handle which has enough plastic to mount the switch. It holds the dusting brush and crevice tool, which had been lost anyhow.
Oval hose end and wand extension tube, so no using generic attachments. Figures.
While I was at it, I gutted those pressure transducers, and boards and wired the motor directly to the other pole on the rocker switch from the hose wiring socket.
I got the darn thing to run. Always on high, but it will clean her house again.
She says next time, she will just buy a Shark. A busy mom has no time for vacuum cleaner repair shop visits. They'd rather spend a hundred or so every few years, and toss it in the trash. Again, not good for the environment.
Sorry for the rambling on, but now what I learned about strain gauge arrays.
There are lower cost types for about $20. These are suseptable to static, and temperature fluctuations, which can make them not function. Then, there are better ones which are less suseptable for about $60.
The cheaper type are fine for a microwave oven. Not for a pyrolityc heated one, nor a vacuum cleaner which draws cooler than ambient air which can change the handle and switch array temperature.
Miele must use the better strain gauge arrays of course, and they add a static discharge wire in their handles. Then again, their machines are upwards of $500.
Wow Gary, you live way up near North Bay! I've been to Montreal, and my folks took us camping in Peterborough when we were kids.
Bill W, I've seen several of your youtube videos. All those nice machines keep you occupied during the harsh winters.
Now, the repair nightmare. From now on, I will avoid all newer plastic cheezy machines.
Our daughter bought a nice (looking) Electrolux Oxygen 3 from Lowes about 4 years ago. I remember she paid $400 to $500 for it. Three weeks ago, she calls and says it won't run. No led strobe lights on the canister, nothing!
So, she drops it off and I go online to do research. Common trouble #1 is the glass fuse on the sumo board. #2 is the hose continuity. #3 is the cord reel connections.
A multitetser revealed hose continuity, so I removed the top cover on the canister. Sure enough, the glass buss fuse was blown. Not much room to connect a heat sink to re solder on a new one, so I call my local vac repair shop and they got me a new sumo board for $35. I figured not bad, as this machine is still too nice to pitch in the trash. A meter check also revealed power cable continuity.
After connecting the new board and plugging in the unit, all the led strobe lights were lit and cycling. I touched the on button on the hose handle, and nothing! A second or two later, it starts on it's own on low speed. What?
It would not shut off now, nor would it switch to a higher speed. I unplugged it, and plugged it back in. Nothing again!
Surely, the culprit must be the strain gauge array in the handle switch. Little printed circuits under conductive rubber buttons below the plastic buttons. Not avaialable sepaeratly of course. A $100 new hose the only option. No, just no. The wires on this switch array look about as durable as from 1960's Japanese or Hong Kong battery toy.
So, what to do? A fine looking, very quiet running machine assembled in Hungary, but with 4 Chinese Leffoo pressure sensor transducers and three circuit boards to control motor speed. Why? An environmentally designed product says AB Electrolux.
Really? If it has to be recycled so young, it needs more energy, and more raw materials to do so. The automatic motor speed regulation must save at least a penny a month in power.
Now I know some Miele models also use this auto speed control.
So, I go buy a three way two pole rocker switch. I take apart the switch array, and figure out which wires go to the power nozzle, and which turn on the main motor. I disconnect the switch array altogether, and wire in the new rocker switch.
I drilled a hole in the side of the handle which has enough plastic to mount the switch. It holds the dusting brush and crevice tool, which had been lost anyhow.
Oval hose end and wand extension tube, so no using generic attachments. Figures.
While I was at it, I gutted those pressure transducers, and boards and wired the motor directly to the other pole on the rocker switch from the hose wiring socket.
I got the darn thing to run. Always on high, but it will clean her house again.
She says next time, she will just buy a Shark. A busy mom has no time for vacuum cleaner repair shop visits. They'd rather spend a hundred or so every few years, and toss it in the trash. Again, not good for the environment.
Sorry for the rambling on, but now what I learned about strain gauge arrays.
There are lower cost types for about $20. These are suseptable to static, and temperature fluctuations, which can make them not function. Then, there are better ones which are less suseptable for about $60.
The cheaper type are fine for a microwave oven. Not for a pyrolityc heated one, nor a vacuum cleaner which draws cooler than ambient air which can change the handle and switch array temperature.
Miele must use the better strain gauge arrays of course, and they add a static discharge wire in their handles. Then again, their machines are upwards of $500.
