I got one of those for free because the motor controller had failed and
the repair was supposed to cost $400.


The Neputune washer is a typical case of how companies plan for
enforced obscelence.

Make the repair cost so high that you are forced to buy another
appliance.

Their mistake is that many of the problems surfaced during the warranty
period.

Their other mistake was to outsource much of the design to consultants
who took their money and ran leaving the company with a poor design
that was rushed to production.

The CEO and MBAs still got their bonuses as the company sank.

TMT

James Sweet wrote:
A friend bought a brand new Neptune washer that didn't last a month.
The dealer had to replace it TWICE before he had one that lasted over a
month.




I got one of those for free because the motor controller had failed and
the repair was supposed to cost $400. I got lucky and touching up a few
cracked solder joints fixed it. Another I got I wasn't quite so lucky
with and some of the mosfets had shorted which in turn took out just
about every semi on the board including the big custom chip. They used
underrated triacs on the upper control board as well and I've fixed a
number of those which were burned out by out of spec door lock motors.