Smitty Two wrote:
Hey, it's a home appliance, so it's almost home repair. Anyway I've
fixed my girlfriend's aging vacuum three times in three years, and keep
encouraging her to buy a new one.

This weekend's episode concerned the motor that drives the brush. A
little VOM work confirmed voltage was reaching the motor leads,
confirming switch and wiring integrity. As a double-check I cut and
stripped the wires and got out the suicide cord. No sign of motor life.

She went on the internet and started pulling up prices in the $120 range
for a new motor. Sheesh. I'm in the wrong business.

So I took the motor apart. A quick ohmmeter check showed the field
winding to be open, but I sure didn't see any damage to it that would
account for it being open. I decided to take a look at the crimped
splices that connect the magnet wire to the leads, and my surgery
revealed a little thermal fuse. The fuse tested open, the field winding
tested continuous.

Maybe I shot myself in the foot, because now I'm stuck maintaining the
damn thing for a while longer. But anyway, $1.69 plus tax at Radio
Shack, and an hour's work is all it took to restore the thing to
relatively good health.

I love simple stuff. I'm glad I have the experience to troubleshoot
simple stuff and the tools and the time to fix simple stuff.


It's feels good when things work out like that, isn't it?

My experience isn that those little thermal fuses can fail from "old
age" without actually ever being heated to their "melting point".

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10e12 furlongs per fortnight.