diyrebel
@diyrebel@lemmy.dbzer0.com
- Comment on Washing machine PCB has a USART port. Do repairers use that? 3 days ago:
I don’t intend to modify the program. I am just looking to reset the state of the software to get it out of the fault state.
Normally that can be done by using the buttons to enter a secret combination code to:
- enter diagnostic mode
- run various functions/cycles which normally run as part of a program
- see the error code
- reset the board
When the software detects a fault (such as a broken pump), it saves the error code. Then if you fix the pump, the software doesn’t know the pump has been fixed. So the board has to be reset to clear the error code.
The button sequence codes are secret and known only to the manufacturer. They are very protectionist. In Europe, law requires them to make the codes available to other 3rd party technicians – but only in the 1st ten years and they can also charge a fee. Consumers get no access under any circumstances.
My thought was theoretically a pro independent repair service would not want to pay every manufacturer for the secret info for every model they repair – so perhaps they would attach to the USART serial port and have a way to see errors and reset the board. But if it’s as you say, then the USART is disabled and useless to repairers. Which means I’m stuffed because I cannot buy a replacement card for my machine.
If the serial port is not disabled, you conjecture that it is likely a read-only non-interactive mechanism. That still may be useful. I was able to find the secret button combination that is likely giving me an error code which I can guess the meaning of based on leaked docs for other models, but I’m not satisfied with that. I would be useful if I could get more verbose or supplemental info about the error state.
- Comment on Washing machine PCB has a USART port. Do repairers use that? 4 days ago:
The MCU is an ATmega32L, which seems to be well documented. I was able to fetch a 300+ page document and a 12 page overview of the specs.
- Submitted 5 days ago to fixing@slrpnk.net | 6 comments
- Comment on trying to test washing machine motor; saw a white flash, voltage dropped, what happened? 2 weeks ago:
I appreciate the guidance. But I think I can rule out insulation breakdown because I just removed the cover to the tacho generator and the ring magnet was broken in two pieces.
- Comment on trying to test washing machine motor; saw a white flash, voltage dropped, what happened? 4 weeks ago:
Thanks for the feedback! So I guess I should buy a megger. Wow… not cheap. I think I see these at local 2nd hand street markets. I often thought “what strange multimeter… so few functions” but I didn’t realize what I was looking at. I will look for something that dials “500V” and has fewer modes than a multimeter, and ideally a “MΩ” printed somewhere although it looks like they won’t all print that on the device.
I suppose I could try to bring the motor into an appliance repair shop and pay them to test it with a megger.
As far as diagnosis of the whole machine-- suppose it’s true that I have an insulation failure. The control panel LEDs light up correctly when powered on, then when I try to start a program the start button just blinks. Does it seem viable or likely that faulty insulation would cause the controller to behave that way? I get the impression that the blinking LED means the controller detected an unspecified fault of some kind & refused to continue, which tempts me to think that the controller is functioning correctly – unless it’s a false positive of a failure.
I really want to avoid replacing multiple major parts because I don’t imagine I can return special ordered parts.
- Comment on trying to test washing machine motor; saw a white flash, voltage dropped, what happened? 4 weeks ago:
Right but I think that safety capacitor (SC) is the last thing I care about. IIUC, I could perhaps even simply bypass the SC because it’s merely improving the power quality. It’s not worth buying an SC if I fail to fix whatever else is broken. If I could get the machine working, I could then of course consider replacing the SC as a final protective measure.
The task at hand is testing every essential component of the washing machine, starting with the motor and tacho. I would like to understand what happened with the SC and motor though. Did I wire the motor wrong which caused the SC to flash and produce bad output for a moment? I don’t want to repeat that. I could power the motor directly without the SC, but if the motor is doing upstream damage then I guess I wouldn’t want my breaker box on the chopping block.
- trying to test washing machine motor; saw a white flash, voltage dropped, what happened?piped.manganiello.tech ↗Submitted 4 weeks ago to fixing@slrpnk.net | 7 comments
- Comment on help needed to understand this diagram of a water flow sensor (from a boiler) 5 months ago:
For what it’s worth, I didn’t mean take the sensor out of the wall, but just electrically unplug it from the controller to see what it does on its own when you turn on the water.
Yeah I figured that but the terminals on the sensor are hard to reach so I was figuring I would need to remove it. But then it occurred to me that I could leave the thing in place and do the isolated test by unplugging the X2 connector from the motherboard and easily access the pins through that connector. So that’s what I did. Results:
- at rest, the signal wire is 4.75 V
- water running, the signal wire is 2.3 V
So in isolation the sensor worked correctly. Then I plugged it back into the motherboard and retested to confirm again the bad voltages. But in fact the readings were correct. It’s unclear why it works now. I wonder if the unplugging and replugging of the x2 connector improved a connection that deteriorated somehow.
Thanks for saving me €36! However incidental. If I had not done the test in isolation, I probably would not have messed with the X2 connector. I would have normally just replaced the sensor as an experiment.
- Comment on help needed to understand this diagram of a water flow sensor (from a boiler) 5 months ago:
It shows 5V on the diagram but I don’t think that’s precise. I measured the red wire at 4.68v which is around what the guy in the video got in his test. Since the board is part of the circuit I suppose I cannot rule out the board as a problem. Testing the sensor in isolation will be rough going because it’s a proprietary joint. So I would have to get a tight rubber hose and fit that onto a garden hose. For powering it I have a switchable ac adapter with a 4.5 V setting. Or I can maybe get 5V off a USB charger or ATX PSU from a PC. My multimeter does not have a frequency function but I can see from the video that it would be useful for this so I might look for 2nd hand multimeter at the next street market, though that will set me back a week (OTOH might be worth it if it helps diagnose this in a way that helps avoid buying the wrong part).
- Comment on help needed to understand this diagram of a water flow sensor (from a boiler) 5 months ago:
It shows 5V on the diagram but I don’t think that’s precise. I measured the red wire at 4.68v which is around what the guy in the video got in his test. Since the board is part of the circuit I suppose I cannot rule out the board as a problem. Testing the sensor in isolation will be rough going because it’s a proprietary joint. So I would have to get a tight rubber hose and fit that onto a garden hose. For powering it I have a switchable ac adapter with a 4.5 V setting. Or I can maybe get 5V off a USB charger or ATX PSU from a PC. My multimeter does not have a frequency function but I can see from the video that it would be useful for this so I might look for 2nd hand multimeter at the next street market, though that will set me back a week (OTOH might be worth it if it helps diagnose this in a way that helps avoid buying the wrong part).
- Comment on help needed to understand this diagram of a water flow sensor (from a boiler) 5 months ago:
Yeah, if by /in system/ you mean connected to the board. I didn’t mess with anything other than to stick my probes onto the wires. The boiler is not switching on to heat water and it acts just as if it is not detecting that water is running. So a broken flow sensor was one of the theories. And since the readings seem quite off from what’s expected I guess buying a new sensor is the right move.
Once I get it removed I’ll see if it looks like I can rebuild it but I don’t expect that to go well. I may not have to waste it though. Considering the at rest voltage is double the running water voltage, it’s still detecting water running. It’s just not giving the right voltage. So one idea is maybe I can repurpose this to turn on a shower light when the shower water is running.
If I had an electronics background I would probably try to do a makeshift gadget that converts 0.66 V to 2V and 1.33 V to 0 V. Then I wouldn’t need a new sensor (which could cost €100… i’ve not checked locally yet but online prices are looking terrible).
- Comment on help needed to understand this diagram of a water flow sensor (from a boiler) 5 months ago:
Thanks for the feedback. I see that that’s indeed the case.
- Submitted 5 months ago to askelectronics@discuss.tchncs.de | 17 comments
- Comment on Ultrasonic manual advises not to use ammonia 1 year ago:
My ultrasonic came with a plastic basket which has “>ABS<” printed on it. Might that be something that’s incompatible with ammonia?
- Submitted 1 year ago to chemistry@mander.xyz | 2 comments
- Comment on I tapped a rod directly into brick without chemical anchor epoxy and it worked! -- was it a good or bad idea? 1 year ago:
I appreciate the tip. The shank was ½ a bicycle axle bolt with non-standard threading. I could not have switched to a standard bolt because the nuts that interface to ball bearings needed to be on the bolt.
Good to hear your anchors held up over 10 years. Someone else just mentioned they’ve not bee so lucky: lemmy.dbzer0.com/comment/5372639 I suppose it’s important that they be used in a dry climate.
- Comment on I tapped a rod directly into brick without chemical anchor epoxy and it worked! -- was it a good or bad idea? 1 year ago:
Is this a friction anchor?
…dbzer0.com/…/f504ebc8-a015-4b7a-907d-85eabdfc260…
I just learned these exist. Though I doubt it would have helped in my case. At this point I’ll just have to check it over the seasons and see if temp changes have caused any issues.
I was mainly asking for future reference whether I should repeat what I did or not. I suppose it’s rare that a smooth rod needs to be installed on brick.
- Comment on I tapped a rod directly into brick without chemical anchor epoxy and it worked! -- was it a good or bad idea? 1 year ago:
Both… functional art.
The original problem is that there was a water shut-off valve for the whole floor in the shower. Very ugly to have a valve in the corner on the floor and somewhat in the path of the shower. Handle was rusting. It was embedded in a solid block of concrete with the handle sticking out. The valve started to fail (did not completely shut off the water). And it was the kind of valve where the whole valve needed to be replaced. Terrible work by the builders. I had to demolish the concrete to reach the valve.
So I replaced the valve with the kind of valve that has a replaceable cartridge. But I also refused to embed it in concrete again. I will build a removable box around it. But the box could not be waterproof and also easily removable on the fly whenever the valve needs to be accessed. So I put a hole in the wall (shower to bedroom). Then I attached a 90° gearbox drill accessory and a shaft to that goes through the wall. On the bedroom side, I could have just put a handle. But I found a wood helm to a ship, but miniaturized. I thought that would be the perfect steampunkish valve handle. But it did not clear the wall. So i got carried away and put a bicycle sprocket on the shaft, and mounted the helm to another sprocket, which i attached to the wall higher up. And wrapped a chain between them.
- Comment on I tapped a rod directly into brick without chemical anchor epoxy and it worked! -- was it a good or bad idea? 1 year ago:
Old red brick, which is solid. It’s light duty, and unusual. I cut a bicycle axle bolt in half, and embedded it in the brick so there is a bicycle sprocket on the wall. Then a chain runs to another sprocket, which turns a shaft that goes all the way though the wall to the other side, where it connects to a right-angle gearbox, which attaches to a water valve. But it’s lightweight overall… just the weight of a sprocket and a small decorative wood thing out of wood to serve as a handle. I suppose you’re sorry you asked at this point.
- Submitted 1 year ago to diy@slrpnk.net | 9 comments
- Comment on Cleaning salvaged bicycle parts non-destructively (for non-bike projects)… reusing enzymes 1 year ago:
product 1:
- maintenance: 2 caps/week (a cap is big, looks like ~100ml if i eyeball it)
- clog clearing: 500ml (½ bottle)
product 2:
- maintenance: 25ml/2 weeks
- clog clearing: 300ml (⅓ bottle)
product 3:
- maintenance: 25ml/week
- clog clearing: not mentioned for this purpose
Going from memory I rotated between the products and I think I poured in about ⅓ of the clog clearing doses on the first two every few days… because I was a cheap bastard and just wanted to constantly have the enzymes in there. But yeah, probably a mistake. I think I tried a 300ml dose of product 2 just once. But I probably should have tried a full dose more often.
- Comment on Cleaning salvaged bicycle parts non-destructively (for non-bike projects)… reusing enzymes 1 year ago:
Right, but these were specifically for cleaning drains. One of them was kitchen drain specific, and the other two were for drains in general. But indeed it’s possible that the clog was not even organic… perhaps calcium deposits from hard water.
- Comment on Cleaning salvaged bicycle parts non-destructively (for non-bike projects)… reusing enzymes 1 year ago:
I documented a drain horror story here, which involved 3 different enzyme-based drain cleaners. They seem to have a dual purpose: pour a small amount down the drain every 1 or 2 weeks as a maintenance task, or pour down a large amount to work on a clog.
I had a very slow drain and the enzymes made no apparent difference. But I know in general enzyme cleaners are quite good. It’s amazing how well they work on the oven. I had a general purpose enzyme based cleaner that worked well for things like food spills that dried on a wall.
- Comment on Cleaning salvaged bicycle parts non-destructively (for non-bike projects)… reusing enzymes 1 year ago:
I guess proteins is a little over my head. I just saw on the label a bunch of pac-mans gobbling up stuff. I understood that… and hoped I could multiply them. So IIUC, I just have to keep buying them and not reuse them much? Do they degrade in the original bottle just the same as if they’re in dirty water?
- Submitted 1 year ago to diy@slrpnk.net | 9 comments
- Comment on Need to fasten/glue roofing shingle type of stuff 1 year ago:
I don’t have anything specialized like simple green, but wouldn’t acetone or denatured alcohol make a decent primer? I think priming the smooth rubber surface should be the easy part but it’s the bitumen band that’s tricky. It has a sandy texture and sand crumbles off when I rub it. Perhaps I should steel brush it where it needs adhesive.
- Comment on Need to fasten/glue roofing shingle type of stuff 1 year ago:
In my case there is nothing to nail to. A shingle must be attached to thick (~2mm) rubber that’s just formed to be vertical. Perhaps I need to rivet the two rubber pieces together. Or I might try construction glue again but also get a couple metal plates and screws to clamp them together as a permanent clamp.
- Submitted 1 year ago to [deleted] | 5 comments
- Comment on Fixing my drain required breaking laws, pissing off IRC users, breaking tools… 1 year ago:
The drain is working well now after the sulfuric acid cleanse. But I suspect it’s double trapping or something because after draining water some gurgling goes on for a while. I suspect the pipes are embedded in a concrete slab on the ground floor, so rework would require lots of demolition.
- Comment on EU passes law to blanket highways with fast EV chargers by 2025 1 year ago:
Anyone know how the price of electricity from these chargers compares to prices in the home?
I just wonder about possible non-car use-cases. E.g. someone is off the grid and they use a cargo cycle to bring batteries¹ to one of these charging stations. Will they be fleeced on price, or are there subsidies that could perhaps make the cost lower than household electric?
① asking w.r.t. both lead-acid batteries and li-ion, though I suspect these chargers would be li-ion only.
