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Intermittent heating, tripping the circuit, a few resistors looking toasty.
Reading the internets points to a faulty (or potentially faulty) diode.
The diode seems to be attached to the HV Capacitor. How does one discharge the capacitor if the diode is connected to it? Or, would it be safe to remove the lead of the diode w/o discharging the capacitor? (microwave unplugged, ofc)
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Just unplug it, leave it there for a day or so, then take an insulated handle screwdriver and touch both capacitor terminals at the same time, wearing eye protection.
Do not mess with it if the cap is charged.
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gadje wrote:
Just unplug it, leave it there for a day or so, then take an insulated handle screwdriver and touch both capacitor terminals at the same time, wearing eye protection.
Do not mess with it if the cap is charged.
thanks, that is what I figured. however, according to the schematic, the diode is attached (tethered?) to the HV capacitor.
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if it's old, personally, I wouldn't mess with it.
The intermittency may point to other issues.
I know we don't want to add to the mountain of electronic trash, but ...
“Art is how we decorate space.
Music is how we decorate time.”
Jean-Michel Basquiat
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mrbigstuff wrote:
[quote=gadje]
Just unplug it, leave it there for a day or so, then take an insulated handle screwdriver and touch both capacitor terminals at the same time, wearing eye protection.
Do not mess with it if the cap is charged.
thanks, that is what I figured. however, according to the schematic, the diode is attached (tethered?) to the HV capacitor.
I would assume that there would be some exposed portion of the capacitor terminals close to it's base below where any connectors reach so that you can still get in there and discharge it, since that's a requirement to service it. When I had a microwave diode and capacitor replaced several years ago, the repair tech used a pair of insulated needle nose pliers spread open so that the two points of the pliers could touch the capacitor contacts to discharge it.
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GGD wrote:
[quote=mrbigstuff]
[quote=gadje]
Just unplug it, leave it there for a day or so, then take an insulated handle screwdriver and touch both capacitor terminals at the same time, wearing eye protection.
Do not mess with it if the cap is charged.
thanks, that is what I figured. however, according to the schematic, the diode is attached (tethered?) to the HV capacitor.
I would assume that there would be some exposed portion of the capacitor terminals close to it's base below where any connectors reach so that you can still get in there and discharge it, since that's a requirement to service it. When I had a microwave diode and capacitor replaced several years ago, the repair tech used a pair of insulated needle nose pliers spread open so that the two points of the pliers could touch the capacitor contacts to discharge it.
thanks, good hint. do you recall the parts cost for the replacement?
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Fritz wrote:
if it's old, personally, I wouldn't mess with it.
The intermittency may point to other issues.
I know we don't want to add to the mountain of electronic trash, but ...
this is exactly why I'm keeping this thing around. I'm determined not to add to the landfill.
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mrbigstuff wrote:
this is exactly why I'm keeping this thing around. I'm determined not to add to the landfill.
in that light, I would check to see if anyhting comes up for the model on the youtubes.
“Art is how we decorate space.
Music is how we decorate time.”
Jean-Michel Basquiat
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mrbigstuff wrote:
thanks, good hint. do you recall the parts cost for the replacement?
We're probably comparing apples and oranges, mine was a built-in microwave that was part of a wall oven, and this was in December 2012. In my case the Magnetron failed, but due to the labor to just get to the microwave's internals it was recommended to replace the diode and capacitor at the same time. I purchased the factory Kitchenaid/Whirlpool replacement parts online from AppliancePartsPros and paid a factory authorized tech $365 to replace them.
$213.29 - Magnetron
$49.73 - Capacitor
$35.27 - Diode
After watching him do it and seeing that the entire wall oven didn't need to come out of the wall and it could be done by one person, I'd probably do it myself if needed again, but there were a huge number of wiring harness connectors that needed to be disconnected in order to get the microwave portion out of the wall oven.
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Thanks,l for that exacting info, ggd.
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