56 replies to this topic

[mrjtwright]

I'll be damned....and there's a store about 3 miles away from me..........

(doo-dee-doo)

Thanks!

(it seems to never end)

Hah! You should hear my wife!......."Well, what about the microwave? is it fixed yet? What's the problem? How do I reheat my coffee? You said you were going to fix it!!!"

Geez......

MrDave buddy, while I can appreciate your tenacity to want to repair this, I'm gonna have to take her side here.  It's been 50 days and you haven't been able to get the cover off yet.  Happy wife, happy life.....just sayin.  Otherwise, order the Caveman switch for $2.50 and give it a shot.

[NCARepair]

Switch just unclips from the bracket,you'll figure it out. If no signs of burning then switch is probably ok but you can check the terminals for continuity with a
Meter. Measure from the sidecterminal (common) to he one on the end. If twonterminals on the end then continuity will switch between them when depressing the plunger on the switch. When the door is clsed it pushes the plunger, this is the circuit for the cook circuit.

[MrDave]

Alright, I'm still bleeding from getting beat up by you guys, but no worries. I went to Harbor Freight and

picked up the security torx set. Got the cover off. No sticker with a schematic anywhere. Anyway, this thing

has two door switiches. I took the lower one off and checked it. No movement on the meter until I depressed

the little red button, then it shot over to zero. Guess that means that one is good, correct? But lo and behold,

the upper one.....The plastic wire connector had melted. These are connectors that have the bottom and side

connectors as one connector, correct? I was able to get the bottom half of the connector off of the switch, but the

side terminal still has the wire connector attached. The little red button on the switch just flops around. no spring

action like on the lower switch. Check out the pics. I had to remove that assembly from it's mounted location

to remove the burnt top switch.

 

Edited by MrDave, 03 March 2013 - 05:26 PM.

[NCARepair]

Yep, that's it. Order the switch and change the connectors.  Correct connectors available at radio shack.  You may want to use a larger wire size on the connector and splice it into the harness about three inches in. 

[telefunkenu47]

So do you think it needs a door switch?

[MrDave]

Yep, that's it. Order the switch and change the connectors.  Correct connectors available at radio shack.  You may want to use a larger wire size on the connector and splice it into the harness about three inches in. 

Okay, sounds like a great solution. now I need to ask a few questions....

1) The connectors that you say are at Radio Shack are the double plastic connectors that push on to the switch or are they OEM and just the generic single metal ones are available?

2) Either way, two wires go to each connector. Need to have a wire hole big enough to fit both before crimping.

3) What's the best wat to splice into the wiring....a soldered connection with shrink tubing?

4) What's the best way to crimp? If it's with a crimping tool, I can get that too since I am not sure if I have one. I just might in the bowels of my tool box. (I think I do!!!)

5) If the connectors are bare metal, should I use shrink tubing to insulate them? I think I should, so as to not have any exposed live electrical surfaces exposed.

6) I think a lot of this repair is common sense, now that I have opened the unit up, would you agree?

7) What markings on the switch are important to match to the original when ordering?

8) Okay, here's a good one.....Now I am aware that things do not last forever and things wear out. Using my common sense, this is what I think happened:

       Switch started wearing out over time causing internal resistance to gradually increase. The more resistance, the more heat is produced. It finally reached

       the point of melting the internal contacts and enough heat was generated to melt the plastic around the terminal that goes into the connector, which in turn

       melted the connector. Result: Total failure of the switch. Am I kind of on the right track here? I just am asking this as I would like to know.

       Also, was I ever in danger of the unit catching fire? Or since the switch failed, it would seem to me that the electrical flow would have stopped before that

       would happen, but I could be wrong on this.

Please let me know about the markings on the switch before I order a new one. I'd like to do that soon.

 

MrDave

So do you think it needs a door switch?

Uh, lemme check........yes!

[jumptrout]

Join the club.

 

Attached Files

•  caveman.jpg   12.01KB   6 downloads

[NCARepair]

Order the switch. Take it to radio shack and match the connector size to the terminals on the switch. Also purchase red ir blue butt connectors to splice wires and a crimp tool. Change wire to wire on the new switch. Now you will be done.

[MrDave]

Order the switch. Take it to radio shack and match the connector size to the terminals on the switch. Also purchase red ir blue butt connectors to splice wires and a crimp tool. Change wire to wire on the new switch. Now you will be done.

 

Okay, I can do that. now what is the best way to splice in to the wire harness? and do I put shrink tubing on the connectors?

[tpoindexter]

1) Okay, I can do that. now what is the best way to splice in to the wire harness?

and

2) do I put shrink tubing on the connectors?

 

 1) You may want to use a larger wire size on the connector and splice it into the harness about three inches in. 

2) No

[tpoindexter]

Go to Youtube and type in "butt connector" there's plenty of examples you can watch.

Edited by tpoindexter, 06 March 2013 - 01:56 AM.

[MrDave]

Okay, I understand now that I read again about the butt connectors. I mis-read it the first time (beer fog). I agree that's the method that should

be used to splice into the wiring. I really didn't want to use wire nuts.

 

While I am waiting for the switch I ordered to arrive, (it should be here by Wednesday) I have a question about it. The number on the original

burnt-out switch is: V-15G-3C25. The number on the switch I ordered is: D3V-16G-1C25. Will the new one work the way the old one did? Did

I order the wrong switch? Or am I worrying for nothing? The new switch was in one of the links to Repair Clinic that was posted in this thread.

I just want to fix the stupid thing and have it working properly again.

 

Thanks

[reelynyceguy]

Doesn't matter as long as it's a Normally Open switch, Mr. Dave. You're very close to becoming a hero...don't fail us now...

[MrDave]

Doesn't matter as long as it's a Normally Open switch, Mr. Dave. You're very close to becoming a hero...don't fail us now...

Now see, this is one of the things that I was not aware of. I was under the impression that if you don't order the exact part,

then things might not work quite right. I know this applies to a lot of different types of parts that actually require the exact

replacement. With a part such as this, as long as it's normally open, then no problem. And I completely understand this. It's

an electrical component, and there can be a lot of different switches with different numbers on them, but they will all work

the same way. Now that I know this, all is good. The switch I ordered is a normally open switch. Thank you for the reply.

I think I have some butt splice connectors and the push-on connectors in my garage tool box. I just need to see if I have

a crimp tool. If not, Radio shack here I come.

Joy is near!

 

MrDave

[MrDave]

Okay guys, some news....I have fixed it! It works just like when it was new. I want to thank you for all your help.

What I did was cut the old connector off, crimped the new connectors onto the wire pairs, plugged them onto

the switch, and mounted the switch back into it's original location. re-attached the switch block, adjusted it

for proper door closure, put the cover back on, and did a test on reheating the wife's coffee. PERFECT!

She is as happy as I am. Thank you for bearing with me on this. I apologize for taking so long, but I also had to

wait for the switch to be delivered. I ask a lot of questions because I want to do it right the first time, not have

to do it three or four times before it's fixed. It's like when I used to train operators how to setup & run 4 & 5 axis

horizontal machining centers. I told them to not hold back on asking questions because the stupid questions are

the ones that aren't asked.

 

Thank you all again for your help and support.

MrDave

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

Great job, MrDave!  A heroic ending to an epic topic.  Congrats on the repair!  

[MrDave]

Thank you very much! I appreciate the support from you!