Here's a good one.
My electric shower has been playing up for quite a long time and getting worse. The low pressure warning light would come on for no reason and switch off the heat. In this cold weather that's not funny!
After searching the web I found some info concerning a possible bad cap so I thought I'd investigate. Picture 1 shows the PCB and the suspect capacitor which is C3. This is the blue polystyrene cap just below D6. It should be 0.1uF 250VAC but when measured was only approx 0.06uF. This is an X2 type mains cap as it's used as a dropper for the DC rails.
Next thing I noticed was the microswitch which had been pushed backwards as the solder joints had failed. Quick flick with the iron and all was good as new.
This is well documented on the web and could save you a lot of money as an engineer call out plus a new motherboard would be more than a new shower!!
Do not attempt to do this unless you are qualified as there are lethal voltages present (obvious really) and it should only be attempted by a professional.
Midibob
My electric shower has been playing up for quite a long time and getting worse. The low pressure warning light would come on for no reason and switch off the heat. In this cold weather that's not funny!
After searching the web I found some info concerning a possible bad cap so I thought I'd investigate. Picture 1 shows the PCB and the suspect capacitor which is C3. This is the blue polystyrene cap just below D6. It should be 0.1uF 250VAC but when measured was only approx 0.06uF. This is an X2 type mains cap as it's used as a dropper for the DC rails.
Next thing I noticed was the microswitch which had been pushed backwards as the solder joints had failed. Quick flick with the iron and all was good as new.
This is well documented on the web and could save you a lot of money as an engineer call out plus a new motherboard would be more than a new shower!!
Do not attempt to do this unless you are qualified as there are lethal voltages present (obvious really) and it should only be attempted by a professional.
Midibob
Attached Files
Comment