An interesting dishwasher mechanism sent by George for our exploration.
It's door opening mechanism for a dishwasher. It doesn't open it right up, it simply pushes it out of the catch and lets steam escape during the drying cycle.
The machine had stopped popping the door open and the service engineer replaced both the mech and the control module.
I gave the wax motor another test outside its case and it had effectively bottomed out when in situ. The spring plate at the back is purely to prevent damage if it can't open the door. It's possible that a touch of plastic-safe lubricant on the part of the door catch that gets gripped, would help fix sluggish opening issues. (By making it easier to push the catch out to open the door.)
I started reverse engineering the control module, but had to give up due to the mass of very fine tracks repeatedly jumping back and forth on each side of a PCB absolutely covered in through hole vias. I'd have to print it out on a much larger scale and trace each connection individually.
It looks a very straightforward unit with a small number of connections dealing with inputs and controlling a separate power supply and switching module elsewhere in the machine (probably in the base.) The cluster of 9 pads in a 3X3 configuration are exposed externally to allow testing and programming of the PCB in situ.
The main things of note are the high level of protection on all inputs to avoid rogue voltage spikes from reaching the processor.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
https://www.patreon.com/bigclive (extra streams and channel interaction)
Or alternatively:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
#ElectronicsCreators
0 Comments