Great write up. I am thinking I should check that cap on mine. Is it difficult to separate the board from the plastic case of the giemme control module? Much easier to replace a bulging cap now than to source that relay! Mine is working perfectly but preventative is easier.
On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 5:01:36 PM UTC-6 [email protected] wrote: > Ok. Happy ending and some good stuff to share. > > The relay on the board is a finder 44.62S, which was discontinued more > than 10 years ago. Its improved replacement is the Finder 40.62.7.024.4000. > > But that modern relay has also been discontinued for a while. They're > available from places in UK and poland, to be shipped in 2023 and with > exorbitant shipping prices. > > I found one "new old stock" from radwell. $5 for the relay, then $15 > service fee and $10 shipping. > > Plan was to get my local phone repair store to replace the relay, but then > what caused the relay to fail? > > Luckily I came across "Boyt Enterprises", I emailed Mr Boyt and he > explained it was probably a bad capacitor that caused the relay to be nuked. > > I took it to Boyt who swapped the burned relay for my new one, he also > replaced the capacitor with a new higher temp rated unit that should last > 4x as long. > > FWIW my capacitor had ZERO capacitance. > > Understand... the control board receives AC signal. There's a diode that > cuts off the bottom of that signal, then it goes to the capacitor that > charges on positive signal, then discharges during the quiet time where the > negative signal used to be, thus producing a sort of DC current. Well... > when the capacitor has stopped working the downstream receives the signal > from the diode, essentially a 60HZ ac signal. The relay gets this ac signal > and fip-flops at 60 hz. The pump and steam fill solenoid received that 60 > hz signal. Everyone is buzzing like crazy at 60 hz because they are getting > turned on and off at 60 hz, instead of receiving a steady dc signal out of > the capacitor. > > The first thing to fail in my case was the relay on the control board, can > see how its burned and the contact is actually welded in place for steam > fill. When the relay got welded the control board could no longer switch > from steam fill to steam heat, so filled and then just sat there. Worse > would be if relay welded itself the other way, then I'd have power to steam > element but tank not filled... there might be protection but maybe not. > > So we're clear what is being discussed, here is my giemme control board. > It lives just below my gicar pid. > > [image: giemme3.jpg] > > Here is the control board with my new relay and Boyt's capacitor > installed. He tested the transformer (brick on the left) and it was fine. > > [image: giemme2.jpg] > > Top view: > > [image: giemme_outside.jpg] > > Again. If your machine is making a horrible buzzing sound. STOP. Don't use > it. Get that capacitor replaced or you'll burn out your relay. Capacitors > are still easily available and are like 25 cents, and capacitors wear out. > You can test your capacitor if your DMM has a capacitor test feature (mine > doesn't.). > > Boyt also said "Radwell is the worst place in the world to buy relays." He > said he sources a better one that supports higher current and it costs him > about $2 per. > > End of the day: > > Reassembled machine just now with repaired control board and... perfect. > Steam fill is 'quiet' now and steam heat light came on as soon as fill > completed. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/brewtus/12b09d30-e02b-465d-b85d-bf1ca0f6f121n%40googlegroups.com.
