Darkoshi

touchpad failures

Mon, 09 Sep 2024 03:22:01 GMT

My oven's touchpad isn't working right. The Temperature Up button makes the temperature go down. The Down button brings up Auto Clean. So I am stuck at a maximum temperature of 350, unless I want to Broil something.

It had a similar problem in 2015. Back then on the original Whirlpool unit, the Temperature Down button failed first. I was able to purchase and install a 3rd-party replacement touchpad to fix it, for $200. Now, it looks like a replacement may no longer be available. I've emailed the company I bought it from last time to find out for sure.

Looking up the problem, there are many videos indicating that oven touchpad buttons failing is a common problem with all brands. In most examples, the buttons don't work at all rather than doing the wrong thing. The videos show how to clean the ribbon cable contacts to fix the problem. One guy said that fixes the problem 70% of the time. I didn't try that back in 2015, but did yesterday. Today I tried it again, just to make sure I got those contacts very clean. It didn't fix my problem.

Maybe one of the resistors in the touchpad is shorted. I was looking at the photo I'd made of its wiring prior to installing it. Groups of buttons are wired together along the same metal connector thingy, with what looks like a flat resistor between each one. The control unit probably determines which button was pressed based on the voltage between the various connectors. If the resistor right after the Auto Clean button is shorted, that could result in my problem. Unfortunately the Temp Up button is the last in the path, so there's no other button I can press to make the temperature go up. It's strange that basically the same buttons failed both times, on different brands of touchpads.

Oh well. Being able to bake only at 350 degrees is better than not baking at all. I want to still bake something tonight.

If these touchpads failing is such a common problem, they ought to make more ovens with manual knob controls like in the old days.

Earlier this year, my microwave oven's touchpad was also acting up. Some of the buttons didn't respond, or only when pressed in a specific way. I tried one suggested fix (blow dryer) which didn't help. Later on, the problem went away on its own. Probably seasonal/humidity related.

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fluorescent lamp fixture retrofit for LED tubes

Sun, 14 Jul 2019 08:07:58 GMT

I removed the ballasts and finished rewiring the remaining 4 lamp fixtures in the garage so they'll work with LED tubes. (I had already done this for 2 of the fixtures a few years back.)

( Read more and see photos... )

This page explains the rewiring of fluorescent fixtures:
Direct Wire LED T8 Tube Lights and What You Need to Know About Sockets

Now I just need to order 8 more LED tubes and insert them. Inserting them is one of the hardest parts; it's always tricky getting the pins on both sides of the tube to go in right so that they'll twist into place.

The before-last photo also shows one of the boards I screwed into the ceiling last year, to fix the sagging drywall ceiling panels. The panels had been sagging down due to rain that occasionally leaked into the attic, before the roof was replaced.

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retrofitting lamp fixtures with LED tubes

Sun, 30 Jun 2019 06:54:22 GMT

I'm retrofitting the remaining 4 fluorescent tube lamp fixtures in my garage to use LED tubes. I've already removed the ballasts.

I'm debating whether to wire them for single-ended tubes or double-ended tubes.

Safety Test Shows Double-Ended EasiRetrofit LED Tube Safer Than Single Ended Tube For Maintenance - according to this page, double-ended tube fixtures are safer, because if someone accidentally puts a regular fluorescent tube into a single-ended fixture, it will cause a short. The short could burn out the tube, or if it's a 277V fixture, possibly even make the tube explode.

The Perfect Tube: What are the Differences Between Single-Ended LED Linear Light Tube and Double-Ended LED Linear Light Tube? - according to this page, double-ended tube fixtures were originally more dangerous, because someone putting up a tube, holding it on both ends, could potentially get shocked. Since then, double-ended tubes have features to prevent that.

Based on the above, I'm still not sure which are really better or safer.

The tombstone sockets on my fixtures are not shunted, so they are ok for either kind of tube. They are however, discolored, as are the fixtures themselves (from white to shades of gray), apparently from the heat generated by the old tubes and/or ballasts. So I might end up replacing the sockets anyway, to be on the safe side.

For the 2 fixtures that I already retrofitted in 2014, I used single-ended tubes. It would be best to have all the garage lamp fixtures be consistent, so I should probably use single-ended ones in the other fixtures too.

But I'd hate to do that and a couple years down the line find out that single-ended ones are obsolete, and aren't made anymore. Or vice versa.

Or it may be that tubes in general will become obsolete, as new fixtures will tend to have the LEDs built-in rather than as separate bulbs.

Lowes seems to only have the kind of LED tubes that require a ballast to still be present. I expect those to become obsolete eventually, as LEDs don't inherently require ballasts. But if everyone installs these kind of LED tubes, maybe they'll eventually end up replacing the ballasts too.

Home Depot has some of those kind and some of the ones that work without ballasts. Their product pages don't say if the LED tubes are single or double-ended. I suspect the latter.

But other stores have more choices, so I won't be buying from Home Depot anyway.

Another thing to decide is whether to get glass tubes or shatterproof plastic ones. If I knew the plastic wouldn't discolor over time, that would seem the better choice. I think the LED tubes I have already are plastic.

And then, frosted versus clear. The existing LED tubes I have are clear.

Here are some that say Dual-End & Single-End Powered, Works with/Without Ballast. I wonder how they can work as either dual or single ended, with the same tube. I guess they must have something inside to detect which pins have voltage across them?

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zap

Wed, 19 Feb 2014 04:37:34 GMT

After donning or doffing my jacket at work, I try to remember to touch the metal edge of the cube dividers to discharge any static electricity from my skin, but sometimes I forget.

Twice or thrice, it has happened that upon touching my metal keyboard, static electricity has sparked strongly enough to make the monitor go blank for a moment. I worry about my laptop getting damaged. The static electricity must be traveling along the keyboard cord to the laptop dock. I wonder if the keyboard cord has a ground wire that is purposely connected to the keyboard case.

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