diyrebel

A Park Tool video on stem/bar removal suggests applying “assembly compound” on the handlebar where it makes contact with the stem. These are clamped surfaces which rely on friction to prevent the handlebars from rotating. What they applied looked smooth and greasy. How does that stuff help create friction?

Youtube has become increasingly protectionist and hostile toward Tor users as it cancels the Invideous services that give us refuge. Bicycle repairers fear not -- there is a rich library of how-to videos by Parkside on archive.org.

I bought a tube marked 26/27½″ for a tire marked “44-622 / 700×45C”. I have another bike w/a 26″ wheel. So despite struggling to trust a dual size tube to be good for either size, I thought it’ll be useful one way or another. But the immediate need is for the 700mm wheel (assuming the “700” means 700mm). That’s 27.56″, which is presumably the same as 27½″ in the world of “nominal” sizes.

The tube does not entirely pack into the tire and the innermost ring of the tube is exposed. Is that okay?

The previous tube was marked 28″. Not sure if that’s the correct size.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/26897688

Either the relay is broken or the thermostat. I know this because I could force the fridge to run by hotwiring 220V across the common and run pins then briefly jumping the start pin to the run pin (thus sending 220V through the start winding for a split second).

The thermostat assembly has too many wires to know what to measure resistance on. But I figure that the thermostat can be black-box tested simply by checking whether it sends 220v to the relay switch. There are THREE wires involved (in addition to ground). With the relay removed (thus compressor disconnected), I plugged the fridge into mains. Got these measurements:

common pin to run: 220v
common pin to start pin: 20v

I’m tempted to conclude that the start winding /can/ accept 220v (proven by hotwiring), but 20v is also sufficient to cause enough motor movement to get it started. Does that sound reasonable? Can I conclude that the thermostat works and the relay is toast?

It’s hard to be confident without a service manual, particularly when the relay¹ has continuity. The common pin goes through a cylinder marked “Klixon MRP342LZ-32Q1”, which as 0.5 Ω. The start and run pins go through what seems to be a ceramic disc having 45 Ω. Is that reasonable?

I am ½ tempted to attach the relay, bypass the thermostat, and wire the relay to mains with start-run jumped persistently. Is that crazy? I assume the relay would internally disconnect the start winding. The fridge has no fans AFAICT, so no need for anything else to have power in this test.

¹ The relay I have has part № “A 3B7 8100” printed on it, which I cannot find online. But it looks exactly like this one.

Update

I hot-wired the relay. It was non-trivial because the relay has /3/ inputs. After studying it closely, I realised that one of the inputs (apparently for the start winding) is phony. The spade connector that attaches to it ultimately goes nowhere. When connecting the remaining 2 pins to load and neutral for the house mains, the fridge started and ran just fine.

Thus I have to conclude that the thermostat went bad. And replacements are not sold. However, Amazon has what’s claimed to be a universal fridge thermostat. It’s cheap, but I boycott Amazon. I think I will wait until someone throws out their fridge. Perhaps I can just take any thermostat and make it work.

Either the relay is broken or the thermostat. I know this because I could force the fridge to run by hotwiring 220V across the common and run pins then briefly jumping the start pin to the run pin (thus sending 220V through the start winding for a split second).

The thermostat assembly has too many wires to know what to measure resistance on. But I figure that the thermostat can be black-box tested simply by checking whether it sends 220v to the relay switch. There are THREE wires involved (in addition to ground). With the relay removed (thus compressor disconnected), I plugged the fridge into mains. Got these measurements:

common pin to run: 220v
common pin to start pin: 20v

I’m tempted to conclude that the start winding /can/ accept 220v (proven by hotwiring), but 20v is also sufficient to cause enough motor movement to get it started. Does that sound reasonable? Can I conclude that the thermostat works and the relay is toast?

It’s hard to be confident without a service manual, particularly when the relay¹ has continuity. The common pin goes through a cylinder marked “Klixon MRP342LZ-32Q1”, which as 0.5 Ω. The start and run pins go through what seems to be a ceramic disc having 45 Ω. Is that reasonable?

I am ½ tempted to attach the relay, bypass the thermostat, and wire the relay to mains with start-run jumped persistently. Is that crazy? I assume the relay would internally disconnect the start winding. The fridge has no fans AFAICT, so no need for anything else to have power in this test.

¹ The relay I have has part № “A 3B7 8100” printed on it, which I cannot find online. But it looks exactly like this one.

Update

I hot-wired the relay. It was non-trivial because the relay has /3/ inputs. After studying it closely, I realised that one of the inputs (apparently for the start winding) is phony. The spade connector that attaches to it ultimately goes nowhere. When connecting the remaining 2 pins to load and neutral for the house mains, the fridge started and ran just fine.

Thus I have to conclude that the thermostat went bad. And replacements are not sold. However, Amazon has what’s claimed to be a universal fridge thermostat. It’s cheap, but I boycott Amazon. I think I will wait until someone throws out their fridge. Perhaps I can just take any thermostat and make it work.

This thread gives some history and pics. Someone found a closely matching service manual, which is here:

https://www.how-to-repair.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Beko-WMB61431B-Washing-Machine-User-Manual.pdf#page=72

That goes to the error codes, which implies that I was reading the error codes upside-down. I thought it was error code 9 but the machine apparently has error code 18. It means the “load is imbalanced”. How does it sense that? There is no load in it at all now . But it’s trapped in an error state that cannot be cleared.

Am I missing something? Because this is outrageous. AFAICT, all components work. But the control board thinks there is a fault. And there is no way to clear it and force it to run. Page 86 of the service manual says:

“Explain the customer the following unbalanced load preventive actions.”

IIUC, according to page 86, the previous user ran an unbalanced load many times in a row. They retried running an unbalanced load enough times that the machine entered a locked state to protect itself from damage. But this service manual does not give a way to reset the machine. Am I fucked?

It’s the same problem with my other Beko washing machine as well. Both my Beko washing machines are trapped in an error state that is unclearable. The secret info was not released for either machine.

I have two Beko washing machines, both of which are trapped in an error state despite all components functioning.

Protectionism puts service manuals out of reach. I happen to have two service manuals that were leaked to me (against Beko’s will). One of the most important pieces of information for repair is clearing the error state (thus the most important info to suppress if you want to prevent repair and force a new purchase).

• machine 1 (WMD 2625t) service manual: “After entering the failure code observing mode, pressing and holding “Run/ Pause/Cancel” button for a short time will erase the error code from the memory.”
• machine 2 (WMB 51420) service manual: “Even if a new program has been started, this error code in here will not be cleared; the last error code occurred will always be displayed here. … When a new program is started, the error on the machine is cleared and the error code is no more displayed when Speed and YF1 keys are pressed.”

The machine 2 guide is self contradictory. Can we escape the error state or not? I hold “start” while rotating from OFF to COTTON (the 1st program). It shows error code 18, which means “unbalanced load” (yet there is no load). The service manual implies that programs can run when it’s in an error state, which seems unlikely and bizarre. It refuses to run programs in my case. In any case, there are no functional instructions for clearing the error state in the service manual.

The machine 1 service guide lies. Pressing and holding “Run/Pause/Cancel” while the error code is indicated has no effect. It’s forever stuck on error code 101 (E5), which also seems unlikely because the drain pump is fine (tested by hot-wiring).

Is Beko diliberately concealing the real/effective way to escape error states perhaps on the basis that the service manuals get leaked? Is the secret verbally given to Beko repairers in training instead?

It’s also suspicious that many of the fault flow diagrams lead to “replace controller card”. I really doubt PCBs would go bad in so many situations. Seems like a combination of laziness on the repair procedure to maybe sell more PCBs, which seem to have a high markup and also have an artificially short supply to force whole machine replacement.

I’m mostly confident that I have the right manuals, but it’s a shitshow because for machine 1 (WMD 2625t) there is a RAR file for a hodgepodge of models in the same family. And the svc manual for machine 2 is actually for “B7S B7SLED xxxx d/d”, which is apparently the US version of the WMB 51420.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/52150351

My bicycle was simply sitting at rest indoors when it exploded. A slit about ~6mm long was in the tube. I thought it might be too big to patch, but I happen to have some quit big patches to try. I cleaned the area w/denatured alcohol then roughened the surface w/the sanding tool. I covered the whole patch footprint area with rubber cement. Around 90 sec. later applied the patch and lightly clamped it down. About 5 min later: installed the tube and inflated to 4.5 bar.

Couple min later it exploded again. As the image shows, it blew exactly along the line of the original slit. AFAICT, I could not have applied this patch better. That is, the air went through the patch instead of around it.

Why did this happen? The patch is thicker and harder than the tube. So if the adhesive does its job well, then I would expect the patch to be stronger than the rest of the tube. The elasticity is lower in the patch, so I suppose that must be the problem.

So I have to wonder: would it be more or less effective to cut previously damaged spare tubes to use for patching, instead of a patch? I wonder if larger holes need patches with more elasticity.

Rubber cement vs. contact glue

Patch kits include a tiny tube of “rubber cement”. The instructions say to wait 3 min before applying the patch. That’s similar to contact glue instructions. The only difference is contact glue instructions direct us to glue BOTH surfaces then press them together a few min later, whereas the repair kits never say to put glue on the patch (why is that?).

Are the two glues chemically different? I ask because it may not make sense for me to buy another patch kit when I happen to have a very big tube of contact glue for shoe repair.

My bicycle was simply sitting at rest indoors when it exploded. A slit about ~6mm long was in the tube. I thought it might be too big to patch, but I happen to have some quit big patches to try. I cleaned the area w/denatured alcohol then roughened the surface w/the sanding tool. I covered the whole patch footprint area with rubber cement. Around 90 sec. later applied the patch and lightly clamped it down. About 5 min later: installed the tube and inflated to 4.5 bar.

Couple min later it exploded again. As the image shows, it blew exactly along the line of the original slit. AFAICT, I could not have applied this patch better. That is, the air went through the patch instead of around it.

Why did this happen? The patch is thicker and harder than the tube. So if the adhesive does its job well, then I would expect the patch to be stronger than the rest of the tube. The elasticity is lower in the patch, so I suppose that must be the problem.

So I have to wonder: would it be more or less effective to cut previously damaged spare tubes to use for patching, instead of a patch? I wonder if larger holes need patches with more elasticity.

Rubber cement vs. contact glue

Patch kits include a tiny tube of “rubber cement”. The instructions say to wait 3 min before applying the patch. That’s similar to contact glue instructions. The only difference is contact glue instructions direct us to glue BOTH surfaces then press them together a few min later, whereas the repair kits never say to put glue on the patch (why is that?).

Are the two glues chemically different? I ask because it may not make sense for me to buy another patch kit when I happen to have a very big tube of contact glue for shoe repair.

A washing machine manufacturer quoted €200 just to show up (like some plumbers do). The price is reduced to €120 if they fail to fix the machine. These rates are a bad deal either way, fleecing people whether they fix it or not, considering a working 2nd-hand machine is around €150. Clearly the manufacturers have deliberately priced themselves out of the service market to push new sales.

Third-party repair services are likely cheaper but they are still unlikely to show up for <~€25 and charge nothing in the event that they cannot fix the appliance. But what if I bring the machine to them? Does anyone know of an appliance repair shop that repairs appliances brought to them, of course at a more reasonable rate than a house call?

Or at least someone who does quite cheap house calls in situations where they fail to fix?

Fridge stopped running. Both freezer and fridge do not cool. The compressor is silent and cold. Light comes on when the door is opened, so power is getting to the light and thermostat assembly.

I found no service manual for any Zanussi fridges. There is a (apparently useless) user manual for model ZD 19/4. My model is Z 19/4 D, which archive.org does not have the manual for.

Anyway, I pulled off the relay switch and took these compressor measurements:

        ° common
start °   ° run

common-run:    14.3 Ω
common-start:  19.3 Ω
start-run:    ~33.3—34 Ω

Ytubers quote values of ¼ of what I am measuring. They are demonstrating on different models of course, never my model, but they speak as if their measurements are a norm. My start-run resistence is the sum of the other two measurements, which is the one characteristic that is claimed to be correct. But are my resistences all too high? I used 2 different DMMs to confirm.

I hot-wired the common and run terminals to the house mains. It made a hum sound. Then I jumped the start winding to the run winding and the motor started. From there, it runs fine. Sounds like normal and the external coils get hot, as expected. So I assume the compressor is good and the problem is either the relay switch OR the thermostat. How can I narrow that down?

The relay measured at ~45 Ω. One Ytuber says the relay should be 0—1 Ω, so I am tempted to conclude my relay is bad. But I also have little confidence in what Ytubers say on these measurements. I have not yet taken resistence measurements on the thermostat, but when I do I expect the same problem: not knowing if my reading is good. Because user manuals withold this info.

I thought perhaps the relay is cheap enough to experiment, particularly in my case because apparently there is no starter capacitor. It’s a quite simple design. The parts shops all say the relay is discontinued, except one, who says they can get ½ a relay (it’s missing a circular part that looks like it might be the part that switches off when hot -- not sure). They want €40 for ½ a relay. Fuck me. Not worth the risk. It might be the wrong half, or my problem might be the thermostat (which is also likely unavailable).

But I have to ask, isn’t it foolish that relays are not standardized? Or is there a chance that I can hack together another relay to work? Or do generic relays exist to save these big boxes from landfills?

I could rig up a switch and a pushbutton to turn on the fridge.. then off, periodically, but that manual effort will test my tolerance.

I’m trying to fix a broken washing machine for which I do not know the history. It simply had a note on it: “filter needs cleaning”. The cap to access the filter was jammed by a maxi pad that got tangled with the cap arms, which I was able to clear by removing the drain pump.

So then I tried to run a program. All programs fail, even just the spin program. It pauses, then the end program light (“Einde-Fin”) LED blinks. The machine is undocumented (no user manual nor service manual), but often a soft-reset (of sorts) is a matter of holding down start/pause for 3 seconds, which I did. That gets it back into the initial power-on state, but from there every program I start goes to the fault state.

Various videos for repairing other Beko models show entry into diagnostic mode by holding the start button while turning the knob from OFF to COTTON (the first program). When I do that, it seems to give an error code (guessing!) This is in the top pic. Then after a few seconds, it goes what lower pic shows, but with the Fin LED blinking.

I am guessing that the ~3 second display is showing an error code and that it’s in binary. The top LED (1400) is lit as well as the 4th one down (a fill icon). Does that correspond to binary number 1001? Can I then assume it’s error code 9?

Can I then leap to the next assumption that error code 9 is a door latch problem? I get the impression that Beko error codes are relatively consistent across models, and one video for a different model indicates error code 9 is the door latch. Is there a way to test that without buying a door latch? I would be happy to hack it to get a false signal that the door is latched certainly just to test the machine but perhaps even on a permanent basis because no kids live here.

Seems unlikely that the machine would simultaneously have 2 problems. Whoever dumped the machine only knew of the filter problem. So I also wonder if error code 9 is really a drain fault and the machine is trapped permanently in that state as it waits for a secret sequence of steps to clear it (in which case I’m fucked because Beko will not disclose that info unless I take a hostage and even then it would have to be the CEO).