maytag Neptune control board repair

I'm trying to help out a friend who was unfortunate enough to have gotten stuck with one of these Neptune lemons. There is a resistor burned on the control board, and I am told that this usually takes out the small triac alongside it. I have obtained an NTE replacement for the triac and I'm going to replace it and the resistor, (is it 3900 ohms?) . But here's my question: This wax motor that has supposedly failed and caused this, do I really have to replace it or is it just there to prevent some child, (ot idiot) from opening the door during the spin cycle and having their arm removed? Will the door stay latched otherwise with the motor not installed? I guess what I'm saying is that we're all adults here, so after the board work is done, can this machine be rigged to work with out this troublesome part? In any case any further information or tips that anyone can provide with respect to getting this washer running again will be most sincerely appreciated. Lenny Stein, Barlen Electronics.

Reply to
captainvideo462002
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Be careful about bypassing an interlock. While the people that live with the machine maight know that it can be opened while spinning, and that they shouldn't stick their hands in it, what about the visiting kids and friends? It really is like bypassing the broken interlock strip on a microwave. "We know to always push stop before opening it". Yes.... that has been done.

Reply to
Bob

Lenny,

While I don't advocate bypassing the door lock, other than for troubleshooting, there is something you seem to have missed. When the switch is bypassed, you don't need to fix the control board at all.

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James T. White
Reply to
James T. White

The washer won't start until the door is locked. Replace the wax motor, it's under 20 bucks. When I fix those boards I use a much larger TO-220 triac, mostly because I had one on hand, I've never had one come back yet.

Reply to
James Sweet

Reply to
captainvideo462002

So captainvideo, you're suggesting leaving out safety equipment because 'we'e all adults...' ? Some 'adult' gets an arm ripped off and Maytag/Whirlpool finds the washer was booby trapped, who do you think gets sued? I wouldn't do something so dumb even if I was the only user. Do it right or find someone who will.

GG

Reply to
stratus46

I think you misread captainvideo's suggestion. He didn't suggest not driving the wax motor, he suggesting using the triac output of the board to drive a relay which would supply the 120VAC to the wax motor.

Both the relay and the higher rated triac solutions get at one of the basic problems with the early Neptunes. Maytag screwed up when the designed the damed control board and used a triac with too low a current rating for the wax motor. I personally like James Sweet's TO-220 triac solution and will likely use it if my Neptune fails again.

Now if I could just find something that would permanently eradicate the mold on the front door seal.........

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James T. White
Reply to
James T. White

Doesn't anybody use a simple glass fuse anymore?

Reply to
Michael Ware

It has one, but Maytag used triacs rated at IIRC 400mA, pretty puny.

Reply to
James Sweet

Reply to
baileysedge

Check out

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James T. White
Reply to
James T. White

The triac is a 3 legged device that looks like a transistor, I forget what the number on it is offhand. The replacement triac you can get at Radio Shack, it will look quite different and you have to transpose two of the pins but it works and will be much more durable than the old one.

Reply to
James Sweet

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