Microwave oven - how does it work & how to fix it

[@Conservator.]

“I really like those machines. They are super dodgy, especially when opened”. Haha, I wonder what comes next. 😂

[@Mandrag0ras]

He probably has the most unique accent in all KZbin.

[@rex_schd]

Arruu Makinngggaa Funn of maii diod mannn?

[@gizmosk2996]

It is not unique, it is normal Czech accent with 80% of czech people speaking in English. Maybe his from around Prague there is this funny accent also in native language :D

@@gizmosk2996 I'd say Moravian accents are commonly quite funnier 😄

[@ghenkhoash2440]

In his early videos, he was trying to hide or correct his accent, but probably he found that he'll get more views and likes with the accent!

[@miljanthedrummer]

It's a Czech accent but beside of that, you can learn from him a lot of things.. Respect to him

[@daniloc.9083]

You earned a like for having thoroughly explained the levels of extreme danger which can occur while messing with the internals; very professional of you. I love your videos!

[@Conservator.]

The warnings at the start of the video’s are getting longer with each episode 😁

[@bob-ii8oe]

the more dodgy the appliance the bigger the warnings are

[@Conservator.]

bob And Micowaves are sure worth a few extra lines.

[@michaelfisher9671]

Conservator they are tailored for each video so sometimes they are longer and sometimes shorter.

[@RobertLanghorn]

Best, most detailed, repair guide on the internet.

[@isseyIT]

if you touch the turntable motor terminals and rotate it manually, it gives you a strong shock!

[@TheTechnoGuy18]

Yea. I discovered that on accident a while ago.

[@igamse]

And it's very painful !!

[@Rainbow__cookie]

@RedKing Games wtf you were 8y old that open a microwave 😂 I would also do it if I got my hands on a broken microwave

[@johnc3403]

That's true, but the gearing is such that you'd not turn it with your fingers. You'd want to hold it in one hand, shorting the terminals with your flesh and get a vice-grips on the spindle and give it a turn.... that's Darwin award stuff..

[@und4287]

I measured it and it went up to 550 volts sometimes..

[@joinedupjon]

The really amazing thing is that MWO's are usually so reliable despite being nearly full of various switches and fuses that are supposed to stop them working. I think a lot are just scrapped because they survive so long that they look old and unfashionable.

[@hyperion8008]

Looking forward to the Tesla coil build and Magnetron tear down!

[@KasparOnTube]

"its not far from electric chair" pokes that transformer casually with screwdriver :D

[@DigitalElectronicsCircuitsLab]

hahaha

[@James_Bowie]

I had a similar microwave oven -- only the front was chrome and the knobs were different. It cost $50 and ran for nearly 14 years. I din't bother pulling it apart to see why it died, but I did buy 2 more of them because I prefer the simplicity and reliability of analog controls. 👍

[@00gayan00]

Thanks man. Couldn't get the turntable motor in my panasonic microwave oven to work. Even though it was working when direct power was given. Turns out there were some inside wires disconnected during a previous repair. Figured it out thanks to your schematic. Much love ❤️

[@martinda7446]

Congratulations DiodeGoneWild you have managed to bump off everyone else on KZbin to become the favourite KZbinr in London (SW7 4TZ)

[@Mark1024MAK]

Did he microwave everyone else on KZbin 😳

[@martinda7446]

@@Mark1024MAK Excellent thought Mark, you could be on the right track.

[@golfman9290]

EXCELLENT! this bloke really knows his stuff!

[@German_byte]

Thanks

[@RicoElectrico]

🎵We gotta install microwave ovens, custom kitchen deliverieeeees〰🎵

[@imhoriz0n727]

signs: Danger! Danger! Danger! diodegonewild: *just hits every danger sign with a melal aka conductive screwdriver multiple times because what could go wrong*

[@PiotrK2022]

On jest wykwalifikowaną osobą, więc napis danger jego nie dotyczy bo prąd ma respekt przed takimi i się ich nie tyka. xD

[@PiotrK2022]

Swoją drogą facet mnie rozwalił. Powiedział że nie wolno włączać rozkręconej mikrofali bo można oślepnąć itd., a na filmie wyjebka i włączył rozkręconą. xD

[@protheon]

Diode can go wild

[@crusaderanimation6967]

@@PiotrK2022 Panie to są internetowe wody między narodowe, nasz rodak pisał po angielsku więc proszę odpisywać po angielsku XD

[@PiotrK2022]

@@crusaderanimation6967 Who cares. LOL

[@superdau]

I'm repairing a lot of things, but damn, I learned a lot from this video!

[@carlsch9430]

I have seen a magnetron fail by an ultra fine crack in one of the ring magnets. All tests indicated it should work but no heat was produced. Swapped it with another an all was well. That's when I was able to give the failed unit the added scrutiny to locate the crack. The failure was following a long run cycle causing heat stresses. Great video

[@therealjammit]

The HV capacitor acts more like a DC restorer circuit. Still doubles the voltage. The filament coils are used to let the filament "float" at high frequency AC (high impedance) and low impedance at mains frequency. This is good for keeping the HF out of the power line, but prevent the HF from being attenuated by finding a "ground", even if that ground is floating at mains voltage.

[@jp040759]

Best microwave oven tutorial I have run across. THANX. Great job as always.

[@nosafetyswitch9378]

We had the same problem in my office, our microwave would not start. My boss gave me permission to open it and have a look. Obviously, the fuse was blown so I replaced it and I scored bonus points on my boss' appreciation! Blown fuse is such a common problem with these things!

[@KuntalGhosh]

just replaced the capacitor and now my microwave performing is brand new.. before it used to take 2mins to warm up a cup of water now she does it under 30sec! (it is already 15yo but i took good care of it and it was one of those really high end ones from the times of microwave and fridge craze)

[@electronicbasics1856]

me : mom the engineering teacher told us to open a microwave and draw a schematic of it. mom *shows me this video at 4:52 * me :

[@Rainbow__cookie]

*danger* Electroboom: i see this as a absolute win

[@pyromen321]

33:21 the easiest way to test microwave diodes is to connect them to a 9v battery and measure the voltage drop. At

[@electronicguy4550]

Good to know

[@taka4059]

Thanks

[@usmani609]

Very good style of speaking English and transferring useful knowledge.

[@vampy625]

3:33 We have already seen your face in your other channel and an old video in this channel So why hide it now?

[@stupidfanboyph]

And on his website, too.

[@pyromen321]

I’ve been wondering the same thing. The only thing I can think of is that he just wants to reduce the number of people who randomly recognize him in public or something

[@versedbridge4007]

Yeah, that may be why

[@AmitabhAnkur]

Yes

[@zolatanaffa87]

probably because he wants to focus on the subject of his videos and not on his face, In addition, making videos with this shot allows us to see exactly what he sees and to reduce editing time! So long

[@M3DooM]

I test the diodes with a Megger meter at my work, if I’m not sure it always works :) Also it works for the capacitors, sometimes they don’t show short circuit with a multimeter but they will with a Megger. Only thing is to be careful after that because this way of testing charges the capacitor ;)

[@philippezhang]

BRAVO. Thank you very much for the detailed explanation. Once, I've open the timer and cleaned the two contact. After it was very difficult to assemble the timer :) . At the the end, I've successed :)

[@markweintraut7420]

Test HV Diodes with 12 or 24 VDC and a light bulb. Great video!

[@lunisamazigh4386]

2:37 "No explosion yet" !

[@ManWithABrain-3]

Lol

[@Miata822]

Very good information. Too many videos on KZbin talk about harvesting a transformer from a microwave without mentioning the danger of the capacitor or how to safely deal with it.

[@fungusenthusiast8249]

I actually took apart a microwave recently, and it was using switchmode power supply technology. It was basically the same as a regular switchmode power supply, but the transformer had only 2 windings, the primary and the high voltage secondary. It also had some 3000v capacitors on the board.

[@alancoales7057]

I had a microwave oven for 20+ years. In that time I replaced one thermal cutout and one main fuse. Don't remember any relays inside the contacts inside the timer and duty cycle regulator must have taken all the current. Chucked it out only because I was too lazy to paint over flaking paint inside. I donated the first replacement to a charity shop after very little use. Its cavity was inconveniently small and also difficult to clean because of metal sill around door.

[@IGDZILLA]

My microwave broke down this morning so I decided to try to fix it. It was working but not heating food. SO I thought it might be the HV capacitor or diode. I went shopping for some spare parts at La Strada (the road) and found one about 400m down the street. It turns out to be almost exactly the same as mine and not very dirty and working fine. Easy. And I don't have to relearn the button menus. Even better.

[@francisg1375]

very well explained sir .. and basic troubleshoot.

[@SunixDev]

So it unfortunly cant be opened, just kidding xD that joke killed me xD

[@will_doherty]

Interesting video. I would have thought that the reduced current demand shown on your clamp meter on start-up was due to the soft-start resistor being initially in the transformer's primary circuit, the current then reaching its full value when the relay switched it out of the circuit?

[@DiodeGoneWild]

The relay turns on way faster than this. The lower current in the first 2-3 seconds is because the magnetron cathode is not yet heated, and so the magnetron draws no current. Only the lamp and motors draw some current and the rest of it is the inductive current of the transformer. Microwave oven transformers (MOTs) have bloody high inductive current with no load.

[@LET005]

Mind blowing... This guys a genius. I take my hat off...

[@maxxmahh]

Very thorough explanation, thanks a lot!

[@publicmail2]

The interconnects are designed to turn fan and light on when it fails, so fan and light on always or when door opened, no magnatron of course. This causes people to unplug and stop using as intended.

[@andiyladdie3188]

Those mica waveguide covers are cheap, you can remove burned ones, clean the waveguide, replace them and the oven is good as new. Nice video! 👍👍

[@TechGorilla1987]

Good day, my friend! Thank you for the content!

[@asd685]

I have this same oven except for the front plastic, and I changed the turntable motor a couple years back by just cutting the little metal bits on the bottom as that seemed way easier than disassembling the whole thing.

[@jenda386]

Thank you for the video. Just today I fixed a microwave oven which would light up, spin the plate and activate the fan, but would not activate the magnetron. Thanks to your video, I was quickly able to eliminate both fuses, all the resistors, the magnetron, capacitor, HV diode and all three switches. The problem was severely carbonized and pitted contacts in the timer/cycler. After cleaning them with fine sandpaper and reassembling, it works fine again.

[@MsAlanOReilly]

Very funny sense of humour....... love it.

[@rkan2]

Panasonic makes an licenses Inverter microwaves... (there are other brands that do them based on Panasonic patents too) I love them personally. They have been on the market for more than 20 years too, and I recently picked up one that was probably 15 years old.. Made in the UK and works great! They do cost usually over 200€ new.

[@Conservator.]

Excellent guide to cheap microwaves! Thank you 🙏

[@zx8401ztv]

I had to test the diode with a 9v battery and small bulb, i suspected 3 diodes in series or similar was inside. Sometimes the secondary fuse just pops for no real reason, i think they must fatigue over the lifetime of the microwave. My 800watt microwave is almost identical, the ping timer does the job :-D

[@puckcat22679]

I have not watched the whole video yet, so I'm sorry if you've already gone over this, but oftentimes, if the fuse is blown, the door switches will be bad as well. The idea behind the three switches is that one or two are normally open and the other one or two are normally closed. If the door is opened forcibly, instead of using the opener latch, the switches will change position in the wrong order, which not only cuts power to the magnetron, but also puts a short circuit directly across the input, which will cause the fuse to quickly blow. However, the switch contacts will also be damaged by the massive arc and by the heating, and often fuse together. I had a bowl explode in the microwave once (yes, it was supposed to be microwave safe, but I think there was a defect in it somewhere) By "exploded," I mean it literally blew into a thousand pieces, blew the door of the microwave open, and ejected bits of ceramic and food all over the kitchen. It was quite dramatic. My wife was the one using it, and I heard a loud bang, followed by my wife freaking out. (She was fine) Anyhow, The microwave did nothing, just like this one. I decided to take a look at it, and I found that the fuse was blown, and 2 of the safety switches were discolored and not working. Upon looking at the servicing instructions that were taped to the inside of the housing (this is typical of appliances in the US) I saw an explanation of how those switches are supposed to operate if something like that happens. I replaced the switches and the fuse, made sure the door and door frame weren't damaged, and the microwave works fine again. I even got the parts out of my dad's old microwave, which he had replaced because the fan had failed, so they didn't cost me anything!

[@PirohSparks]

Outstanding. I hope your passing your knowledge and insight on to others besides us, your KZbin viewers! Great video!

[@PPESuperstar]

The fan has 3 connections because it is also a transformer

[@pradeepmahendrasemage4043]

Wonderful episode, Thanks.

[@sejevictor1027]

Always a pleasure to see a new video from you

[@kolinevans9127]

PWM on a microwave is a first for me thanks for sharing.

[@garrygemmell5676]

Wow that is the most amazing accent I have ever heard - The Count vampire from muppet show has nothing on this accent. He alters the speed of words and I have never heard any of my Slovak friends talk like this very unique - when he says "bloody hell" roflmao!! Great video though very in depth and comprehensive! Cannot beat a guy who loves his pizza Hawaii!!!

[@schaltnetzteil495]

The coil of the fan motor has 3 connections because it has a tap on the winding which powers the turntable motor and the mechanical timer.

[@bramvandenbroeck5060]

People use those microwave transformers for woodburning, which is insane! Don't ever do that, the chances of you dying while doing woodburning are very high! Great video really!

[@carlnikolov]

This guy is brilliant

[@jessicaganser2982]

Yes please make a video about your tesla coil.😊🙄

[@Basement-Science]

I picked up one microwave from the trash that had an unusual fault: The little mica cover on the waveguide had somehow gotten too hot before and was black in one spot. Whenever you turned on the microwave, that spot was arcing and burning.

[@DiodeGoneWild]

I've seen this too, in 2 microwave ovens already. The arcing on the mica was started by a piece of food. Then the mica probably turns into carbon and thus it is conductive and keeps arcing.

[@SeanBZA]

@@DiodeGoneWild Bought a big sheet of that mica, so just cut out new ones as needed for microwave ovens. Also keep the old ones from any scrap microwaves, they are useful. the screws are also useful, just the right size, and with a wide head with a built in locking mechanism, so you do not need a washer. Just beware that often there is a single security screw there, that you need a "special" bit for, which I always replace with a regular screw. Magnetrons rarely fail, but sadly the CCA wound transformers often do fail, making the oven scrap, though they then become spare parts donors. The most common thing is the actual inside rusting away, because of the thin sheet used, and the poor paint job.

[@Mark1024MAK]

SeanBZA - I have a microwave, it’s very old now. Stopped using it because the ventilation grill started rusting. Then arcing! So I poked a screwdriver at it to remove the rusty bits that were arcing. But it continued to degrade. So bought a new microwave oven. This worked fine for a few days, then failed ☹️. Completely dead. As still under warranty, I took it to the service agent. So brought the old one back into use! The new one was fixed by the next day 🙂. A couple of years later, the ‘new’ one failed again 😡. Now out of warranty ☹️. I found the main fuse was being blown due to the plastic fitting that held one of the door safety switches allowing a little bit too much movement, hence the door safety switches would short out the mains blowing the fuse (nice and violently, so always use a ceramic fuse, not a glass one that may rupture and belch fire glass and carbon soot). There did not appear to be any suitable adjustment for the relevant door safety switch, so I used a very small nylon cable tie as a shim. The ‘new’ one has now been working fine for about two years 😀. Has anyone made and fitted a new ventilation grill for a microwave?

[@SeanBZA]

3 wires on the fan motor because it is used to provide a 36VAC supply for the turntable motor, which is often a 36VAC motor these days, saving on the copper coloured CCA wire winding. most common faults are blown HV fuse because of arcing, and a blown mains fuse, because either the lamp had failed short circuit momentarily before blowing open, or the switches are either faulty, or the plastic housing has warped, or the door is warped.

[@chandankumarrout4423]

I am your big fan and love from India

[@mohamadaldarwish6678]

Thanks for your explanation 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 you are the best 🌹🌹🌹 keep going 👌👌👌

[@Przymekk]

How does the turntable motor random direction turning works? How the randomization is achieved?

[@DiodeGoneWild]

The rotor is a magnet and the stator is just a single winding (single phase), so it creates just a vibrating magnetic field, not rotating. There's no shaded field, no starting windind, no other winding creating a phase shift (eg. using a capacitor). So it starts in a random direction. Some motors (like in timers) have a mechanism that seizes the motor if it starts in the wrong direction, so it bounces off and runs in the right direction, but this motor doesn'T have it. The direction doesn't matter in this application. It randomly starts based on the position of the rotor and the initial polarity of the voltage.

[@honich-eriker]

19:36 - I’ve got a microwave oven made by Galanz from 2013 or so, and its still has a schematic diagram inside the casing. Some Chinese washing machines also have a diagram next to the name plate.

[@thesultanmerchant]

how to repair microwave do not show power supply though i have checked all parts with multi meter and showed continuity. I have GE table top microwave. Please advise. Thanks.

[@mysock351C]

For what its worth the mica window is to prevent anything from getting on the aperture, pinch-off, or insulator, which will cause flash-overs. If that happens, your magnetron will look like the Toshiba one he had that was burnt.

[@xxexplosivexxxxexplosivexx8512]

5:00 - my microwave looked the same from the inside(except the timer relay)

[@roystonsixtus]

Excellet tutorial and you have a unique voice and an awesome in depth knowledge thank you brother god bless 👍👍👍🙏❤️

[@nickvanhell209]

you have a French extension cable, distributors in Germany are missing the pin in the middle, you can insert the plug in everyone properly

[@bendewachter3789]

Thank you. Very complete and clear explanation.

[@enzoperruccio]

I once found a microwave oven in the trash that had this exact same symptom where it wouldn't power on or do anything. I grabbed all the parts from it and threw it away, but NOW you're telling me that all I had to do was to replace a fuse? Still, it was dirty and full of cockroaches so I guess it wasn't worth it anyway.

[@coastwalker101]

The microwave I am using now stopped working and I fixed it by replacing the input fuse. That was five years ago and it is still going strong.

[@frogz]

30% of the time its the fuse, 70% of the time the fuse blew for a reason

[@DrBeat-zs9eb]

Can someone tell me: If the big startup resistor is open circuit, does the relay bridge it anyways? My microwave doesn't heat anymore and i wonder if the broken big startup resistor is the only thing thats bad.

[@DrBeat-zs9eb]

Hm, the relay was the problem, not the resistor. Even though the Resistor was broken too.

[@abousamah1967]

Thank u for your nice describtion Can u further describtion about how decreesing voltage to the relay and if there is wiring diagram for resistors and relay Thanks

[@zahidmahmood3081]

Good explains. I really appreciate your effort.

[@DrBeat-zs9eb]

13:40 How does that work? There are no thermostats in there, right? Great Video as always!

[@Conservator.]

Dr. House It is simply not temperature driven or regulated. It’s the setting on the front panel that determines the duty cycle = for how much time power is supplied to the magnetron. I hope this this answers your question. If not, pls let me know.

[@DiodeGoneWild]

There's no thermostat. You just manually select the time and the power (duty cycle). If you select too much, your pizza is charred :).

[@DrBeat-zs9eb]

@@Conservator. Okay, but how does that work without fancy ICs and digital timer chips? I think, it's done purely analoge, right?

[@Conservator.]

Dr. House The control panel (buttons and display) will use a micro controller. So that part is digital. At 14:30 you can see the green PCB. The components you are referring to will most probably be on the other side of the PCB.

[@DrBeat-zs9eb]

@@Conservator. 14:30 is from another microwave. The microwave he shows has a purely mechanical knob for time and power regulation. As far as I know are there no chips. Only a mechanical bell at 7:27 and a mechanical power knob.

[@kernel_data_inpage_error]

33:46 gotta love the high voltage Žener

[@sand2698]

Hi sir, may I ask how it is safe when one line of HV transformer connected to core, please help 🙏.

[@Fajardo3]

Interesting Hahaha😄😄😄 the only problem is fuse...anyway thanks 4 ds video esp. Your beautiful explanation & unusual accent. God bless us all...Ave Maria!

[@SianaGearz]

Some of these ovens have a smart timer dial where the first 10 or 15 minutes would be at finer steps, and then the steps would get coarser, the minutes would be more compressed. This is super useful! But i wonder how that works.

[@DiodeGoneWild]

I also like those, but I have never opened one. It's a clever idea because otherwise the steps are too small. I only use about 2 - 3 minutes at most ouf of the 30 minute dial. Sometimes I only need about 30 seconds and it's almost impossible to set it.

[@boonedockjourneyman7979]

Excellent. Finally, someone did a well informed, experience based video on microwave ovens. Good to see the electrical safety from a reasonable view. The toxicity of Beryllium is not a matter of opinion. Google Beryllium toxicity “risk assessment” and the first paper from 1997 provides the background. To summarize the exposure limit is measured in micrograms per cubic meter. Even war gasses from WWI are in milligrams. It’s not opinion. It’s fact. Beryllium is one of the most toxic elements known. It’s use was banned many years ago. The risk today is cheap, fake, illegal imports. You rattle on about fake cell phone chargers. Importation of Beryllium insulators is a serious problem.

[@electronic7979]

Helpful and useful video 👍

[@praveenmurkar743]

Good explanation thanks.

[@p_o_]

34:22 my dad repaired once this high voltage fuse using wire xD in pretty new microwave (it was like one or two days old) and it caused of fully damage of something after it it stopped working permanently :)

[@littlehiawatha4870]

Very educational and interesting.

[@RS_83]

Wow! Just Wow! Thank you very much, my friend! Very useful video. Thank you!

[@jovangrbic97]

You'll find usually that only 2 of the switches control the magnetron, the third one usually just does the light!

[@shadowhunterxxx5891]

There are many 1 uF 2 kv small mica paper or polypropylene capacitor.Are this caps as dangerous as microwave oven cap?

[@a.lisnenko]

Thanks for the explanation!

[@richardnanis]

You really know a lot - thanks for sharing! Its always a joy listening! :-)

[@DigitalElectronicsCircuitsLab]

yes

[@pirelli77]

Great video and explanation!!! Thanks!!!💓

[@publicmail2]

The power supply large diode is common along with interlock switches.

[@edgeeffect]

Is the red warning label on the back in Czech on one side and Slovak on the other?

[@DiodeGoneWild]

Yes it is :).

[@1marcelfilms]

Remove the warning sticker to remove warning

[@deepaknanda1113]

😂😂😂 too good idea👍

[@OthmanAlikhan]

Thanks for the video, very high quality knowledge =)

[@willyou2199]

the resistor across the HV capacitor is also quite high of a resistance. 1uF * 10M = 10 seconds. For the capacitor to discharge away 99% of its charge it needs to take ~50s or more.

[@dorinz5103]

Hard✌️ I even had a microwave oven defective. Now I'm trying to repair it👍.

[@fabiosemino2214]

Last year my old faithful Bosch died after 23 years of work, I opened it and after following a couple tutorials on how to understand how it worked I found the HV capacitor fried leaking his own oil, after getting a replacement (in Bulgaria of all places) the old beast is still running

[@NOTISL]

Nice one .. time to watch something real interesting

[@Columbariusify]

Crt Tv please. Especially part why it's missing some colours and how to fix it.

[@felixcat4346]

There is often no reason people throw out household appliances other than they move. It makes complete sense to throw out a refrigerator in good condition because it costs more to move it across country than to buy a new one when you get there. This goes for all large appliances.