CT33E vac not working

[Sozah]

G'day,

The father in law has asked me to take a look into his ct33e.
The problem:
Vaccum not turning on. It doesn't matter if set to auto or manual...

Short history: It was working today. I emptied the catchment bag, it worked once more on auto after that, then stopped. Since then I have taken the unit home to look at the electric side of things.

So far I have tested there is power coming in until the circuit board ( meaning I have tested power in, the speed control resistor and auto/manual switch, with no problems to that point). I have tried using a lamp on the power socket while the unit is set to auto and it turns the lamp on but not the vac.

I can't see the circuit board to well at the moment as its covered in dust, but I couldn't see any clear issues with the circuitry.....

Any help or ideas would be top.
Thanks,

Sam

 

[peter halle]

I can't give you any guidance on what is happening and would suggest that you contact Festool Germany about that issue.  I would venture a guess that if there is dust all over your circuit board and you can't see it well that there might be an issue with your filters.  I could see Festool using filtered air possibly blowing over things to keep them cooler, but seriously doubt that they would intend that it be dirty air.

Peter

 

[getyourbone]

If the lamp is working, I would start by putting a multimeter on the motor terminals and turn the lamp on.  If you are getting a reading at that point, you know it is the motor.  If you are not getting a reading, you know it is likely the board.

 

[tbellemare]

I'd first check the terminals in the collection chamber that are supposed to stop it if they detect water.

Tom

 

[wow]

Sozah:

[welcome] to the FOG! Sorry your first post had to be about a problem.

As already mentioned, you should contact Festool service for your area. They are very helpful and can likely hlep you to quickly chase down the problem.

Please let us know the resolution?

 

[Sozah]

Thanks for the fast response for all of you.

I would venture a guess that if there is dust all over your circuit board and you can't see it well that there might be an issue with your filters.

Peter

You are 100% correct there Peter, in taking it apart I found a foam gasket that was misaligned from factory. Sadly out of shape now so I couldn't do too much for that problem.

I'd first check the terminals in the collection chamber that are supposed to stop it if they detect water.

Tom

If by that you mean the 2 "prongs" that slide down into the compartment where the sack is....then I noticed they were covered in dust so far but I didn't think to clean it. I'll take a look later today or tomorrow and see if that's the solution.

If the lamp is working, I would start by putting a multimeter on the motor terminals and turn the lamp on.  If you are getting a reading at that point, you know it is the motor.  If you are not getting a reading, you know it is likely the board.

This sounds like the most likely answer so far. I'm reading 200 ish volts at the terminals that connect the motor to the main board and getting open circuit across the wires when i disconnect them from the board. It'll be interesting to see what festool want to charge me for a new motor...compared to a whole unit. EBay says €55 euros for a new 3rd party motor. Has anyone had any experience in this before?

Sozah:

[welcome] to the FOG! Sorry your first post had to be about a problem.

As already mentioned, you should contact Festool service for your area. They are very helpful and can likely hlep you to quickly chase down the problem.

Please let us know the resolution?

Thanks for the welcome.
Im living in Germany now, and when I was back home in Aus, I was the manager of a shop similar to RadioShack. One thing I have noticed as the difference between the 2 countries is that Germany isn't big on fixing things...most things are just replaced sadly. But I'm not giving up, so I'll keep you updated.