Special thanks to Shahrier Erfan Harun for this story!
I have a Hoover washing machine that is an essential part of my daily life. Unfortunately, a few days ago, I accidentally broke the switch on the machine’s board, and now it won’t turn on. The board has a four-pin switch that is responsible for turning on the machine when pressed. I tried everything I could think of to fix the problem, but nothing worked. To make matters worse, the board is not available on the market, and buying a new washing machine is not an affordable option for me.
Luckily, I remembered that the Fab Lab has an Electronics Lab, and I decided to take a chance and see if they could help me. I explained the problem to Jonas, a staff member at the Fab Lab, and he was confident that the board could be fixed, but we needed to have the four-pin switch to do so. He then explained how the board works and how the switch is responsible for opening and closing DLD gates to make the machine run.
Unfortunately, we could not find the exact switch in the lab. However, Jonas found two switches that work together as a four-pole switch. We soldered the pins and wires together and connected the new switch to the board. Now the board has a switch that works the same as the original four-pole switch.
I connected the board back to the machine and turned it on, and to my surprise, the machine started working again! I was delighted that my washing machine was up and running without the need to buy a new one.
This experience taught me a lot about how these types of boards work, and it gave me confidence that I can fix other machines in the future. I am grateful to Jonas for his help and expertise in solving my problem, and I highly recommend the Fab Lab to anyone looking for a place to fix their machines or learn about electronics.
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