Electrical Component - Defy Washing Machine

For the earth fault protectection it is not necessary that washing should be switched ON i.e. running.

For the capacitor to be leaky a breakdown would have occoured by now.

I suggest to check the polarity of the washing machine wires at the connection socket as well as the polarity of the mains supply connections to the ELCB.

Thanks - polarities are correct. What could change over time? It does not trip immediately, but after some ten minutes or so.

Guest, Thanks for your response. You read my question correctly, the earth leakage (ground fault interrupter) trips with the machine plugged in but not switched on. It is not instant, but takes some time.

I will bypass the EMI-filter as you suggest and see what happens.

If this solves the problem I will try to purchase the correct replacement part. However, if I can not find one, what sort of problems could I expect with noise travelling back to the mains with this component removed?

Just for my edification, what does EMI stand for in this case?

EMI refers to "Electromagnetic Interference". In this case it refers to either interference generated by a device via RF (radio waves) or conducted emission (back through the mains).

If you find that the filter is the cause of your problem, you can almost certainly do without it. How noise generated by the washer will affect you is heavily dependant on your location and what else you've got plugged in / operating around there. Unfiltered devices may may, for example, cause interference on a TV or a buzz in a radio, etc. It's not going to do anything like melt your wiring or anything serious like that.

Many years ago few appliances were filtered and this caused some annoyance. These days in order for an appliance to get electrical agency marking (such as UL, CE, etc) it must pass tests which measure that only a low amount of interference is created.

And these filters work both ways in that they also help keep AC line noise incoming to a device to a minimum. Occasionally that's important as well.

I'm still a little skeptical that this is the cause of your problem, but stranger things have happened and it's an easy check & fix if true. Good luck.

Thank you - I learn something new every day. Will certainly bypass it and see.

Hi there,

Im having the same problem with my emi filter on my washer and have gone to disconnect the H and the N connectors but have just realised that my connectors are named differently? I could be being really stupid here but I am a beginner! My connector wires are 2L Brown, 4N Blue, 1U Black, 3U Orange and an earth Green/yellow. Do you or anyone know which ones are the H & N, would be grateful of any advice. Cheers.

One possibility is that there may be a small leak. The moisture path making it's way to the mains connection at some point. Turn the taps off. Be sure the machine is completely drained. With the cover removed, you can then use a hair dryer or heat gun to carefully displace any moisture that may have built up. Don't overlook the power cord itself, checking for cracks etc. Once you are satisfied, plug the unit back in without running it (not good since the water pump would stress out with the absence of water) and see if the fault still appears.

X1, 2 and Y1, 2 Capacitors are usually rated above 2kV so generally don't experience a lot of stress so last longer than most other components (provided they haven't taken a wopping hit with a power spike).

You could also eliminate the possibility that the power socket is at fault by plugging a different device in and checking for the same trip occurring. If you already tried drying off the moisture with the hair dryer as explained above, you may have eliminated the need for this step!

Michael - Systems Eng/Tech

you are correcty about the leak,i have the same machine and the water pipe going into the drum is just above the motor where on mine it had a slight leak and caused it to trip as the machine was even off.remove the gromet pipe clean the surfaces apply silicon and give at least a day to set.On mine it blew the filter because the leak got bad and the filter popped.

jvrj,

Thanks for your comments. As answered to Guest, I will bypass it and try it.

I don't know your machine, but if, as is usual,it contains a heater element to raise the wash-water to the set temperature, this, or it's associated thermostat, is the most likely cause of the fault as described. It's a tubular steel cased pyro insulated element usually located in the bottom of the drum casing, so hard to get at without a complete strip-down. Ceramic insulated bushings on the back of the drum casing may be more accessible for an insulation test, but, if this shows low resistance to ground - replacing the machine may be the more attractive alternative!

RFI suppression units usually fail immediately/permanantly - or not at all. Good luck.

Zadok,

Thanks - Resistance seems OK. I can find no leakage to earth anywhere.

Also the problem occurs with the machine switched off - no power to the heater element.

Had a similar prob on a defy automaid years ago, ended up being the water pump windings heating up after a while and earthing. Not shorting but low resistance.

Look closely at the drawing you provided.If any current goes to ground from the hot or neutral, the GFIC will trip.It works by detecting any imbalance in current flow between hot and neutral.A GFIC will not work on this washing machine, or on any other machine that has capacitor start or filters ( refrigerators,window air conditioners, etc) the time it takes for the capacitors to charge and discharge is the time it takes the GFIC to trip.Time it, you will find it to will be a very precise interval.

This is a mains filter and can be bypassed for testing but should be replaced to avoid interference with sensitive appliances such as TV´s etc.

Joe

Thanks Joe.

To all who posted - thank you for your comments and input.

The last electrical/electronics course that I did was nigh on 40 years ago, so it is quite gratifying to have narrowed the problem down to this component even though I had no idea what its actual purpose was except to think it was some kind of mains conditioner.

Yesterday I bypassed this component and everything works perfectly. There is a small TV set and a radio in the kitchen within a few feet of the machine and I am picking up no interference whatsoever, so I think I am just going to leave it bypassed.

Thanks again to all of you for your assistance and for educating me as to the purpose of this thingamajig.