Difference between revisions of "Dyson CD16 Handheld vacuum- cuts out after a few seconds"

Remove large Torx retaining screws, arrowed

Unscrew the tiny Torx screw, unplug and remove PCB - Link between 1 & 3

Hall-effect device removed and linked out with blobs of solder

Fault symptoms

The Dyson DC16 Root 6 portable vacuum cleaner intermittently cuts out after a few seconds use, the red light comes on (indicating a fault mode?).

It's as if the battery is flat, but this happens even with the battery fully charged. It is intermittent, sometimes it works fine.

Diagnosis

It appears that the hall-effect device [a transistor that detects changes in a magnetic field] is intermittently failing so the cleaner logic thinks the filter has not been fitted and goes into fault mode.

Solution

This is a bodge, not a repair. I don't know what the replacement device should be and I am happy to live without a 'filter not fitted' fail-safe device.

Remove the faulty hall-effect device and permanently bridge the device so the unit thinks the filter is fitted, even if it's not.

WARNING

Do not even attempt to repair this yourself if you are not comfortable removing surface-mounted semi-conductors and attempting soldering on a sub-miniature scale. However, if the unit iwas like ours, unusable, you probably have nothing to lose.

Tools required

1. Torx driver set
2. Very small soldering iron
3. Good eyesight
4. Steady hands

(I scored low on 2 & 3 and still managed a success!)

Repair procedure

• Remove the battery
• Strip the unit down to the panel that the battery was mounted on by un-clipping all user-removable items
• Unscrew the two large Torx screws (arrowed)
• Unplug white and set connectors from the PCB
• Remove the tiny #6 Torx screw retaining the PCB
• Carefully remove the PCB
• Remove and discard the faulty hall-effect unit
  • The easiest method is probably to heat each connection individually and gently prise each leg away from the pcb
• Link out connections #1 & #3
  • I found it easier to build up a blob of solder than to link with wire - do whatever you find easiest
• Re-connected to PCB & battery and test - it should now work without the filter connected
• Re-assemble and test

Similar fault when full

Oddly the same symptoms seem to occur if the unit needs emptying and it cannot 'cyclone' - I'm not certain how that can be, but emptying it appears to solve the problem!

I know this is nothing to do with cookery, but as this is quite a high-visibility site, it might help a few people out. And when it is working we do use it in the kitchen!!