Thread Number: 16960
discolored motor brushers 		[Down to Last]

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Post# 181365   5/16/2012 at 15:18 (4,362 days old) by 2011hoover700 (owosso michigan)        

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I just encounrered a kenmore progressive (i believe) uptright, anyway It's motor brushes are discolored is this possibly a cause for the moror to start and stop?
Here is a picture of the discolored motor brush.
Thanks
Sorry about the bad picture

Post# 181370 , Reply# 1   5/16/2012 at 16:06 (4,361 days old) by jmurray01 (Scotland)        

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I'm no expect (especially on motor brushes which I don't fully understand) but I think the discolouration may be due to water getting into them at some point...

It's highly likely I'm erroneous though!

Post# 181376 , Reply# 2   5/16/2012 at 16:40 (4,361 days old) by twocvbloke ()        

To be honest, the picture isn't clear enough to show the discolouration, try photographing them under a desklamp to provide better light for the camera, that should help... :)

There's a few causes for a motor to start and stop, it could be a broken wire in the cable where it enters the vacuum or the plug, a faulty power switch, loose connections, a faulty pin in a moulded plug, it's a process of elimination to find the cause, for me I find it's usually a broken wire where the cable goes into the vac body, but it could be anything...

Post# 181377 , Reply# 3   5/16/2012 at 16:51 (4,361 days old) by jmurray01 (Scotland)        

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Well when my 1977 HOOVER Senior Ranger started turning itself on and off sporadically it turned out to be that the neutral wire in the plug was only being held into the hole (I'm not sure of the technical word for the hole in the prong that the wire does into ?) by three strands.

Post# 181378 , Reply# 4   5/16/2012 at 16:56 (4,361 days old) by twocvbloke ()        

That would be "terminal" you're looking for... :P

Post# 181379 , Reply# 5   5/16/2012 at 16:58 (4,361 days old) by jmurray01 (Scotland)        

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Eureka! Thanks David, that's the word I was looking for.

Post# 181386 , Reply# 6   5/16/2012 at 18:18 (4,361 days old) by vintagerepairer (England)        

Mr Murray, the brushes are there to take electricity to the middle of the motor, known as the armature. The part which the brushes touch is called the commutator. The commutator has segments which are connected in pairs to the coils on the armature. Around the armature sits the field coils.

In simple terms, it works like this:

When the motor is energised, electricity flows through the field coils and creates a magnetic force. At the same time, electricity flows through the brushes to the commutator, through the coils in the armature, and out again, and this creates a magnetic force too, but one which repels the force from the field coils. Thus, the armature moves because of the repulsion. The segments of the commutator work in pairs, on opposite sides to each other, and as the armature moves, the pairs which were touching the carbon brushes are no longer doing so and the electricity flows to the next pair, which repel the force of the field coils, and so on it goes, turning the armature as it does so.

There was an excellent television broadcast a good deal of years ago, probably before you were born, where a gentleman explained how a vacuum cleaner motor worked and even made a replica motor from a food tin amongst other objects. The motor was crude, but it did work. I cannot remember what the program was, because if I did I would refer you to it as it may be feature on line.

Post# 181389 , Reply# 7   5/16/2012 at 18:42 (4,361 days old) by alexhoovers94 (Manchester UK)        

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The programme I think you are talking about was called "The secret life of machines - vacuum cleaners" this programme is from the late 70's I would imagine going into the early 80's
I have watched this a few times, it is very informative and fun to watch :)
It is on youtube, heres is a link to part one, part two should be in the suggested videos box on the right hand side.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO alexhoovers94's LINK
Post# 181391 , Reply# 8   5/16/2012 at 18:50 (4,361 days old) by vintagerepairer (England)        

Yes that is exactly the one, thank you for that. Though I must say it was late 1980's when it was first shown. You will see that the cleaner used in the opening sequence is an Electrolux cylinder from the late 1980's. In fact if you look closely you will see it has telescopic tubes and the fancy hose with the electrical controls on it. You can just see the side of the control panel in one shot. It would have been from the 2000 series of cleaner. Thanks again for posting this, I will very much look forward to watching it all tomorrow.

Post# 181397 , Reply# 9   5/16/2012 at 19:48 (4,361 days old) by twocvbloke ()        

I've got all three series of TSLOM on my phone, cos it's fun to watch... :)

Post# 181427 , Reply# 10   5/17/2012 at 00:40 (4,361 days old) by jmurray01 (Scotland)        

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Thank you very much for explaining Benny! Thank you also to Alex for posting that link, which I'll finally get around to watching now to try and take my mind off the shattered window in the living room door (don't ask).

Post# 181431 , Reply# 11   5/17/2012 at 01:19 (4,361 days old) by jmurray01 (Scotland)        

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I've just watched both parts of The Secret Life Of Vacuum Cleaners and I know know a lot more about how the motors work, including how the brushes and commutator come into the equation! Thank you very much for giving me that link :)


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