Jet AFS-500 air filter PCB repair – help please.

[Roland]

Mine died two months ago, and more than a year out of warranty. I called Axminster Support for help in diagnosing the problem, and they sent me a replacement board FoC.

 

[steve1001]

Hi

I replaced the cap a long time ago and got the machine working again. Thanks to this forum for that.
The fault has occurred again. So, this time I was thinking of bypassing the board and switching the motor directly on and off.

Can anyone tell me if I can directly wire up the motor, ideally to get 3 speeds out of it?

Thanks.

Steve

 

[steve1001]

Hi

I can now answer my own question! I got up off my butt, took the thing apart and figured it out.

The motor connections on the Jet board are marked COM, L, M, S.

S = fast
L = low
M = medium

To operate the motor:-

I connected 240V AC neutral to COM.
I connected 240V AC live to either of the L, M, or S wires that come out of the motor.

That bit of wiring bypassed the broken board, and has temporarily got me back up and running.

I will replace the controller board with a homemade board. My board will use a programmable microcontroller (Arduino) to switch 240V AC through one of three SSRs (5V DC 240V AC) connected to the motor. Hopefully I will be able to decode the Jet hand controller IR signals and retain the use of that bit of the equipment, and avoid making a new remote control module. How hard can it be!!

All the best.

Steve

 

[Jack (W)]

Hi Steve,

Many thanks for letting us know how to wire the motor should it come to that.

A ready-made wireless remote control key fob operating four relays might also be worth considering if ditching the Jet PCB. Three of the relays could be connected to the motor for slow, medium and fast operation, and the fourth relay left unconnected for OFF.

Although the auction site descriptions are not particularly clear, it seems some of these remote control units can be set to work in an ‘Exclusive OR’ mode in which only one relay operates at a time. For example, pressing key fob button B would turn relay B on and would simultaneously turn off the previously selected relay.
Of course it would need a 12v power supply and you would not have the timer function provided on the Jet PCB.

Jack

Example ‘12V 4CH 200M Wireless Remote Control Relay Switch Transceiver, Receiver 433MHz’:

 

[steve1001]

Hi Jack

That's relay and fob link/idea is great, it was kind of what I had in mind, except I was going solid state relay. For around £7 it is worth a punt giving that set up a go. They even come with a project box! It looks like it would certainly be a quick fix, to ditch the Jet board and provide some basic remote function. I have not looked hard yet, but I have not seen one that provides a 'one relay on only' function. I suppose if one is extremely careful and turns all the speed relays off, before setting a new speed, then no harm will be down.
I have measured the motor current draw (running) at 142mA, 205mA, and 352mA (low, medium, high), so those miniature mechanical relays of around 1 amp or more should be capable, as long as they are good for 240V AC.

I am going to need a remote soon. Jumping up to turn the fan on and off and change speeds is going to get boring real quick (I need the mechanical rotary 4 position switch to be part of the unit).

I am still toying with the Arduino idea, as I can see complete control going down that route. Although more time consuming, the Arduino board could be made to replace the Jet board and could retain the 3 led speed display, and the run on timer and its 3 led display. There are other possibilities.

I will report back when I have made progress.

All the best

Steve

 

[bob.]

Hi Jack

That's relay and fob link/idea is great, it was kind of what I had in mind, except I was going solid state relay. For around £7 it is worth a punt giving that set up a go. They even come with a project box! It looks like it would certainly be a quick fix, to ditch the Jet board and provide some basic remote function. I have not looked hard yet, but I have not seen one that provides a 'one relay on only' function. I suppose if one is extremely careful and turns all the speed relays off, before setting a new speed, then no harm will be down.
I have measured the motor current draw (running) at 142mA, 205mA, and 352mA (low, medium, high), so those miniature mechanical relays of around 1 amp or more should be capable, as long as they are good for 240V AC.

I am going to need a remote soon. Jumping up to turn the fan on and off and change speeds is going to get boring real quick (I need the mechanical rotary 4 position switch to be part of the unit).

I am still toying with the Arduino idea, as I can see complete control going down that route. Although more time consuming, the Arduino board could be made to replace the Jet board and could retain the 3 led speed display, and the run on timer and its 3 led display. There are other possibilities.

I will report back when I have made progress.

All the best

Steve

Hi steve did you ever sort out a control unit for your jet filtration system, l bought one recently second hand and plugged it in and turned on the main ant immediately started to make a rumbling noise and the fan turns slowly, l tried turning it on by the on/off button but nothing, then after a bit of research found loads of people suffering from a similar thing and by replacing the large square capacitor seems to have sorted them out but not for me,it still started up slowly just when l plugged it in but this time when l turned it on by the button the speed control section works and the led light up corresponding to the speed selected but no led for on or led for timer selection . I am waiting for the guy l bought it off to find the hand controller but it somewhere in a removal box , bit annoying as its been 3 to 4 weeks lve been waiting, should have told him l would have my money back but he seemed a nice guy and it was not a lot of money, even though it sounds like it may turn out to be expensive.

Regards bob.

 

[Spectric]

Why not keep things simple, have your filtration pluged into a socket that can be remotely operated, use one of these Remote Controlled Switch Box IP66 - 3 Gang

or to make it even simpler just walk over to it and switch it on manually. I suppose that is one of the benefits of growing up in the sixties before remote controls were invented. I will say that is a really crude and old fashioned circuit board, probably made by some asian in there house on peace work using recycled components.

 

[bob.]

Why not keep things simple, have your filtration pluged into a socket that can be remotely operated, use one of these Remote Controlled Switch Box IP66 - 3 Gang

or to make it even simpler just walk over to it and switch it on manually. I suppose that is one of the benefits of growing up in the sixties before remote controls were invented. I will say that is a really crude and old fashioned circuit board, probably made by some asian in there house on peace work using recycled components.

Hi thanks for reply, trouble is it's up on the ceiling so to try to use the buttons on the control is a pain,means climbing up on steps to start it and then to change speed. So really need remote or a wall mounted switch and a way of changing the speeds not bothered about the timer control.

Regards bob.

 

[deema]

The 5v regulator circuit is IMO. very badly designed. They are using a zenar tocreate the 5V and the dodgy cap to smooth it. I might have a root in the attic for my text books from when I did my degree, if memory serves one of them shows this exact circuit as a really good example of how not to do it. If ever there was a case of getting your money back due to poor design I think this is a classic.

 

[Spectric]

Yes that is a really bad design for a 5Vdc supply, If it was my design I would have used a three term regulator and not the Zener, normally used as voltage references and not actual supply. You could improve it by using a self contained 5 volt Dc switching supply and do away with all that other nonsense.

 

[bob.]

Yes that is a really bad design for a 5Vdc supply, If it was my design I would have used a three term regulator and not the Zener, normally used as voltage references and not actual supply. You could improve it by using a self contained 5 volt Dc switching supply and do away with all that other nonsense.

Hi everyone, thanks for your replies, think l may have started a technical debate, unfortunately my electronics knowledge is limited to 1 year of radio/ electronics at college which ended after 1 year instead of 3 due to lack of funding of my employer the UEA and l was let go, but 51 years on and l can say l have always kept busy and hopefully will continue to. This problem with the pc board on these jet filtration units has been going on for years going on by the amount of references to it on the internet. If someone could actually diagnose the faulty components or weaknesses with a fix that would be brilliant, apparently some people have had 3 to 4 replacement boards over 6 to 7 years, some under warranty and some not. Thanks again.

Regards bob.

 

[deema]

In the UK products are covered by a lifetime warranty if they have one of three fundamental issues, an inherent problem due to i) poor workmanship, ii) poor materials or, iii) poor design. The reAston for highlighting the issue with the circuit is that the product falls into the last category. You are entitled to your money back, or to get them to fix it properly.
You can’t fix that design, it’s just bad. It needs a proper 5V DC generator. A few low cost components and a piggy back board would make it work properly without any concerns of it becoming a problem again.

 

[Jack (W)]

Hi Bob,

I hope that in due course we’ll be able to figure out how to restore your PCB to proper working order.
In the meantime here are some diagrams that show how you might want to get your air filter up and running without the PCB.
No soldering is involved, and none of the existing wires are cut or altered. Just unplug the two connectors from the PCB and connect them as shown in diagrams 2, 3 or 4.
Once your PCB is fixed just plug the connectors back into the PCB.

Test:
I used a short length of lighting cable to connect Mains Live and Neutral to the motor’s cable shell in the three configurations shown (and as described by Steve in an earlier post).
As expected, the motor ran at each of the three speeds.

I hope this helps to some degree.
Regards,

Jack

 

[bob.]

Hi jack thanks for the reply and details will certainly have a look at it.l have managed to purchase a second hand board, which l was told came from a working extractor but the motor had gone bad, so l bought it and it worked ok but the speed leds were not lighting up very bright, so l took the square capacitor l had bought for my faulty board( which did not work) and put it on the new old board and now it's all working as it should . Couple of very helpful techy Guys seem to interested and may come up with an additional board to piggy back on original board, that would be a major step in getting all these poor people suffering from jets dodgy board, cannot keep buying replacement boards every few years.
Just like to say thanks for all the positive comments, stay healthy.

Regards bob.

 

[Jack (W)]

That's great Bob, glad you're up and running already.
Jack

 

[bob.]

That's great Bob, glad you're up and running already.
Jack

Hi Jack, well at the moment but who knows for how long, so taken in all options, keep up the good work everyone. .

Bob.