Faulty Makita 18V Vac

[Yorick]

I know naff all about electrics so wondering if this Makita jobby is salvageable ?

It misfires like a bike in the rain, but in my limited leccy knowledge, it should work or not work. Sometimes it can run for a minute or 2, but often just coughs and splutters.

It's not needed like a normal vaccuum, mainly just for short bursts and great for nabbing cockroaches

See video on Youtube

Can it be fixed ?

20240319_124704.jpg (892 KiB) Viewed 693 times

[David]

It can be fixed, but can you fix it? At least as a battery vac you shouldn't be able to electrocute yourself, though you might set the garage on fire. What have you to lose? Clean the contacts, short the switch out if that doesn't work. Check that the motor isn't full of shit.
BTW, if that screwdriver is from a Lidl set, it's a philips, not a pozidrive.

[Yorick]

It can be fixed, but can you fix it? At least as a battery vac you shouldn't be able to electrocute yourself, though you might set the garage on fire. What have you to lose? Clean the contacts, short the switch out if that doesn't work. Check that the motor isn't full of shit.
BTW, if that screwdriver is from a Lidl set, it's a philips, not a pozidrive.

I don't buy tools from Lidl

What contacts to clean?

How to short the switch?

The motor is sealed.

[David]

Any contacts / removable plugs, screwed connections....anything you can disconnect and reconnect. With the switch, just bridge the connections if there are only two...you can't make it more broken than it is....the fact that you got into the case probably means there is more access.

[A_morti]

Is it a variable speed trigger like a drill, or on/off like a grinder? If variable speed, it's just a sliding potentiometer and dirt can get inside and cause it to be intermittent.

If you can pick the switch apart, you can douse it in contact cleaner and gently rub any dirt or carbon away from the contacts. If you can't pick it apart, you can still spray cleaner in and work the switch a few times.

Or could be the circuit board. Probably it doesn't do much except shut the tool down before the lithium battery goes under voltage, but if it's faulty it might give an intermittent false positive and shut the tool down.

[A_morti]

The motor being sealed means it's "maintenance free" - you can't change the brushes or bearings. But if it were the brushes or motor itself I think it would be intermittent at starting and/or give sparks. If it were the bearings it'd just sound like it were trying to eat itself.

[Yorick]

Just taken the fan/motor out and hooked it up to an old 12v battery. Perfect.

So something hidden.

[Yorick]

Got little paint brush and cleaned circuit board. That improved it.
Then blathered everything in WD40 including switch

Seems perfect now

Thanks all

[David]

My invoice is in the post.

[Taipan]

Got little paint brush and cleaned circuit board. That improved it.
Then blathered everything in WD40 including switch

Seems perfect now

Thanks all