The Blue Power Light comes on, then it immediately switches over to the Red "Clean" indicator light.

Cleaning didn't help, so I powered off, disassembled (being aware there is high voltage inside) and cleaned the wire strands with fine emory cloth, and reassembled, and that didn't help.

Next, I disconnected and pulled the main board, but I don't see anything obvious, nor do I smell anything burnt.

Has anyone had any experience with these, that they might have a clue as to what could be causing it to default to the Clean mode immediately?

If not, I will probably test components one by one (60 plus parts), or if not that, then I'll scavenge it.

Thanks,
Gary

 

I have a very old ionizing air filter. All discrete, no semis inside. It basically makes about 2kV and applies it to the ionizer wires and the particles stick to the plates of the filter cell.

 

Let the fan blow on it for half an hour and see if that sucks the humidity out of it. These things will go into "fault" over the tiniest amount of water leftover from cleaning.

 

Photos would be a big help.

 

There's not all that much to see unless you have determined that the voltage generator isn't working.

 

I meant photos of the HV generator PCB.

The "please clean me" light will come on if there is leakage from dirt which causes a reducion in the HV, or if the HV is just low for some other reason. So it is likely to be an undervoltage detector alarm light.

So since cleaning didn't fix it, diagnosing the HV generator is the next step.

 

Dear RB,
You are correct about what the "clean me" light is monitoring. It is often nothing more than a neon lamp and a voltage divider. I understand that you believe the HV generator is the next step, but, having been driven quite nuts, and wasted over $100 on a new HV board, I have come to believe the next step is to wait until it has had sufficient time to dry out before digging any deeper. Sometimes, an hour is not enough time for the air stream to get the moisture out of the fiberglass. My opinion is that the next step is to wait until tomorrow.

With highest respect,
Number Twelve

 

have you cleaned the insulators on the wires? the dirt sticks to them also, and creates a leakgage path.

 

Old thread I know, but when taking it apart one more time, I broke one of the thin wires. I then decided to scavenge it..

When I got to the small board up top, I found some hidden, heavy corrosion across the connectors and traces. I think that kind of corrosion can cause a short, true?

 

Yes, corrosion is conductive, especially when it holds water from getting washed.
and the little wires are not a fatal flaw. Really small gauge stainless steel is a good thing, but a .008" guitar string will work in a pinch. The trick is to get it to line up fairly straight. That's what the tiny springs are for. It's just a bunch of parallel chargers so the particles that get polarized will stick to the plates. These things are a lot dumber than they look. A couple of KV, some wires, and some parallel plates. Add a short indicator and some safety switches and you're done. The only thing that has any brains in it is the KV supply. When those die, I buy a board instead of spending hours trying to figure it out with no schematic.