Hi everyone,

So I have a digital timer panel when I turn it on it flashes red, I know this means its overloaded but I can't work out why. Is it from volts or amps? How can I work out how many volts or amps it can take? I have a multimeter but don't know what to do to measure that. Once I find this out, could I buy a resistor to restrict how many volts or amps going to it? It's being powered by a plug that powers other items. I didn't have this problem before so I find it weird. I am wondering if it's the wiring but the wiring doesn't seem to work any other way.

Hope that's clear, appreciate any possible help.-

 

Best is to read a datasheet what load the device has been designed.

If you don’t have datasheet, try to load it with high R and continuously decrease the R until the overcurrent state appeares.

Btw, overcurrent means you load the output with too low R so the device doesn’t allow to pass so high current.

 

Hi everyone,

So I have a digital timer panel when I turn it on it flashes red, I know this means its overloaded but I can't work out why. Is it from volts or amps? How can I work out how many volts or amps it can take? I have a multimeter but don't know what to do to measure that. Once I find this out, could I buy a resistor to restrict how many volts or amps going to it? It's being powered by a plug that powers other items. I didn't have this problem before so I find it weird. I am wondering if it's the wiring but the wiring doesn't seem to work any other way.

Hope that's clear, appreciate any possible help.-

Post pictures of the timer, front, back, inside, etc. so that we can see what it looks like.
Brand name and model numbers would be helpful to know.

 

So I have a digital timer panel when I turn it on it flashes red, I know this means its overloaded

1. How do you "know" this?

2. How is a timer "overloaded"?

Please post links to the device, a datasheet, user manual, the vendor page where you bought it - anything.

ak

 

Best is to read a datasheet what load the device has been designed.

If you don’t have datasheet, try to load it with high R and continuously decrease the R until the overcurrent state appeares.

Btw, overcurrent means you load the output with too low R so the device doesn’t allow to pass so high current.

Thank you but I don't know what High R is or means (resistance?) and how would I do that.

 

1. How do you "know" this?

2. How is a timer "overloaded"?

Please post links to the device, a datasheet, user manual, the vendor page where you bought it - anything.

ak

Thank you for your help. The device was made specifically for me. I "know" this because I've used it before and that's been the case. I am not sure why it's flashing this time as I've used 12V before and I am sure it was fine.

Here is a video of the panel.

If you need any other information, please just ask. I appreciate your time and help.

 

Post pictures of the timer, front, back, inside, etc. so that we can see what it looks like.
Brand name and model numbers would be helpful to know.

Thank you for answering me. The device was made for me. It's actually for my son's microwave on his kitchen. It was working totally fine before but now it's complaining. I wonder if I've somehow wired it incorrectly but I am sure I haven't as it doesn't even turn on with other wirings. Anyway here's a video of the panel. It no longer has a reed switch but it's still the same thing. Thank you.

 

I know this means its overloaded but I can't work out why. Is it from volts or amps? How can I work out how many volts or amps it can take?

If it has been designed and built for you, can you contact whoever made it for answers? Do you have a specifications document, or manual of instruction? Someone decided what the 'flashing' indicates. Do you have a circuit diagram of the unit?

 

If it has been designed and built for you, can you contact whoever made it for answers? Do you have a specifications document, or manual of instruction? Someone decided what the 'flashing' indicates. Do you have a circuit diagram of the unit?

Unfortunately not, I did email the person a while ago but they didn't answer and I have no documentation. I was hoping to be able to do something with a multimeter and work out the problem that way but I don't know how to. Would that be a solution or just not how it works?

 

No documentation! Well, a note for any future projects - the documentation is the most important part of the delivery. But I guess you might appreciate that now.

A multimeter is not much help if you have no idea which parameter is causing the problem. As suggested, you might try varying the inputs and outputs to make the problem appear and disappear, which will give you a pointer to what is going wrong.

 

Can you open the box and take sharp, well focused photos of what is inside the box?
You might have to dismantle the knob and control and the board in order to take photos of both sides of the circuit board.

 

What has been missing so far is anything close to an adequate description of what the package is supposed to do, what it did when it was working correctly, and what it is doing now. AND, "Flashing red" does not convey any useful information at all.

Without that information all you will get is random guesses and suggestions that are not directed at whatever the actual problem is.

 

Every Micro wave I have owned and worked on has had a timer built in, what is the function of this one and why needed?
I can pick one of these timers up from my local HW store for $10. !

 

It's actually for my son's microwave on his kitchen.

Why does your son's microwave need any external display device, and what does it display?

 

Hello Max, I have an answer for the question about the need for an electronic timer on a microwave oven!
Long ago, back when we were teenagers, microwave ovens, at least the budget priced ones, actually had MECHANICAL TIMERS that used a synchronous motor and gears to count down the time cooking. So I see two reasonable possibilities, the first one being that the son's oven's timer wore out. Gears do wear, yo u know.
The second possibility is that it came from an area with a different mains frequency. And now a third possible explanation being that the son lives off grid and that this is a crystal time base timer.
So I am puzzled as to how such a brilliant individual, able to immediately know that a device is overloaded, came to that conclusion without taking any measurements. Usually a flashing digital display signals that there is a controls logic issue, or that the MWO door is not properly latched.

 

@MisterBill2 @Alec_t @MaxHeadRoom @MrChips @boostbuck @AnalogKid @Michal Podmanický

Hello everyone, thank you all so much for your help and replies. I managed to sort it out, I actually dreamt solution and woke up and fixed it. I wanted to thank you all and try to answer a few questions and make a couple of points.

The fix was that two wires needed to be swapped around. In the past the red flashing light was a sign of being overloaded, that's why I came to that conclusion. Hopefully my explanation will help all this fall into place.

So to start with, I am not electronically minded. I originally joined this forum because I was trying to achieve a project. MisterBill2 referred to me having a brilliant mind which I think is nice but far from true! I have learnt a few things from being here but honestly I still get confused by simple things such as amps and volts!

So when my oldest son (now 9) was about 3 he loved playing with toy kitchens so I got him one from Ikea but I decided I wanted to soup it up a bit, I wanted a working oven and dishwasher and sink and microwave so I set about learning electronics in order to build these things. In the end I found I just couldn't learn it fast enough so I offered a "tinkerer" some money to build one for me. The tinkerer (Jack) made me the Microwave panel and dishwasher panel. The dishwasher panel lit up and made washing noises and the microwave panel (see videos I've posted further up the thread -from the tinkerer himself makes a sound and beeps when it turns off. Originally it had a reed switch but when my younger son was born I found it was too fiddly so have since taken it off. I also connected a tap and pump to the sink and created a filament and light in the oven so that it looks like it comes on and can be controlled by a dimmer switch. The whole thing was powered from one power source each arm delivering 24V but I had to limit the power going into the microwave and oven or I'd get flashing LEDs. That's why I thought the panel was overloaded.

Well as time went on the kitchen got played with, I had another child who also loved it and now my youngest son is 4 he too loves to cook so I decided to create a new kitchen. The dishwasher panel no longer works and the water was a disaster so I've just kept the microwave and oven.

The microwave panel has seven connections. two power the light, three power the panel and two are the mains. The connections are tricky to remember (I've now labelled them) as two of them connect to one wire but then the rest are pretty straight forward. The microwave panel has two positives. I had them swapped the wrong way round. that's what I dreamt I was doing, swapping the positives so I woke up and tried it and it worked. Currently the oven and microwave are connected by a three way split each delivering 12V and it's all fine.

I appreciate what everyone is saying about documentation but as you can see it just wasn't like that, someone kindly built me a thing and that was it. I don't even know what I would ask for in terms of documentation. Some of the issue is when you are not an electronic person or electrically minded you don't even know what words to use to form your questions! I think people forget that on this forum. Many of you asked questions I didn't even think of but I am grateful because I am learning as I read.

BTW Max Headroom (I remember that sh sh sho sh sh show), the timer you showed is fine but half the fun of the timer is the noise it makes and the fact it turns a light on when it works. Also the timer is limited to 10 seconds. This is to prevent kids from having it on for too long, driving parents crazy and never getting to enjoy the beeps. The time reverts to 1 second. This used to annoy me but is actually brilliant for smaller children who can't turn the knob but can press the button and they get the experience of the microwave too. Again meaning parents don't have to be up and down turning the knob and giving wee ones a sense of independence.

Anyway I hope this makes some kind of sense now and if nothing else please take away that I appreciate all of your for your kind replies and input.

Have a lovely Sunday.

 

OK, and I am quite relieved that it is only a pretend microwave oven, and not one with actual RF generated. Those are not playthings at all.

 

OK, and I am quite relieved that it is only a pretend microwave oven, and not one with actual RF generated. Those are not playthings at all.

haha! Indeed. I believe that's what people were using to do wood refractals right? Some tragic stories because of it. Thanks again Mister Bill.

 

"WOOD REFRACTALS"???? Not familiar with that term.
I did learn that some folks were using the transformers to somehow burn lines in wood, as an artistic technique. I can see that would be possible, but using a high voltage, mains frequency AC arc seems like a way to hasten natural selection among the artistic community. The multi-kilovolt AC with a capability of at least 100 mA certainly has the ability to be lethal.
THAT was the cause of my concern about an added external control .

 

Thank you for answering me. The device was made for me. It's actually for my son's microwave on his kitchen.

It would have been appropriate for you to say that this is a toy microwave in a play kitchen. That would have put this in its proper perspective.