Hi ebveryone, I am pretty new to Electronics and had something to fix from which I wanted to learn a few things. Please help if you can. What I have is called Dr. Scholl's foot masager and it is not heating up. I have made a video and put it on youtube. Please watch and reply. Here is the link:

 

Hi ebveryone, I am pretty new to Electronics and had something to fix from which I wanted to learn a few things. Please help if you can. What I have is called Dr. Scholl's foot masager and it is not heating up. I have made a video and put it on youtube. Please watch and reply. Here is the link:

Your vid is private.

 

Your vid is private.

What do you mean, private. He just looked at it and it worked just fine.

 

Oh, yeah. I just wasn't clicking the correct arrow.

 

Have you guys used this website alot? Is there some people you can put me in touch with?

 

Your vid is private.

Try it again

 

Someplace there is a heating element that isn't heating. The element may be inside the fan housing, and is probably a simple resistive element; it may even be an actual ceramic resistor. The element itself could be burned out, or there could be a fusible link that has opened up due to excessive current. You need to find the element, disconnect one end of it, and measure the resistance (ohms.) If the element has a fairly low resistance, it's probably okay, but if it's open, then it's burned out. If the element is okay, look for an open fuse or a loose wire to the element.

 

Can you take some clear pictures from a little further away so we can see the whole unit and then close up so we can see the circuitry and part numbers on the circuit board?

 

I took some pictures. For some reason this is not letting me upload jpeg files. Quite odd.

 

Can you take some clear pictures from a little further away so we can see the whole unit and then close up so we can see the circuitry and part numbers on the circuit board?

So, I took some pictures, they are all jpeg, I can't upload it. I tried changing it to Gif. It still doesn't show on here. I am not sure why. Have you had this issue?

 

So I had to make them .png for some reason. Some of the picture suck. My camera isn't that good. If you look at the closeups though it should be ok.

 

The heating element is that nichrome wire stretched back and forth in front of the fan housing opening. I guess that the silver object on the right with 55 printed on it is a thermal fuse, and may be open; check the continuity on it.

 

That thing marked AuOna is big enough to be a circuit breaker, a fuse, or a cycling device that responds to heat in that heater cavity. Be sure to check it to see if it is stuck, "open".

 

Hello,

I have resized your images.
Not all have unlimited internet access.
There are still members with dail-up and with sattelite internet that have to pay for the time online.

Bertus

 

The heating element is that nichrome wire stretched back and forth in front of the fan housing opening. I guess that the silver object on the right with 55 printed on it is a thermal fuse, and may be open; check the continuity on it.

Can I check it when it is on there or does it have to come off?

 

Hello,

I have resized your images.
Not all have unlimited internet access.
There are still members with dail-up and with sattelite internet that have to pay for the time online.

Bertus

ok thank you

 

Can I check it when it is on there or does it have to come off?

You need to isolate one end from the rest of the circuit to measure the resistance, but before you cut anything, you need to know that nichrome wire cannot be soldered, so don't cut it. You may have to move back to the red covered copper wire, and open it; leave enough so that you can solder it back together.

 

Can I check it when it is on there or does it have to come off?

You don't know how to use an Ohm meter and you're willing to bet your life that you can fix this and connect your feet to it?

Alarm bells!

 

Hello,

The red wires tracecom mentioned, run all upto the PCB.

Bertus

 

I disagree with tracecom. The resistance of that silver box should be so close to zero ohms that it will be easy to tell whether it is open. Any other path has to go through the resistance wire which is probably hundreds of ohms, but this kind of judgement comes from experience, which you don't have. If you can't tell the difference between 1 ohm and several hundred ohms on your meter, you will have to disconnect something.