Rusted And Almost Ruined STAR Induction Cooker Revived Successfully
I take great pride in submitting this article in front of the always encouraging experts in the forum, because of the exhaustive work done in reviving this Induction cooker, which was found almost ruined due to rust and cockroach infestation. Why this pride, you might ask! It is because it belonged to my neighbour, who had bought our land and settled here almost fifty years back. He is a very good friend in need, very helpful and he does a lot of social service. Unfortunately he lost his wife a couple of months back! So, when an opportunity such as this came up, I was almost thrillingly determined to do my best! Hope I am justified in my claim! (LOL)
This cooker was kept in the attic unused for a prolonged time, which was taken out for use and found to be ‘dead!’ It was brought to me by the customer’s brother. I opened the Induction Cooker in front of him, and showed the condition inside and told him that I would do my best to revive it, and bought time to do the job. I am deliberately skipping snaps of the nasty scenes inside, as it was too disgusting. Cleaned up the inside of cover and case and then the boards thoroughly, using brush and blower. I could not find any living cockroaches inside, though there were eggs aplenty! The fan was stuck due to rust and my efforts later to lubricate and rotate it failed. I removed the socket of the program IC, which had fungus formations, and the touch springs, which were rusted at the bottom and kept it dipped in Turpentine. Let us now have a look at the damages it did. I am not covering the entire boards for cutting short the snaps in the article:
Then removed almost all the components, including the jumper wires, after counter checking the values written on the board. Observed that a jumper was used in place of a 10K resistor marked on the board. 10UF/400V had the marking as 4.7uF/400V on the board. I stripped the control panel PCB leaving only the LEDs, which were found to be ok. The LED segment display, as you can see from the picture above, had its legs rusted. The marking of 1M resistor was also wrong, as 2.2M resistors were used in its place all over the control panel.
That’s why I always counter check these while removing. The value of 2uF/250V AC was found to be very less on checking. After thoroughly cleaning the PCBs using IPA, I replaced all the transistors, resistors, diodes, 78L05 IC, Viper12A. I provided sockets for Viper12A and two ICs on the control panel. Cleaned the legs of the three old ICs used and made it shine. The 24pin socket of the program IC was cleaned thoroughly using metal brush, as a replacement was not available. It took several hours of sitting for 3 days.
After this, I lubricated the connectors and temporarily assembled the unit for checking functioning. I was glad to see life in the Induction Cooker.
Then boiled a glass of water. Used the cooker at different times and found it to be working just fine!
Here are the pictures of defective/rusted parts replaced. Some of the jumper wires were rusted to powder!
Thus curtain fell on this real story, and intense satisfaction got added to its collection bag!
This article was prepared for you by Parasuraman Subramanian from India. He is 72 years old and has more than 30 years’ experience in handling antique equipment like Valve Radio, Amps, Reel Tape Recorders and currently studying latest tech-classes conducted by Kerala State Electronics Technicians’ Association. He has done graduation in BBA degree, private diploma in Radio Engineering and retired as MD of a USA company. Presently working as Consultant to Hospital and other institutions.
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You may check on his previous repair article below:
https://jestineyong.com/leaked-capacitors-caused-dim-display-and-low-battery-indication-in-peak-atlas-dca55/
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Phil Price
May 13, 2021 at 7:56 pm
That is an amazing refurbishment Parasuraman. In Australia we would throw this out and buy a new one. I am frustrated by our acceptance of replacement rather than repair.
Wish we could follow your practice of keeping these appliances in service as long as possible. It makes good long term economic sense and is beneficial to the environment.
Thanks Phil
Parasuraman S
May 13, 2021 at 10:01 pm
Many thanks for your encouraging comments! It is indeed a pleasure to revive an almost abandoned device! Words cannot express the experience and any amount of money is not a reward!
Anwar Shiekh
May 14, 2021 at 2:53 am
Am I glad my repairs are not insect infested...
Parasuraman S
May 14, 2021 at 7:31 pm
Many thanks for your comments, dear!
Albert van Bemmelen
May 14, 2021 at 4:17 am
Today I tried uploading my short comment but somehow it didn't so here my retry. Very good job Parasuraman! I hope that fixing this old induction cooker was still worth it after replacing almost every component that no doubt made it a costly one? Using turpentine for rusted metal springs was new to me. And because of the rather expensive price of turpentine I only clean the solder residue of new boards with it. WD40 is often much cheaper for cleaning purposes. And soaking in cheap dish washing soap often works too.
Parasuraman S
May 14, 2021 at 7:30 pm
Many thanks for your valuable inputs! Turpentine is cheaper here. I use it rarely because of the residue it might leave and of-course, the smell! Using dish washing soap is good, but when we use water, we subject the components to be easy pray for rust formation.
Albert van Bemmelen
May 14, 2021 at 8:03 pm
Indeed without any water of course Parasuraman! Just pure soap only! Works great after soaking the rusted springs of any battery contact for 24hrs in soap. And brushing them clean as good as possible afterwards.
Parasuraman Subramanian
May 15, 2021 at 7:54 pm
Yes, true!
Waleed Rishmawi
May 15, 2021 at 1:56 am
Great job my friend. You basically created a new life in that cooler and I am sure it took a long time to repair, clean and put back together.
Parasuraman Subramanian
May 15, 2021 at 7:56 pm
Yes, dear! It took some extra time! Many thanks for your comments!
Bufford Moore
May 15, 2021 at 4:52 am
I'm impressed that after the extensive nature of the repair, that the unit worked as well as it did. I've often done things kind of similar to this just to see if I could make it work. I'm assuming, from a practical standpoint, that you did this for your friend essentially as a favor, since the enormous amount of time you invested would make this repair prohibitive if he had to pay conventionally for labor. It seems that the most complex and demanding repairs have been for my family and friends, as in this case. Nicely done.
Parasuraman Subramanian
May 15, 2021 at 8:00 pm
Yes, my clients are already from known contacts. I am not running a shop. Nor any display board! All through mouth to mouth publicity only! One satisfied customer will bring many! It's a thrill to do such impossibles and change it to possibles! Many thanks for your comments!
ivan1
May 16, 2021 at 11:28 am
Señor Parasuraman permítame compararlo como un atleta de alto rendimiento ,ya que sus reparaciones digo mejor restauraciones implican siempre mucho tiempo y dedicación , entiendo yo ,solo por la satisfacción del logro, no importando ,ni tiempo ni esfuerzo ,porque si eso se hace para demostrar aprecio y cariño creo
que la satisfacción se duplica .Creo que también hago lo mismo ,no quedamos muchos ,pues las nuevas generaciones de técnicos están entrenados para cambiar placas o decir no hay repuestos, o esto le va ha costar tanto, para no reparar .Por lo que siempre estoy muy contento de leer sus artículos y agradezco al señor JESTINE YONG por publicarlos reciban un gran saludo desde CHILE
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Mr. Parasuraman allow me to compare you as a high performance athlete, since your repairs I say better restorations always involve a lot of time and dedication, I understand, just for the satisfaction of the achievement, it does not matter, neither time nor effort, because if that is done to demonstrate I appreciate and love I think
satisfaction is doubled. I think I also do the same, there are not many left, because the new generations of technicians are trained to change plates or say there are no spare parts, or this will cost them so much, not to repair. I am very happy to read your articles and I thank Mr. JESTINE YONG for publishing them. Receive a great greeting from CHILE
Parasuraman S
May 16, 2021 at 6:17 pm
Many thanks for your wonderful encouragement, which I value very much! It is also rare that someone takes the trouble of writing comments even after liking the article, that too an elaborate one. So, you excel in that, which itself is a very good quality! May God bless you!
Gary Cale
May 17, 2021 at 11:19 am
I enjoy the breadth of knowledge and priceless experience you bring to your repairs.
But what I value most though, is the depth of character you reveal in your interactions with everyone you encounter in your repair of everyday devices.
Keep up the good work.
Parasuraman S
May 20, 2021 at 9:26 am
Many thanks for your wonderful comment and encouragement! It matters a lot!
Yogesh Panchal
May 17, 2021 at 2:13 pm
Sir,
You revived and extended the lifespan of the equipment.
Parasuraman S
May 20, 2021 at 9:26 am
Many thanks for your comments, dear Yogesh!
Yogesh Panchal
May 17, 2021 at 3:23 pm
One more equipment is revived for new life!!
Parasuraman S
May 20, 2021 at 9:27 am
Many thanks for your repeated comment!