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Old 09-24-2020, 7:36am   #14
Cybercowboy
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Originally Posted by ZipZap View Post
If I were going to undertake a repair on something that is putting out 1kw of RF energy, I'd sure as hell have a schematic and understand a safe repair. We take extra care on anything over a few milliwatts. Yes, it will make your nads go away, but you'll probably have other issues first.

I have no idea what the resources are that Cowboy has, but microwave ovens are something with which one needs to take extra care. I'm not an appliance repairman, but I do understand microwave leakage. I'm sure any replacement part comes with instructions on how to best keep the energy in the oven, as opposed to attacking your flesh.

There's a reason for the size of the holes that are in the front of your mw oven behind the glass. There are a bunch of other protections in place to make sure the RF stays where it is wanted.

It will be interesting to me whether the warning message goes away with a replacement, or is some sort of thing that needs "manufacturer intervention".
LOL I have a degree in electrical engineering and have worked on many high voltage circuits in the past. Hell, I had a job at Motorola for awhile doing nothing but repairing oscilloscopes and other test devices, most of which had high voltage circuits. I know how to work on them. There's nothing difficult about replacing a magnetron. You simply need a 20k ohm ceramic resistor with leads on each end to discharge the high voltage capacitor. Then you can safely work on any part you want. You put it back together before plugging it in, and you can test each high voltage component un-powered. I even replaced the mica plate that covers the end of the wave guide by cutting out one from some mica material I had laying around that's better than what came with this microwave. I'm more comfortable working on a high voltage circuit than I am a modern car engine actually.

In this case this microwave's high voltage circuit is much more sophisticated than the typical $150 microwave. It doesn't use a resonant high-Q circuit with a big old capacitor. Instead it uses a switching circuit, so big transistors and diodes with smaller caps.
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