I love this device! I used to be a waiter at my local Pizza Express and if I was on the morning shift, the restaurant would be dead. So, when my manager invested in one of these, I was in heaven. It literally made cleaning the windows so, so easy. Mirror shine with just one wipe! Nice to see you tear it to bits. :)
I have had four now. Two I took apart. Similar faults. First one had next to no thought about water getting in. The second one I took apart. A real effort was made with the seals. But there was a hole ... to let the water in. If you do get one make sure you pay the extra £3 And get never ending replacement. Currys/PC World do offer this. Well worth it (the cover)
Not surprising. I had a high pressure washer from the same brand and it self-destructed after very light use. But of course, out of the warranty period. The high-pressure part that failed was made of plastic, and it cracked badly. Not made to last, by any means. Now i have a lavor branded washer. Every high-pressure section is made of aluminum. Even the water inlet.
@@f-s-r I agree I have the K2 pressure washer and the high pressure plastic pipe (stupid idea!) Split, but the wonders of eBay and £5 later I've replaced it and all is well.... For now! But was an easy fix. But, as you say a non-corrosive metal sections are far superior.
My parents had a karcher pressure cleaner when I was younger. Had it for about 15 years before it suddenly burst inside somewhere and leaked water out its butt. We didn't bother looking inside because it was so old.
I have been a window cleaner for 29 years and everyone said this device would be the end off me, reality is they are all under the sink now and i still cant cope with my work load.
Interesting, I have one from when they first came out and it has significantly different electronics. No led in switch but red led on charge socket. I think it is an excellent gadget just don't try and use it too far off vertical or water comes out of all the wrong holes.
I’ve had two of these. One thing I’ve learned; they don’t like suds. They are decently designed. The suction makes water enter and by gravity it enters the container and air goes the other way. If you suck up water facing it fully down water can’t enter and then it goes into the motor.
Switched to a a bosch glass vac after the 3rd does after less.than a year (tried the home fixes and when worked they were temporary but helpful) and now having problems with it but can't find any trouble shooting support anywhere!? Back to the shop it goes as hopefully still under warranty.
I took one of these apart the other week that had stopped working, the PCB was corroded and so was the motor. It seems like the gaskets that seal round the housing are not all that good.
Hah i like the fact it has an in circuit programming header on the board. Time to write your own firmware and add some flashing lights to it, assuming the attiny hasnt been locked.
It’s designed to a price, a coil around a plastic housing with the core that sits in the middle (like a aquarium pump) should mean no water would ingress
Have to say Clive, I've had several of these window vacs and they all give up the ghost relatively quickly. The main issue with them dying is if you don't charge them as soon as the 'blinking' LED comes on. You know. Turn it off/on again get a few minutes more! Do that too often and the voltage on the battery seems to go too low and it then will not charge back up again. I've replaced the battery with a new fully charged one and all is good. Apart from the nightmare of trying to spot weld the tabs on in the first place
SO GLAD I SAW THIS VIDEO! My house has stupid wooden framed double glazing (as you would expect most panels of glass are shot) but as the the panes are also quite small and so many (yep they are a total pain to clean) I was going to buy this window vac to clean the windows that I can still see out of, but as there are so many panes, it would get quite a lot of use as not only is there a lot of small panes to clean... I live in London so the pollution muckies up the windows quickly... I can see this window vac lasting only a few months which for £50 quid isn't good at all and I don't feel like going in to Argos twice a year or wrapping up Amazon returns... I will stick with a chamois, a squeegee and a bucket!
Ah yes I have one of these, it's actually quite handy for drying off a lot of surfaces, not necessarily just windows Nice to see how they're built without taking mine apart I'm guessing it was stored on it's side or something instead of leaving it straight up? Haven't gotten to the conclusion yet but that would be my guess
Yes. I got slightly bored one day and noticed the kitchen ceiling looked a bit greasy... Quick bit of spray cleaner and the Karcher... well I had a lovely white stripe, and then had to do the whole f'in thing :(
Hello, I have a Titan window vac and it has stopped working. I have tried to repair it and decided to replace the board with a TP4056 (1 amp) module. The battery charged up, but the motor doesn't turn. It jolts a little but won't get going. The motor works when attached directly to the battery. Since the original board has been now been thrown away (so can't be repaired) ... can you tell me which battery protection/charge board might work? I hope you can help, thank you.
It sounds like the overcurrent detection on the PCB is being triggered by the motor inrush current. You can get beefier protection circuits with bigger MOSFETs for higher load currents.
I found myself in that situation many times with my fancy meter, something isn't testing right, then i realise the auto shutoff has shutoff or i forgot to turn the dam thing on. I always just say the auto shut off, shut off. I really dig that kahnife. Cheers from not frozen kansas 60 dungerees Frankenstein today and yesterday the sun is out. We did get some flooding up north tho.
Thanks so much! On mine the fan kept jamming and red light came on. Turns out the fan was loose on the spindle and kept hitting the roof of the fan box. Spot of superglue on the spindle and reseating fan fixed it.
Worked in a Karcher store for 2+ years and sold a lot of these, these are really fun for window cleaning (or any smooth surfaces, really). Repairing them is another story, as there are almost no parts you can get from the manufacturer - can't get the motor, the board - just the plastics and the rubber. And while with other equipment, Karcher can be very strict when it comes to doing a warranty repair (document the damage done, the parts that you used, send the broken ones back to central), we were told at some point to just straight up replace these (though we still had to ship the broken ones to central, there was no need for detailed documentation). There are other models of this device, one appearing on the market after I've switched jobs. There is a WV5 which had a replacable (ok, EASILY replacible) battery (18650 in a case, as far as I know). There's also a WVP 10, which is a commercial-grade variant on WV5. It being 50% more expensive, I wonder whether it's any different from the WV5, as Karcher did sometimes just paint the body grey, give a warranty for commercial use and raise the price.
Did you know you can now get really long screwdriver bits (like 110-150 mm) for those well-recessed screws? just search amazon or ebay for long screwdriver bits for loads of options.
these get water in when people move them away from the vertical. Its tempting to turn them round to get into the lower corners but then the motor sucks the water up and sprays it around inside and out through the vent. Similar effect putting it down on the lawn full of water and it gets kicked or tipped over. Mine's years old and I've never got water in it. Still works like new. The micro is involved in the charging BTW, the LED flashes quickly as its charging, steady when its full, and flashes slowly to say it needs recharging soon . Once the battery is exhausted the motor turns completely off.
To remove the black base cover you pull apart the front legs and it pops off, also the motors have changed to a white fan type to help with water ingress. Premium models have a removable battery too!
i have a model before this one and the bearing in the motor went making the impeller wobble, i did try changing the motor but ordered the wrong one (ran to slow) does yourself or anyone know what motor they take and were to get one "cheers"
I had one of these that failed and after finding the pump/circuit board swimming with water still brought another one. The key thing is to only use it vertically and never let the water go above the 'full' line. Never leave the reservoir with water in it and store in a dry place. A stupid non draining design. Unfortunately it performs better than others I have tried. The electronics should be potted and in the handle with two long wires going to the motor, then have a pair of holes in the bottom. As is it is designed to fail.
Same happened to mine, people using them sideways when the water bottle is full means water pours inside and corrodes the battery, its such a known fault they have crates of them on couriers, when I had mine delivered there was a box with about 100 of them in, they have to change them all the time I have friends that work for the company here in my home town, its a great device but you have to use it in the vertical position and never take it over 45 degrees unless you waterproof the battery and electronics.
I'm glad Clive records his goofups and frustrations on his channel. Shows he's human and can laugh at himself... I laughed at that part too. Have a great day Sir.. cheers
@@jeffreyhebert5604... Yeah, love the guy to bits. He is mental therapy too!! Whenever I feel down, I listen to any video of his for his soothing voice.
And a year later my moms unit stopped working. I tear it apart, see a little bit of corrosion near the charger plug and components near it. Seems like water is getting in around the charger plug seal or through the plug itself.
We had a bad vax window vac. I personally think it was the circuit board. I couldn't find a replacement. The motor worked and the cell was fully charged. The outputs from the circuit board was totally dead though. I ended up repurposing the cell for an ecig as it was a single high drain cell which can provide upto 75w and 40w continuous
You & AvE should try offering a consultant service for product fault finding & improvments, would be very valuble to companys who actually want to produce good products.
To my surprise, one day I found out that my cheap Roadstar UC-223 ultrasonic cleaner did not have any seals inside, apart from the plastic pieces fitting into one another. I was always careful while pouring water out, but one day it gave a bit of a flash from its back as I was starting it for another round of cleaning, and stopped working. It's currently waiting to be fixed, sitting semi-disassembled under my table.
A tip to remove the lower black plastic part is to heat it up using a hair dryer to soften the plastic. Makes it a lot more flexible and easier to pry off by hand.
As others have concluded you need to take the head off and the bottle out and let it dry like that every time after use. They are worth looking after though, and that one is defo worth repairing! Mine has a red LED just above the charger port that indicates charging; it flashes if the battery is very low and trickle charging; steady on main charge. Maybe its a later model?
I had a look at one of these recently. As with this one, water had got in. This seemed to be all that was preventing the battery from charging. All that was required to make it charge was to dry it out. Unfortunately, the water had corroded the front of the motor so much that there as about 1mm of play at that end of the spindle. It did work despite this, but I doubt it will be useful for very long.
One of those screwdriver sets would be a good basis for a nice home-made Advent calendar! One bit behind each day's door, and the handle behind door 24 .....
How does the water get in there? By exceeding maximum or splashing/angle? I would like to avoid that with mine. Perhaps silicone grease in the strategic places like the motor shaft/bearing and the baterry ends.
Consumer jet washers are almost impossible to reassemble - assembly jigs. They really try to prevent you from modifying and repairing them, and it is the same with things like this. We didn't repair consumer items - replacement was always advised. They do sell spares, but you'll need to sit down when you see the cost.
I just had a similar model fail on me. The model up from this, with removable battery. I wonder how much of the circuit they left on the battery module, and how much is in the actual appliance. The YELLOW bits are identical, just the bottom of the device is slightly different. Well, Amazon is paying me to ship it back to them, really a waste, as shipping is close to half the price of the unit.
Hi clive, i love your videos. would be fine if you do a teardown of a one of those electric air duster or pc cleaners. always wondered what is inside those things what make them so expensive, here in mexico.
These things are great, not just for windows. I use it on just about every surface in the house. But alas, motor corroded. Will see if I can fix water ingress on the motor shaft. Probably something like a piece of aerogel impregnated fiberglass mat, or something like that. I don't think a rubber seal would cut it.
Only last week I took apart the cheapy copy Beldray because it was not taking a charge. Guess what had happened. Rhetorical question really. I managed to salvage the motor and impeller (| don't know what for but one day I may be looking for one) and the 18650. After a couple of cycles through the Liito Kala it's returning just on 2200 mAh, despite the figure printed on the heatshrink being 1700.
We have another, cheaper brand of one of these specifically to remove heavy condensation from our windows in autumn/winter. The mould on the window ledges and net curtains caused by the puddles was getting too much to cope with. This happens in the standard New Zealand house built prior to the 1990's, (when new building regulations meant all houses had to be built with insulation and double glazing.). Imagine, if you will, a minus five degree frost outside and having five degrees inside the house. Electricity isn't cheap, so you watch TV in the lounge, sitting in a sleeping bag to keep warm, whilst having a dehumidifier running to help prevent the condensation. Using a heater is an option, but a costly one. We do use the air con/heat pump sometimes when absolutely necessary though.
Nicholas Pratt overfilling and using it over the vertical will do that every time, that’s why the instructions warn people not to do it. I’ve had one for years now and because it is used correctly it doesn’t suffer any problems. Try removing the squeegee top from the machine and let it dry out in a warm place for a week or so, it should help cure the problem.
@@peterbuckley3877 it is over 7 years old and still going like new, gets most use cleaning condensation off windows in the winter. I just wonder if the later models are not as well protected against water.
Nicely built but with flawed electronics. I've opened up mine, which has a dead battery although it hardly has been used. Turns out the circuit draws 10 mA even when the device is switched off, so you have to keep it connected to the charger all the time...
Fyi the early ones are different inside the circuit & battery are just clipped into the yellow housing. karcher were about to take them off the market because they couldn't sell them so they were almost giving them away then i think idealworld started showing and selling them, so between ideal and the people that had bought them cheap showing their friends, sales took off .
@@bigclivedotcom Thank you. My situation....inherited the device, which looks cosmetically good both inside and outside with no obvious signs of corrosion. I bought a replacement charger which I have proven with a multi meter. When I plug the charger in there is no charging light or any other signs of charging. I measured the battery voltage at 0.55v. I am wondering weather to invest in a new battery (£10) using my degree in guessing. Please advise whether it would be worth the punt? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, Thanks - Dave
@@DavidSmith-fn8ura year late - but did you fix? I've just been working on a machine in this state - no corrosion, not charging. I hooked the battery up to my bench top power supply at 3.7V; didn't desolder it or anything - just popped crocodile clips on the end of the board touching the terminals. Powered the unit on briefly to see if it was still working. Connected the charger (tested @5.5V w/meter), and low and behold - it started charging right away. I suspect that at 0.5V or lower, the circuitry can no longer "see" the battery. Going to spray my board with conformal coating before I reassemble, but after the kick start it seems to not even need a battery replacement.
@@Petertronic The spell it wrong, because they can't do it the right way. In english there is no such pronunciation. This is the right pronunciation of "Kärcher": ruclips.net/video/V-VEP1tjY_E/видео.html
Clive, that's looks more useful now than it did with the covers on. Does it vibrate? 05:25 I can just imagine engineers having a laugh at this phallic looking device all the way through to the production line assembly personnel.
I have taken a part the same model and it have exactly the same problem water inside and corrosion on the pcb (worst then yours) The problem is the sealing in the motor shaft it is crappy
Clive’s top tip number 37.
“multimeters work much better when you turn them on”
We've all been there - many times!
4:46 - "OH!! One moment please..." BigClive's equivalent to anyone else letting loose with a long string of swear words...lol.
Love your comments Aleatha ❤️
You have to pass atleast 7ma through a Clive for a long string of swear words.
@@dubsydubs5234 That is so true. There is even a video to prove that fact.
See here >>> ruclips.net/video/-5R-KBa18ME/видео.html
Aleatha Vogel ahaaaaa hahaha hahaha mega funny
Though the Electro-Grips video is great for a few Clive swears :)
I love this device! I used to be a waiter at my local Pizza Express and if I was on the morning shift, the restaurant would be dead. So, when my manager invested in one of these, I was in heaven. It literally made cleaning the windows so, so easy. Mirror shine with just one wipe! Nice to see you tear it to bits. :)
The battery was charged no problem, it was that good it’s still flashing and I can’t turn it off
Repaired mine last week... Corroded motor and 2v on the battery - was not charging. Great vid as always.
O
I have had four now.
Two I took apart.
Similar faults.
First one had next to no thought about water getting in.
The second one I took apart.
A real effort was made with the seals.
But there was a hole ... to let the water in.
If you do get one make sure you pay the extra £3 And get never ending replacement.
Currys/PC World do offer this.
Well worth it (the cover)
I heard this company was accused of high-pressure selling.
That comment is likely to wash over most peoples heads.
That's pressurising!
@@dubsydubs5234 So it might but yours wouldn't. 😉🤣🤣
The truth finally leaked out.
@@station240 oooh watery
Clive is the Hagrid of electronics: "I shouldn't have done that. I should not have done that."
The beard is also fairly reminiscent
@@Firecul contrary to the claims made by the History Channel, this is the real "beard of knowledge".
I've taken apart 2 or 3 of these before with exactly the same failure mode. 0 V on the batteries and corrosion on the motor and parts of the PCB.
Not surprising. I had a high pressure washer from the same brand and it self-destructed after very light use. But of course, out of the warranty period. The high-pressure part that failed was made of plastic, and it cracked badly. Not made to last, by any means.
Now i have a lavor branded washer. Every high-pressure section is made of aluminum. Even the water inlet.
@@f-s-r I agree I have the K2 pressure washer and the high pressure plastic pipe (stupid idea!) Split, but the wonders of eBay and £5 later I've replaced it and all is well.... For now! But was an easy fix. But, as you say a non-corrosive metal sections are far superior.
My parents had a karcher pressure cleaner when I was younger. Had it for about 15 years before it suddenly burst inside somewhere and leaked water out its butt. We didn't bother looking inside because it was so old.
@@tin2001 Well, 15 years is not bad lifetime for a pressure washer, i think, but mine lasted 3, maybe, and i used it very little.
I have been a window cleaner for 29 years and everyone said this device would be the end off me, reality is they are all under the sink now and i still cant cope with my work load.
You are a pro and we other are flimsy but this device is fun to do homework
We have this Kärcher for our big balcony windows since 3 years. It's very useful and cleans quite good!
Thanks Clive, I’d never have got the thing apart without breaking it, if it wasn’t for you 👍
I think you need to revisit this one Clive and power it up show us if you could replace the battery and remove corrosion to repair it
Interesting, I have one from when they first came out and it has significantly different electronics. No led in switch but red led on charge socket. I think it is an excellent gadget just don't try and use it too far off vertical or water comes out of all the wrong holes.
Is this the first Big Clive double-pause?
Double insulated pause?
I’ve had two of these. One thing I’ve learned; they don’t like suds. They are decently designed. The suction makes water enter and by gravity it enters the container and air goes the other way. If you suck up water facing it fully down water can’t enter and then it goes into the motor.
5:10 Sorry, I missed it, can you clip it back on again? :-) :-D :-)
clive singned NDA with Kärcher about how to remove the clip...
@@SebBrosig -> Yes, with the penalty of death or the surrender of all the LEDs he owns should he violate the NDA. lol
I own this product and I really like how even the cheap consumer grade Kärcher products are relatively well made.
The instructions say it must only be used upright. I thought, 'Bah humbug' and took no notice. Wonder if mine is busy corroding away...
yes
Looks just like the state of my neighbours vac. Corrosion on the battery and the motor. Glad to see you had as much trouble getting in as I did.
So did you bring the battery back up and test to see if it started working normally again? Just wondering if you were able to fix it.
Good question. I was wondering that myself.
Paul Stafford Why is your comment 4 days old - the video was uploded tody?
@@omaoda4462 Patreon.
would like to know how many have been returned to the maker 5 in my family with charging problems
These things are pretty good actually and makes cleaning your windows nice and easy.
Switched to a a bosch glass vac after the 3rd does after less.than a year (tried the home fixes and when worked they were temporary but helpful) and now having problems with it but can't find any trouble shooting support anywhere!? Back to the shop it goes as hopefully still under warranty.
I took one of these apart the other week that had stopped working, the PCB was corroded and so was the motor. It seems like the gaskets that seal round the housing are not all that good.
Hah i like the fact it has an in circuit programming header on the board. Time to write your own firmware and add some flashing lights to it, assuming the attiny hasnt been locked.
It’s designed to a price, a coil around a plastic housing with the core that sits in the middle (like a aquarium pump) should mean no water would ingress
Nice work you did there, Clive. Another great video. Thanks!
These are very good i use one had it a few years now
Have to say Clive, I've had several of these window vacs and they all give up the ghost relatively quickly. The main issue with them dying is if you don't charge them as soon as the 'blinking' LED comes on. You know. Turn it off/on again get a few minutes more! Do that too often and the voltage on the battery seems to go too low and it then will not charge back up again. I've replaced the battery with a new fully charged one and all is good. Apart from the nightmare of trying to spot weld the tabs on in the first place
SO GLAD I SAW THIS VIDEO! My house has stupid wooden framed double glazing (as you would expect most panels of glass are shot) but as the the panes are also quite small and so many (yep they are a total pain to clean) I was going to buy this window vac to clean the windows that I can still see out of, but as there are so many panes, it would get quite a lot of use as not only is there a lot of small panes to clean... I live in London so the pollution muckies up the windows quickly... I can see this window vac lasting only a few months which for £50 quid isn't good at all and I don't feel like going in to Argos twice a year or wrapping up Amazon returns... I will stick with a chamois, a squeegee and a bucket!
Consider a dehumidifier if you have a high humidity problem.
@@bigclivedotcom Thanks for the reply! Yeah got two dehumidifiers humming away.
Ah yes I have one of these, it's actually quite handy for drying off a lot of surfaces, not necessarily just windows
Nice to see how they're built without taking mine apart
I'm guessing it was stored on it's side or something instead of leaving it straight up? Haven't gotten to the conclusion yet but that would be my guess
Yes.
I got slightly bored one day and noticed the kitchen ceiling looked a bit greasy...
Quick bit of spray cleaner and the Karcher... well I had a lovely white stripe, and then had to do the whole f'in thing :(
8:00 There's an In-Circuit Serial Programming header on the right. Kärcher will probably have set the AVR lock bits though.
Hello, I have a Titan window vac and it has stopped working. I have tried to repair it and decided to replace the board with a TP4056 (1 amp) module. The battery charged up, but the motor doesn't turn. It jolts a little but won't get going. The motor works when attached directly to the battery. Since the original board has been now been thrown away (so can't be repaired) ... can you tell me which battery protection/charge board might work? I hope you can help, thank you.
It sounds like the overcurrent detection on the PCB is being triggered by the motor inrush current. You can get beefier protection circuits with bigger MOSFETs for higher load currents.
I found myself in that situation many times with my fancy meter, something isn't testing right, then i realise the auto shutoff has shutoff or i forgot to turn the dam thing on. I always just say the auto shut off, shut off. I really dig that kahnife. Cheers from not frozen kansas 60 dungerees Frankenstein today and yesterday the sun is out. We did get some flooding up north tho.
Thanks so much! On mine the fan kept jamming and red light came on. Turns out the fan was loose on the spindle and kept hitting the roof of the fan box. Spot of superglue on the spindle and reseating fan fixed it.
Ave took one of these apart also Big Clive
Worked in a Karcher store for 2+ years and sold a lot of these, these are really fun for window cleaning (or any smooth surfaces, really). Repairing them is another story, as there are almost no parts you can get from the manufacturer - can't get the motor, the board - just the plastics and the rubber. And while with other equipment, Karcher can be very strict when it comes to doing a warranty repair (document the damage done, the parts that you used, send the broken ones back to central), we were told at some point to just straight up replace these (though we still had to ship the broken ones to central, there was no need for detailed documentation).
There are other models of this device, one appearing on the market after I've switched jobs. There is a WV5 which had a replacable (ok, EASILY replacible) battery (18650 in a case, as far as I know). There's also a WVP 10, which is a commercial-grade variant on WV5. It being 50% more expensive, I wonder whether it's any different from the WV5, as Karcher did sometimes just paint the body grey, give a warranty for commercial use and raise the price.
Did you know you can now get really long screwdriver bits (like 110-150 mm) for those well-recessed screws? just search amazon or ebay for long screwdriver bits for loads of options.
these get water in when people move them away from the vertical. Its tempting to turn them round to get into the lower corners but then the motor sucks the water up and sprays it around inside and out through the vent. Similar effect putting it down on the lawn full of water and it gets kicked or tipped over. Mine's years old and I've never got water in it. Still works like new. The micro is involved in the charging BTW, the LED flashes quickly as its charging, steady when its full, and flashes slowly to say it needs recharging soon . Once the battery is exhausted the motor turns completely off.
To remove the black base cover you pull apart the front legs and it pops off, also the motors have changed to a white fan type to help with water ingress. Premium models have a removable battery too!
I have this product & interestingly, when the tank is overfull or the devise ingests water it immediately cuts out ?
I used to have one of those soldering irons over 35 years ago. Can't believe they still make them.
They're pretty good. I made a video about it if you search my videos for Iso tip.
I really wish you would leave the camera running while you take stuff to bits...I would never get bored!
I am subbed on AvE...gotta love Uncle Bumblefuck!
Big Clive The Liberator of Clips.
i have a model before this one and the bearing in the motor went making the impeller wobble, i did try changing the motor but ordered the wrong one (ran to slow) does yourself or anyone know what motor they take and were to get one "cheers"
I had one of these that failed and after finding the pump/circuit board swimming with water still brought another one. The key thing is to only use it vertically and never let the water go above the 'full' line. Never leave the reservoir with water in it and store in a dry place. A stupid non draining design. Unfortunately it performs better than others I have tried.
The electronics should be potted and in the handle with two long wires going to the motor, then have a pair of holes in the bottom. As is it is designed to fail.
Wondering if you could replace the existing charge connector with a micro USB and still have it charge.
Same happened to mine, people using them sideways when the water bottle is full means water pours inside and corrodes the battery, its such a known fault they have crates of them on couriers, when I had mine delivered there was a box with about 100 of them in, they have to change them all the time I have friends that work for the company here in my home town, its a great device but you have to use it in the vertical position and never take it over 45 degrees unless you waterproof the battery and electronics.
I laffed so friggin' hard when he clipped the cap together again and another moment please !!!
I'm glad Clive records his goofups and frustrations on his channel. Shows he's human and can laugh at himself... I laughed at that part too. Have a great day Sir.. cheers
@@jeffreyhebert5604... Yeah, love the guy to bits. He is mental therapy too!! Whenever I feel down, I listen to any video of his for his soothing voice.
Truly a machine created to make an easy job harder and more expensive and with a bigger environmental foot print.
And a year later my moms unit stopped working. I tear it apart, see a little bit of corrosion near the charger plug and components near it. Seems like water is getting in around the charger plug seal or through the plug itself.
We had a bad vax window vac. I personally think it was the circuit board. I couldn't find a replacement. The motor worked and the cell was fully charged. The outputs from the circuit board was totally dead though. I ended up repurposing the cell for an ecig as it was a single high drain cell which can provide upto 75w and 40w continuous
1:30 You can't tell us something can fail catastrophically and not showing us doing exactly that! That's, like, the rules!
You & AvE should try offering a consultant service for product fault finding & improvments, would be very valuble to companys who actually want to produce good products.
I would have thought a unit like this would be potted? Or would this add great expense?
To my surprise, one day I found out that my cheap Roadstar UC-223 ultrasonic cleaner did not have any seals inside, apart from the plastic pieces fitting into one another. I was always careful while pouring water out, but one day it gave a bit of a flash from its back as I was starting it for another round of cleaning, and stopped working. It's currently waiting to be fixed, sitting semi-disassembled under my table.
As a German I feel personally offended by Clive's pronunciation of "Kärcher" 🤣🤣🤣 Really you're simply the best Clive.
Thank you for another nice video. Now I'm going to take apart my Kärcher and try to reseal electronics before the same happens to it :)
A tip to remove the lower black plastic part is to heat it up using a hair dryer to soften the plastic. Makes it a lot more flexible and easier to pry off by hand.
As others have concluded you need to take the head off and the bottle out and let it dry like that every time after use. They are worth looking after though, and that one is defo worth repairing! Mine has a red LED just above the charger port that indicates charging; it flashes if the battery is very low and trickle charging; steady on main charge. Maybe its a later model?
I had a look at one of these recently. As with this one, water had got in. This seemed to be all that was preventing the battery from charging. All that was required to make it charge was to dry it out. Unfortunately, the water had corroded the front of the motor so much that there as about 1mm of play at that end of the spindle. It did work despite this, but I doubt it will be useful for very long.
My grandparents have one of these, I took it apart and had the same issues but I found some ultrafire batteries that should work
Hmmm... Is it a polarity diode or is it is it a diode to convert an AC charger into pulsating DC with filtering from the battery?
One of those screwdriver sets would be a good basis for a nice home-made Advent calendar! One bit behind each day's door, and the handle behind door 24 .....
How does the water get in there? By exceeding maximum or splashing/angle? I would like to avoid that with mine. Perhaps silicone grease in the strategic places like the motor shaft/bearing and the baterry ends.
Consumer jet washers are almost impossible to reassemble - assembly jigs. They really try to prevent you from modifying and repairing them, and it is the same with things like this. We didn't repair consumer items - replacement was always advised. They do sell spares, but you'll need to sit down when you see the cost.
I just had a similar model fail on me. The model up from this, with removable battery. I wonder how much of the circuit they left on the battery module, and how much is in the actual appliance. The YELLOW bits are identical, just the bottom of the device is slightly different. Well, Amazon is paying me to ship it back to them, really a waste, as shipping is close to half the price of the unit.
Has any of that yellow glue turned brown? If so it may be conductive. Thus shorting out any circuits it's in contact with.
Typical Big Clive video:
- Charge the suspicious battery
- Open it with a knife
Hi clive, i love your videos. would be fine if you do a teardown of a one of those electric air duster or pc cleaners. always wondered what is inside those things what make them so expensive, here in mexico.
These things are great, not just for windows. I use it on just about every surface in the house. But alas, motor corroded. Will see if I can fix water ingress on the motor shaft. Probably something like a piece of aerogel impregnated fiberglass mat, or something like that. I don't think a rubber seal would cut it.
Only last week I took apart the cheapy copy Beldray because it was not taking a charge. Guess what had happened. Rhetorical question really. I managed to salvage the motor and impeller (| don't know what for but one day I may be looking for one) and the 18650. After a couple of cycles through the Liito Kala it's returning just on 2200 mAh, despite the figure printed on the heatshrink being 1700.
@@TomAlter1000 Thank you Sir, edited my error now.
That opening was hilarious!!!!
You should have fixed it. I have one, they're bloody fantastic!
I agree with bloody.
Same failure on mums. I noticed that the version that replaced this, the cell is replaceable so they might have finally sorted this issue.
We have another, cheaper brand of one of these specifically to remove heavy condensation from our windows in autumn/winter. The mould on the window ledges and net curtains caused by the puddles was getting too much to cope with. This happens in the standard New Zealand house built prior to the 1990's, (when new building regulations meant all houses had to be built with insulation and double glazing.).
Imagine, if you will, a minus five degree frost outside and having five degrees inside the house. Electricity isn't cheap, so you watch TV in the lounge, sitting in a sleeping bag to keep warm, whilst having a dehumidifier running to help prevent the condensation. Using a heater is an option, but a costly one. We do use the air con/heat pump sometimes when absolutely necessary though.
Ours is just over 7 years old and frequently sprays water out when we over fill it but it's still going strong.
Nicholas Pratt overfilling and using it over the vertical will do that every time, that’s why the instructions warn people not to do it. I’ve had one for years now and because it is used correctly it doesn’t suffer any problems. Try removing the squeegee top from the machine and let it dry out in a warm place for a week or so, it should help cure the problem.
@@peterbuckley3877 it is over 7 years old and still going like new, gets most use cleaning condensation off windows in the winter. I just wonder if the later models are not as well protected against water.
Had two of these with exactly the same failure. The cheaper version seems to not exhibit the same issue though!
Love the way you say squeegee Clive 😁
Damn hard to keep water out of things. it's sneaky very sneaky
Nicely built but with flawed electronics. I've opened up mine, which has a dead battery although it hardly has been used. Turns out the circuit draws 10 mA even when the device is switched off, so you have to keep it connected to the charger all the time...
Fyi the early ones are different inside the circuit & battery are just clipped into the yellow housing. karcher were about to take them off the market because they couldn't sell them so they were almost giving them away then i think idealworld started showing and selling them, so between ideal and the people that had bought them cheap showing their friends, sales took off .
Thanks fixed mine the fan was stuck ! Very helpful
I am surprised you did not fix it? Or at least reconnect the 18650 to see if it then charged and worked?
I didn't even realize they do hand held water-compatible vacs. I've only ever seen the big fat wet-dry vacs the aircon maintenance men use.
Love your videos Clive 🙌
Were you able to get it running again?
I didn't try with this unit as the corrosion was bad.
Clearly an expert in his field with a very assuring voice, one slight omission...........WHAT WOULD FIX IT??????
That depends on the damage. Light corrosion can be cleaned and oil applied to bearings. But heavy corrosion would be a short lasting repair.
@@bigclivedotcom Thank you. My situation....inherited the device, which looks cosmetically good both inside and outside with no obvious signs of corrosion. I bought a replacement charger which I have proven with a multi meter. When I plug the charger in there is no charging light or any other signs of charging. I measured the battery voltage at 0.55v. I am wondering weather to invest in a new battery (£10) using my degree in guessing. Please advise whether it would be worth the punt? Any advice would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks - Dave
@@DavidSmith-fn8ura year late - but did you fix?
I've just been working on a machine in this state - no corrosion, not charging.
I hooked the battery up to my bench top power supply at 3.7V; didn't desolder it or anything - just popped crocodile clips on the end of the board touching the terminals. Powered the unit on briefly to see if it was still working. Connected the charger (tested @5.5V w/meter), and low and behold - it started charging right away.
I suspect that at 0.5V or lower, the circuitry can no longer "see" the battery. Going to spray my board with conformal coating before I reassemble, but after the kick start it seems to not even need a battery replacement.
Had exactly same damage to one I was asked to take a look at, common failure of seal maybe ?
Freud would have a field day with the person who designed the innards.
Kärcher is pronounced care-cher. The "ch" is pronounced like the "ch" in whiskies (Bruichladdich, Glenfiddich).
Kärcher's own UK promo videos say "CAR-cher".
Beep beep lettuce
See ruclips.net/video/N_026158bhQ/видео.html
Like the ch in whiskies
There is no ch in ‘whiskies’
🤣
@@Petertronic The spell it wrong, because they can't do it the right way. In english there is no such pronunciation. This is the right pronunciation of "Kärcher": ruclips.net/video/V-VEP1tjY_E/видео.html
Clive, that's looks more useful now than it did with the covers on. Does it vibrate? 05:25 I can just imagine engineers having a laugh at this phallic looking device all the way through to the production line assembly personnel.
So did you fix it?
Tell us more about shaft diameters clive. Hur hur dur
Great video Clive, I had the same issue with one of these units, really interesting to see what it's probable demise was 😁
Great vid Clive. My problem is that my window cleaner cuts out when the blade attachment is snapped on. Can't find a fix anywhere. Any ideas?
I have taken a part the same model and it have exactly the same problem water inside and corrosion on the pcb (worst then yours)
The problem is the sealing in the motor shaft it is crappy
"Ka-niff" is probably the best way I've heard anyone pronounce "knife".
Do lithium's or nimh's suffer the same "black wire disease" that nicads do ?
my one did the same thing got water in it (was youseing mine in my truck to dry windows
in truck the windscreen would fog up )