broken lawn mower

[Stephen]

Don't worry, I wasn't still working on it at 9pm! I was unsure at first because I could not see how to remove the mower cover and I worried it was a disposable sealed unit with no "user serviceable parts inside". It looked as though it was held together with plastic rivets but I eventually found some screws in the wheel arches.

I had already looked at CPC but my capacitor had two leads molded into it, that ran to a connector block on the side of the motor. The block seemed quite loose and I didn't want to pull the wires with any force for fear of breaking the internal connections inside the motor. Fortunately the wire did pull out and had a flat, not fault (spell checker mistake), connector. From the CPC side it would appear they are called "blade" connectors. I will try and re-use mine.

The capacitor has arrived today but has a brown wire and a blue wire. I guess it's electrolytic? The old cap had two white wires and there are no markings on the connector. Which one should I connect where or doesn't it matter (or will it make the motor run backwards)?

Thanks again for all your help, you have saved me a fortune I'm sure.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Doesn't matter which way around, and that won't change the direction. Providing it's marked VAC, it's not an electrolytic.

[Stephen]

My mistake. I saw that it had a blue and brown wire and being in the microFarad region and being cylindrical in shape I guessed it was electrolytic, though I did wonder how that would work with AC. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

I removed the old cap and this is what it said: C 450V 25/85/21 B 400V 25/85/21

The new cap says:

-25/85/21

I don't know what this means but I wondered whether the -25 to 85 is the working temperature range in Celcius?

The new one also says: B 425V 10000h/cl C 475V 3000h/cl

I'm guessing it is Volts and hours but what is a cl?

I'm faced with one final problem. I looked at terminal on CPC when I ordered the capacitor and I was bewildered, so I had hoped to recycle the old ones. Unfortunately I cannot remove the old wire because it is crimped to the terminal. I realise now that I should have joined to the old wire only I cut the wire off at the terminal so do not have anything to connect to!

The terminal is called a blade or a tab depending on the web site but I cannot find any the right size. The connector is 29mm long in total, with the blade or tab being 16mm long and just over 6mm (6.4mm) wide and about 0.7mm thick.

Does anyone know what these are called or where I can get a pair?

Thanks, Stephen.

[Dave Liquorice]

Probably standard 1/4" blades (male, flat) or the female for a blade with the edges rolled around. Halfords sell 'em or you could just solder the wires to the original connectors or carefully uncrimp them, though getting a decent connection after uncrimping without soldering is tricky.

[Stephen]

I had hoped to uncrimp and re-use the originals but I could not open them. How are you supposed to do that?

I looked at RS, CPC, Maplin but they didn't have what I was looking for. What I need is slightly longer than the common-size blade terminal that they all sell.

It is very difficult to see what I would be buying on these websites as they tend to use a generic photo rather than a close-up photo of the specific item. I did try to read some of the RS datasheets but they were nothing more than sketches and the measurements were in inches!

I did the sensible thing and went for a walk around some "real" shops where I could hold the crimps in my hands. I had no joy with a number of electrical shops nor car shops until I went to Halfords who suggested a hidden auto electric shop that I had never heard of before.

It was like a trade counter so I couldn't see what else they sold but they went into a drawer and magically produced what I needed. I've never crimped before and didn't do a very good job of it but I soldered it as well, so the solder did the trick even if the crimping did not.

Where can I learn more about how to crimp properly and what tool do you recommend?

Thank you all once again for all your help. The mower is back to normal again and it cost less than £5. You have been a fantastic help. Thank you.

[John Rumm]

For insulated crimps there is not much to it:

uninsulated type sometimes require a little more care to fold the claws round the wire.

[The Medway Handyman]

[Stephen]

crimps, so I'll have to wait for part two.

[John Rumm]

Well thank you... but that one has been there for ages!