Shredder Woes

umm...classic symptoms of...

...a dead starter capacitor on a squirrel cage mains induction motor

we infer it is a mains motor because 13 A

we infer it is induction because it 'worked in both directions'

And that means it started backwards...

Thanks NP

How do I test for this please?

I am not an electrician so would need four-year-old guidance!!!!

Phil

Search for "bosch 2000 garden shredder capacitor replacement" videos. Here's one:

Good news is that the capacitor just plugs in, and you don't need a soldering iron.

Yes. I was dismayed to see how easy it was on the CH boiler fuel pump. Needn't have got in a Man at all..

PS if you have a reasonably up to date multimeter it will have a 'measure capacitance' range and in my case about a 25% loss in capacitancce was enough to cause the sorts or effects the OP describes.

Its such a common problem that capacitors are in plentiful supply everywhere

If you ever need a new shredder get one of the "quiet" ones which have a slow-rotating cutting blade. I used to have one like the Bosch 2000 and got fed up having to take it apart every time it jammed (which was annoyingly frequent). I replaced it with a Titan 9w years ago and had no problems. If something gets stuck I just put it in reverse (takes about

Thanks for the recommendation Jeff.

I was gifted this one from a neighbour, no longer with us. So I want to keep it running if possible. Aside from not liking green material, it has performed pretty well. This is the first tear down and component failure, other issues/jams have been resolved by changing from forward to reverse.

Phil

I had a Bosch "Quiet" shredder for a number of years - the inability to cope with anything green or wet was always a bit of a limitation. Ok if you cut down something and then left it to dry out for a week, but not ideal for feeding in stuff as you trim it. I found as it aged and the helix lost its sharp edge it got more prone to clogging.

I know they have changed the design of these a few times, but the difficulty I often had with mine was having "cleared" the clog by running in reverse, it was very difficult to actually pull anything back through the feeder / hopper, so you would often end up just blocking it again on the same thing that you just reversed out.

Pleased to say the replacement capacitor has got my machine running again :)

Interestingly, I was waiting to shred the trimmings from an apple tree, between 1 and 6' long with leaves. In the time waiting for the capacitor to arrive it has rained (near Hull). So the trimmings were both green and damp with surface water. Only had one or two minor feed issues in about half an hour of constant use.

Agreed - fishing around the inlet chute can be v. frustrating.

I think at some point I attacked mine with a reciprocating saw and made the opening much bigger. Obviously less "safe" although that can me mitigated by not sticking you arm in the hole while it is running!