Electric weed sweeper keeps stalling..

[scotcruz]

Hi folks,

I have an electric weed sweeper (looks like a strimmer but has a wire wheel at one end) which worked great when new.. recently I have noticed that it starts to stall under load..

Is it the brushes that are knackered or is it on its way out?

Please advise

 

[DiyNutJob]

Open it up and see.

 

[Burnerman]

It may be overheating, causing a thermal cut out to operate......are there any air vents at all?
John

 

[scotcruz]

Cheers folks.. it has vents and they are not clogged.. I'm suspecting the brushes need replacing..

Guess I would need to open it and see.. thought there was something common

 

[DiyNutJob]

There are motor diagnosis videos on youtube you can follow to check the windings.

 

[Burnerman]

Personally I'd split the machine, check the brushes and if they are OK I'd call it a day.
It's common for corded tools to fail for no apparent reason - under load or not - and that can be due to wire flexing fracture as the cable enters the handle.
Pretty sure that's not the issue here though!
John

 

[DiyNutJob]

It's common for corded tools to fail for no apparent reason

There is always an apparent reason when you look. But, life is a mystery if you just call it a day.

 

[Burnerman]

Fair enough, I'll rephrase that to 'no obviously apparent reason' and cable failures aren't always detectable without stripping them.
As for calling it a day, I'm perfectly able to test motor windings (without YouTube) but economically viable repairs are rare with tools like these.
John

 

[JohnD]

The mechanism might be worn or rusty, increasing the load by friction. This will be detectable by hot spots, especially at bearings.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

You're sure there aren't some weeds jammed up inside somewhere?