Fisher Paykel Washer Mainboard Fault

[admin]

Well my “smart drive” fisherpaykel washing machine has failed for the 3RD time and is only 4 years old ! This time its the main board which i am told is not uncommon for these machines of this YOUNG age. I purchased a new main board from FP themselves and found apon installation which is very easy especially for someone with electical experience that it would “boot up” but will not perform any wash cycles. Instead it beebs and flashers the spin light and the last wash light. I”m assumming this is some sort of code and also assume since it is a brand new board it needs some sort of programming using the control panel buttons. FP said they could not help and to call a technician even though they had no problem selling me the board in the 1st place. Could some body please tell me what I have to do to get this new board running.

[Penguin45]

Wooly,
As far as I can tell, this equates to error code 9 – “Size switch error” To quote the manual

“Action.
If the display module has just been inserted into a console housing, then check that the two size switch plungers accurately locate onto the console housing. If this fault has appeared during normal operation of the machine, check the size switch or deplace display module.

If the motor control module has been changed from one size machine to another, the the size switch settings in the memory will have to be reset. This can be done by entering and exiting the Option Adjustment mode. Push and hold “START/PAUSE”, then push power button.”

Good luck, you now know as much as I do.

Regards,
Penguin45.

[admin]

Re: Fisher Paykel Washer Mainboard Fault

I totally agree with you that it is not umcommon for these machines of this YOUNG age. I have experienced the similar situation. my “smart drive” fisherpaykel washing machine (GW609) has failed to work and is only 5 years old !
The cold water vale is failed to work and I found the circuit of the vale was broken. It affected the whole machine and the machine dosn’t work at all! Could anyone please tell me how I can find ou the controllor board is working or not. It costs AD$200! I need to be careful! I want to use the hot water vale as cold water vale, and I always use cold water only anyway. Is it possible?

[Penguin45]

Sorry Wing, ain’t got the answer to this one. Do you mean the valve has failed (should read about 3.5-4kohms) or the supply to the valve has failed? You can rig the machine to cold (or hot) fill only by splitting the water feed with a “Y” connector, although rinsing in hot water will really set the creases into your laundry.

IIRC, the hot valve is operated by a transistor/capacitor array (along with other low current functions), so if you are electronically mind you could trace the wiring and circuitry back and renew as required.

The valve itself operates at mains voltage, so be very careful indeed or get some pro help.

Sorry I can’t be more specific, but we see very few of these machines over here.

Regards,
Penguin45.

[Wing]

Re: Fisher Paykel Washer Mainboard Fault

Thank you for your quick response, Penguin45.
My Smart Drive washer (GW609) is not working again! Could anyone here help me?
At the first, the cold water valve did not work. Then I found it was the circuit was broken by measuring it with a meter. Because both the hot and cold water valves are same– they are same part number, I swaped the water taps and the control connections of the cold and hot water and set the machine for cold water only. That means the cold water control circuit contrls the good valve. It seems working!
After 3 wash cycle that worked perfectly, there was another problem! The washing machine didn’t spin! Even when I set the wash cycle at the end which is spin only, the machine only spinned for about 3 seconds, then stop. Then spinned another 3 seconds, then stopped again. It never get up to the speed! After a few minutes, it completely stopped and stat to beep– a single beep every second.
Could any person please tell me how I can find out what is wrong. Is the control board or the spin motor failed? I would like to find out how to diagnose from the control pad. Many thanks!
I have got into the diag mode by pressing power botton to turn on the power with the temperature down botton was pressed and held. But I don’t know the code’s meaning. Could any person please give me a help. Thanks. Where I can find the Techsheet?

[Penguin45]

Wing,
Possibly to do with water level control? It won’t fill if it thinks it’s already full, by the same token it won’t spin if it thinks it’s full. System works on air pressure, check for blockages and switch operation. I do have some of the binary code sheets; if you can tell me which lights are on I may be able to advise further.

Unplug before sticking fingers in……..

Regards,
Penguin45.

[admin]

Re: Fisher Paykel Washer Mainboard Fault

Thank you Penguin45.

My washer’s model is similar as GWL09. Do you have any tech sheet that can explain the diagnostic code? I have recorded the codes below, would you please able to decode them? Thank you!

Press and hold the button of “Temperature Down”. Then press the “Power” key to turn on and get into the diagnostic mode.

The following binary codes show the different levels of the spin speed—from high (all 4 lights lighted- 1111) to low (all 4 lights blacked out- 0000):

0010 1010

0001 1011

0011 0010

0001 0010 Flashed with 0001 0001 in turn

1111 1111

0000 0100

1000 0101

0001 1000 Flashed with 0001 0111 in turn

0000 0001

0000 0100

1000 0101

0000 0010

0011 0010

0000 0000 Flashed with 0000 0001 in turn

0001 0010 Flashed with 0001 0001 in turn

0000 0000

[Penguin45]

Re: Fisher Paykel Washer Mainboard Fault

You’re not going to like this very much, but your control board has gone. The various codes indicate temperature control failure, water level contol failure and motor control failure and all have the subtext “Contol board failure” – except 0000 0001, which is specifically a board failure. 🙁

Regards,
Penguin45.

[pwhit]

Re: Fisher Paykel Washer Mainboard Fault

Fisher & Paykel GW708U

All five green Wash lights flash when powered on.

Second wash light flashes when Power button depressed. Remaining progress lights on.

“Diagnostic mode” codes as per previus post are

0001 0100
0000 0000
0000 0000
0000 0001

1111 1111
0000 0000
0000 0000
0001 1100

0000 0001
0000 0000
0000 0000
0000 0100

0000 0000
0000 0000
0000 0000
0000 0000

Both water valves, out of balance and pump work in diagnostic mode.

Hope you can help. Thanks

[pwhit]

Re: Fisher Paykel Washer Mainboard Fault

Correction to previous post

Spin light (0000 0001) flashes when power button pressed. Faulty control board?

Thanks again

[Penguin45]

0000 0001 is specifically a board failure (self diagnosing).

We are in the process of tabulating the fault codes for these appliances into some sort of accessible format to ease the diagnostic process.

Regards,
Penguin45.

[pwhit]

Re: Fisher Paykel Washer Mainboard Fault

Thanks Penguin45

Do the error codes give you enough information to tell if any aspect of the washing machine caused the contoller to fail? If I am reasonably confident I can simply replace the board I will do so. However, if I add the cost of a service call it is probably not economically worthwhile. (Environmentally, a disaster)

Neither side of the board has any visible signs of damage.

Regards
pwhit

[Penguin45]

Re: Fisher Paykel Washer Mainboard Fault

Hi Pwhit,
No, unfortunately the manuals just give the bare facts. The limited experience I have with these machines suggests that water can weep from the shaft seal into the motor windings (big bang, everything blew, obvious damage to control board) and several like yours – no obvious external damage, so some sort of component failure on the board itself. Triac failure (the part that actually regulates speed control to the motor) is a separate fault code, so the implication is a logic fault to the processor itself.

Regards,
Penguin45.

[admin]

pwhit, don’t give up on your board until you check the out of balance switch. On my gwl10 it is under the main controller. I have been “nursing” mine along for the last few months. A repair man tried to tell me that my board was fried and would cost $300us to replace. Inside the control cover I found the “rosetta stone” of diagnostic codes and discovered that
00101 011 means out of balance switch fault. The OOB can come out of it’s harness/clips or (what mine is doing) become stuck in an “permanently” activated/or pressed position. I can usually fiddle with it and it will function again. Now I need to find a new switch before this one fails for good.

[pwhit]

Re: Fisher Paykel Washer Mainboard Fault

Thanks Lisa B, actually I replaced he micro switch in the OOB assembly. I just happened to have one, but they are about $4AUD, it was full of corrosion.
Would you believe it. The day the repair guy arrived it worked fine but not again since! He said there were no faults shown in diagnostic mode.
In various modes I can make the machine fill with hot and cold, spin and pump.
Sometimes when machine plugged in it will show normal lights and sound but won’t start cycle. From here, only response from “Advance” or “Permanent Press” buttons. Either result in Permanent Press and Spin LEDs flashing with cold low and hold LED’s on. It is from here I can make machine spin with start button.
Often though, all wash LEDs flash.
None of this is getting the clothes clean. I have been without washer for weeks now. Do I simply need information (correct sequence of buttons), a new control board or a new mehanical washing machine where such information cannot be kept secret from the consumer. This is the only gripe I have with the machine. I would prefere it to gearboxes etc if the information were available. According to Penguin45 only the bare facts in repair manual. What then does “Smart Care” mean?
I also wonder how consistent are the button and LED cominations between models.

Thanks for help

pwhit

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