probably nobody will care, but I’m sad at the passing of my microwave. It was born in July of 1983, and died march 24th, 2026. I had bought it used in 1992 and it faithfully served me and my family for many years until today, when the keypad decided to partially quit working. Rest in peace Zappy, you will be missed.
I’m looking for a new keypad but unsurprisingly the parts for this ancient thing are no longer in stock so I doubt I’ll be able to resurrect it without some sort of miracle. I know it’s just an appliance but it still makes me sad to see it go.
There’s a way to rewire that with either a toggle switch, or using the door switches themselves (3 switches, by law).
Lol I was actually thinking of jury-rigging something together to trigger the dead buttons. I can still set the timer for anything under 9 minutes and 99 seconds, but the “ten minute” button and the “Engage” buttons are stone dead, even when checking the continuity with the tester. I’ve already got the panel out and will probably fiddle with it this weekend if I got time and see what I can do. I’m not letting my baby go without a fight…partially because I don’t want a new microwave, partially because I’m sentimental, and partially maybe I’m just a little bit mental.
Just be careful if you open it up, because I’ve heard microwaves have capacitors inside that can hold a lethal amount of electricity for months or years since the last time they were plugged in
Yup, the capacitor needs to be discharged or you’re in for a wild time lol.
No capacitor can hold electricity for even hours. That’s why we use batteries.
Back in my teens I took apart a small tv, and I took the circuit board out and threw it on a shelf in my closet. 6 months later I was cleaning out the closet and accidentally brushed against the board with my hand, and I can say with absolute certainty that they will indeed hold a charge for a very long time even if unplugged.
Please promise me you will never open up a power supply.
After months of not plugged in? please.
You are dangerously wrong.
Confidently incorrect, the best kind
Its totally doable, just be safe, and there better not be any foolish kids or dumb pets around. Such rigups need to only be handled by grown adults that know what risks might be…
i’d say don’t even let kids (or adults that don’t know better) see you opening up a microwave… don’t give them any ideas
Wire it up to an ESP32 and make it a smart microwave.
OMG OP!!! YOU GOTTA DO IT!!!
Already did yo, old news…
Wait, I’m not OP…
I’m going to try to do something at any rate. I really don’t want to give up on it.
unless the magnetron died, it’s not dead.
It seems to be the membrane switch (keypad). Still a perfectly good microwave if I can end up finding the right parts. I’m going to try and fix the membrane and see what happens from there, maybe I’ll get lucky and be able to salvage it.
The membrane buttons on my also Panasonic bread machine are dying after ten years. No more up, but at least it will cycle around through menus, so down button will suffice. I feel your pain and fear that soon too I will be in the same situation.
If you are able to fix the membrane switches please share!
I will be sure to update when I can. I’m hoping I’ll have time this weekend to mess with it but I still have to install hand rails for my neighbor and some other stuff, so we’ll see.
I’ve decided either way I’m not going to get rid of this thing just yet, even if I have to pick up another microwave in the meantime while I try to get it running again.
Really glad to hear that, invested at this point. Often just a good clean/little graphite will sort those membrane keys out, it’s just a graphite pad on a little rubber dome that bridges contacts on a pcb when you push it down
e: even if it’s goofy and hard to get apart, just swishing it in iso and letting it dry has a decent chance of working
F
We recently had to replace a $500 Electrolux microwave that was only 11 years old. We mistakenly thought that brand was supposed to be higher quality :(
My mom had a microwave that lasted for decades. I left home in '81, so it was bought prior to that. She was still using it when she passed in '16. That thing was huge. I remember that before my dad would sit down to the table to eat, he would open the door on it to just the right angle so he could continue watching the TV in it’s reflection. The only thing wrong with it was the top and bottom rows of red LED lights had quit shining which made it a little tricky to tell how much time was left on it, but that never bothered my mom. Also, they didn’t have turntables in them back then, so you had to frequently turn the food. Mom bought a wind-up platform that you’d sit the food on and you could hear it in there ticking away while it slowly turned your food. She had to give up about 2.5 inches of height for it, but that oven was so big it didn’t matter…
Really? In my experience Electrolux devices are really easy to repair and they supply parts for a very long time, was it you or a company that would carry out the repair?
I recently repaired an oven from Electeolux that was 20+ years.
But sorry to hear it had to go!
In my experience Electrolux devices are really easy to repair
In the 90s. New stuff is the same shit as everywhere else. Bosch washers are designed to fail.
The repair company we use told us it wasn’t worth fixing, and I believed them. To repair the microwave would have cost more than the new GE we replaced it with for <$220 on sale, which I installed myself. We also had an Electrolux double wall oven that kept burning out computer boards at about the 10 year mark. We had them fixed twice in 6 months, and when it went out the third time we wrote it off and replaced it with a Kitchenaid. One of the burners on the stove top is slow to heat up, but still usable. The dishwasher doesn’t seem to have a drying cycle anymore, but still cleans, tho we rarely use it. We did a big remodel back in 2011, and bought all Electrolux appliances and were quite proud of them, but alas… The first thing my wife did when the new kitchen was open was bake 6 trays of cookies at once :)
Expensive appliances just cost more.
We mistakenly thought that brand was supposed to be higher quality :(
What you can tell from a single instance of failure: Absolutely nothing.
It requires statistics to figure out if that’s a trend or a single instance.
that’s like, 10 confederacies. you should put up a statue dedicated to your microwave
Except this thing was actually useful and did some good for all those years lol!
There’s probably a ribbon cable from the membrane. You could try buzzing out the keys and making one or adapting an ordered standard part
My ex-wife threw away an Amana Radarange, which had a rotating reflector on the ceiling instead of a rotating plate, which I had bought in the 80’s, before I “got” her. When I came home, I went to the recycling center, and was able to retrieve it. I installed it in my home office to reheat stuff, but mainly for sentimental issues.
She had a habit of throwing stuff out because she decided I didn’t need it.
Good riddance (her, I mean).
Did you take her to the recycling center?
I had an ex-gf that liked to make things disappear that she didn’t like. Lost a few good shirts and a mannequin head because of her. (And a little bit of sanity, but that’s another story entirely.)
For that microwave to last that long is the testament to its durability. Actually, up until the 90s most appliances were built like tanks and so why some people hold onto them, partly they were IMHO easier to repair than supposedly “smart” appliances.
I also remember how Sony TVs during the 80s that were sold included detailed electronic schematic diagrams helpful to technicians.
My microwave has the schematics included too, it’s printed inside underneath the cover after you take it off. Handy to have.
I also have a microwave from the 80s, got it from my dad and he bought it when he was young.
I hope it never dies. I love the Star Trek-like touchpad and the beautiful CCFL display. 😍
It’s a Panasonic as well, I even have the ridiculous microwave cookbook somewhere, which contains a lot of really bad meal photos.
we had one from the early 90s or 80s also panasonic, it last 30+years, then we bought a newish one few years ago, and it died in 2 years. it was the famous overheating one, that looks likes it catching onfire it was 100$, and then it suddenly stopped working lol. the current one we spent a little more and it was working fine.
My mom still uses the Panasonic microwave that she bought in the '80s.
Meanwhile, I’ve been through four microwaves since 2000.
(I was wondering how it looks like.)
Also:
I would like to cook my lasagna for 7355608
8675309
Shut up, Jenny
2813308004
who?
The bomb has been planted
Warm a cup of milk with 58008.
Lol that must be a sibling! Mine was the 8050c but it looks exactly the same. The last pic isn’t the same one tho
Built the same month too… that ones serial # is 5697, mine is 4495 so It’s like the younger brother to mine.
Edit: Now I’m wondering what the “C” is for… is there a difference or maybe the C is because mine was for Canada??
Lol, yes, I did a double take too after seeing the date - but that one RIPed in 2022 as per post I stole the images from.
I wonder what the “C” variant had more or less or different to the non-C one. … Canada could be one explanation (so maybe different packaging, promos, or labels).
(The last pic was just an idea how to fix it - or just arduino it to Home Assistant! :))
You can often fix membrane switches using conductive paint. Link to example. $11.
The PCB will have a pattern of traces under each button that are interlocked kind of like fingers that don’t touch or two large pads near each other. The button of the membrane has a conductive patch that completes the circuit between those traces when pressed.
Usually the conductive patch is what fails due to wearing off. So you just paint on new patches on the memnrane. If the traces are worn, they can also be repaired with copper foil, solder, and careful work with an exacto knife. I’ve even seen aluminum foil and super glue used as a temporary fix on the membrane.
I would probably make this a an Old Man and the Sea project if it were mine. It’s just so old, it needs to keep going.
Thanks for the advice, I may try that yet I’ve got nothing to lose if I can’t find the parts and I really don’t want to see this thing go lol!
He served his time!!
My 40 year old heat pump died last week too
Ouch, that sounds a little pricey.
Yeah did the whole furnace too since it was 26 years old. Good news is I can use my cold climate heat pump down to -20 f! But I set it for 20 degrees f usually. Then my dishwasher broke 😆 its been a year
Then my dishwasher broke
Same thing happened to me, but it’s OK: mom’s gonna be moving into a nursing home soon anyway.
Eyoooo
I am barely older than this microwave and am now worried.
HEY!!! 42!!! I was born in Sept '83. Don’t you go piling on extra bonus years!!! My hair is grey enough as it is!
May 83 here, I was in the comments to say the same^^
Hey…sorry about your back pain. I mean, I know you didn’t specifically SAY you have back pain, but…c’mon. Let’s be real. You’re 4 months older than me…which means YOU’RE SO OLD!!! 4 MONTHS OLDER THAN ME??? Ugh, watch out everyone! AARP card carrying member coming through! On his way to Dennys for 4pm Dinner!
Eh, once my wife had a Sunday 4pm fondue craving (the Swiss melted cheese yeah) so we went to the local “auberge valaisanne”
It was packed with old farts from retirement homes going on an organized Sunday trip to the restaurant.
Also none of them ate cheese (fondue or raclette), they all went for a non Swiss meal, at a Swiss auberge…
I tried Dennys once when I was visiting the US, I don’t remember it so it probably wasn’t anything special.
“Dennys: We’re not that special.”
New marketing tagline. It’s a commercial based on random drunk people stumbling in at 3am, passing out in the booths, throwing up on the floor. Then an unamused waitress brings them pancakes, and says “Eat up” without a shred of hospitality. Almost as if it’s sarcasm. Then you see this group of early 20 year olds walk in, navigate through that scene, tip toe to a free booth, and still order. They knew what this was. Then it shows the food, and it’s as if the director just said “show some food on spinning plates” with no further direction. Also, this isn’t hollywood makeup fake food. All food you see in commercials is inedible. It’s mostly wax and other artificial things just made to look good for TV purposes, as that’s it’s only job. But instead, for the Dennys ad, they just actually make the food, which looks sloppy as hell. Plus it’s just thrown together by a “cook” in the back, whom I assure you does not give a FUCK about presentation or sanitation. It’s food, angrily thrown on a plate, as some teenager is pissed off by your existence. And that’s what this group of 4 early teens knew they were coming for…because it’s like $5.
Also May 83. Hello, birth month sibling.
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