My 43 yr old microwave died today.
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.
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There's a way to rewire that with either a toggle switch, or using the door switches themselves (3 switches, by law).
https://repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_micfaq.html
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.
They absolutely can, that's why we often put resistors across so they slowly discharge.
The reason we don't use them as batteries (yet) is their very low energy density. We'd need kgs of capacitors to match a typical phones battery life.
what? capacitors discharge naturally, it's why there has to be a diode to prevent the flow back to the source of charge.
Sounds like you are talking about the entirety of a small circuit?
If the circuit connects both sides of the capacitor, then it will discharge it. But that means the circuit is discharging the capacitor.
If I am, say, putting a capacitor across neutral and live of an ac cord, then I am charging it. Then if I unplug the cord and connect the live and neutral wires, I would be discharging the capacitor.
But ... you don't connect the wires of your plug. They are floating. If one is held at 300V from the capacitor because that was the voltage at the moment I broke the connection, then it will remain at 300V relative to the other forever.
Floating is the default state of disconnection. If I rip the capacitor straight out of the running machine, it will be floating and will usually keep its charge for years. If your remaining circuit doesn't contain something that can drain the capacitor, it will stay undrained.
Please promise me you will never open up a power supply.
After months of not plugged in? please.
There are endless specific warnings about specifically opening microwaves, because this exact thinking is what has gotten hundreds to thousands of people killed over the years.
Specifically microwaves, specifically from feeling safe because they have been sitting in a trash pile or basement for months or years.
It happens comically often, to my knowledge it's the most common specific cause of death in diy.
That high voltage glass fracturing is gunning for number one nowadays, though I am pretty sure they're made with old microwave parts.
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.
If we do not get updates by Sunday noon, I am going to send you a strongly worded letter.
Lol I'll try and find the time by the weekend but no guarantees... I'm working on my neighbor's house fixing some stuff and installing hand rails for them this week.
O7
Radiate in peace o7
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 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.
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.
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.)
(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! :))
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.
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.
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.
I got a several hundred dollar safe for $35 because the keypad didn't work. The membrane had died and because of that someone cut out the battery pack.
$10 in repair paint and a new AA battery housing and she works perfectly.
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!
This old thing was an absolute champ. Between myself, my ex, and two kids who are now adults, it heated up a lot of stuff for us over the years. I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to outlive it or end up buried with it. I guess I know the answer to that now...
So it's a mechanical failure, the pads literally wore out.. What you'll be looking for is a membrane switch.. That model part number for your unit was ANE6479L80AP - you might be able to find a newer model that can be swapped in.
Can start by looking at current Panasonic models and see if there's one with a keypad layout that looks like yours, and try and go from there.. https://help.na.panasonic.com/microwave-multi-ovens/microwave-ovens/
Ya I looked on the Panasonic parts site earlier and they did have a listing for a similar one (I think) but it was not available.
incomparable to today's planned obsolescence junk that goes out after 2 yrs max
Yup, I used to laugh at my ex-mother-in-law because she was constantly blowing up microwaves every few years, while this thing was always rock solid.... until now.
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
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
Same thing happened to me, but it's OK: mom's gonna be moving into a nursing home soon anyway.
Eyoooo
I didn't notice it was in French at first and was like "That doesnt say July... It says Julliet. Is Romeo the father?"
Ah yes, the classic love story of Romeo, and his daughter Juliet.
New Mandela effect split universe detected: Oedipus and Jocasta is the doomed teenage love story while Juliet Tyrannus (better known by its Latin name Juliet Regina) involves Juliet marrying Romeo without either realizing he's her father.
Back to the Future would be slightly different in that universe. Marty fucks the shit out of his mom. Like....really goes to town, while Doc tries relentlessly to get him to stop sleeping with his mom so much. Because Doc knows, but can't tell Marty because something something time rip too many actioms changed, blah blah blah somehow Marty sleeping with his mom made
trumpBiff president. And now we're in the bad timeline.CPS: This, by his voice, should be a sex offender. Fetch me my clipboard, boy. What dares the perv... Come hither, cover’d with an antic face.
Lol ya I'm Canadian, everything here has french and english written on it.
F
f
If I don't find this story dull, what does it say about me?
You're an enlightened individual?
Let's go with that.
You work in shed 4 hours a night.
My toaster oven just died. It was so old all the numbers rubbed off and we just ran it off vibes. Guests were like, how long to make toast? And I just told them turn it till it feels right. I'm going to miss that toaster oven, it was the best.
What died? Dm me if you want to try fixing it. Super simple circuit usually, timer switch+element, thermostat if it's fancy. Guarantee we can keep it around sub-$20
I was born that month, it's 42...
Lol sorry, I guess technically it still had 4 months go go for its birthday.
o7
They don't make 'em like they used to.
Survivorship bias, although there's a flood of cheaper products in the market, certainly. :)
For sure. Apparently they still make the same line of microwaves as mine ("The Genius") although they're a lot different now and those ones cost an arm and a leg... they're not the typical cheap-assed ones you can get for a hundred bucks or less that'll only work for a year or two.
Although you never know - going on eight years on the last microwave we bought. I don't remember the exact price, but I think it was less than a hundred - full sized, 1100 watts. For sure less than $200. :)
I've just replaced a 34 year old microwave. I hate all the new models, I just want something simple that will last practically forever.
It started making an electrical ticking/buzzing noise. I tried contacting 2 microwave repair companies and both said they won't touch it.
I'm keeping it in storage just in case it magically fixes itself when the new one fails.
New microwaves fucking suck. I recently moved and bought a new one and this thing insists on beeping every time it does anything. Every button press, when turning on, when opening the door, closing the door... even 10mins after closing the door because that is when the display turns off. And it takes like 30 button presses and three menus to do something like adjust the wattage. AND you can't turn down the volume on any of the beeps. It's driving me absolutely crazy. My husband promised to open it up and solder out the beeping part, but he's got a busy schedule so idk when he'll get to it 🥲
I don't recommend opening it unless you really know what you're doing and have the safety equipment. Microwaves and CRT monitors are the two things that can kill instantly if you touch the wrong part.
And computer power supply units. If you don't discharge the capacitors before you fiddle with them you're in for a shocking experience at best.
Commercial grade microwaves don't suck. "But those are expensive" Yeah well so were old microwaves. There are some things that really no longer have a "buy it for life" version. But most equipment professionals use and rely on are still solid, you just need to see them as an investment.
I refuse to own a microwave that doesn't have a setting to mute all sounds. When we replaced our previous microwave, it turns out it didn't have that setting and I returned it within days. Fuck those beeps.
That doesn't sound very profitable, economical even.
You are not again being a naughty uncapitalist hippy, are you?
Won't you think of the poor elites??
Just destroy the planet a little, it will be worth it for the profits (of others)!
It sounds like you might have an unhealthy relationship with change and time. The problems will only pile up until you address that. Introspection on such things takes a lot of hard work and difficult feelings.
42
A microwave isn't a person, so here I am more with OP in rounding instead of cutting decimals.
Then why include the month?
I am barely older than this microwave and am now worried.
From the peak period of Japanese high quality electronics production I guess.
お疲れ様でした!
I had an LG microwave I had for ~5 years die.
Looked into the warranty info.
Only the ...... Magnatron or whatever was under warranty for 10 years.
But the hoops to jump through to get service led me to just buying a new one at the store instead.
Don't make em like they used to.
Least the new ones popcorn button works.
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!
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.
My mom still uses the Panasonic microwave that she bought in the '80s.
Meanwhile, I've been through four microwaves since 2000.
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.
Rebuild the keypad with a custom PCB and some tactile buttons
mechanical keyboard switches on a microwave would be wild
It would be awesome and totally doable!
Did you try slapping it on the side?
Actually yes lol! You haven't ever honestly tried to fix something until you give it a little percussive maintenance.
I call it percussive calibration, but yeah, if the thing is going to get tossed anyway, sometimes a well-placed bang will keep it going a little bit longer.
That's what I was hoping for, but I guess I'm not lucky enough for that.
It's always worth a try. It was the classic temporary repair for old CRT TVs, until that fateful day when you give it a whack, and the terrible picture just reduces to a single line across the screen, and everybody goes, "Uh-oh."
I fixed many engines with the Italian Tuneup.
Well, fix it.
I'm going to try, nothing to lose at this point.
Phew, it's just about a Microwave, I thought I made someone Luigi someone else.
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
I have a NN-7506
Still going strong.
Not sure it the production date is 87, production run 5. Or (7)8, run 7005.
Either way it is old and still good
I have a national as well roughly the same specs and date of manufacture. I’m really scared it’ll go one day, can’t imagine my kitchen without it.
National is Panasonic.
Pretty inefficient, 1400W in for 700W out..... But very reliable
What is the efficiency of yours?
50%, 700/1400
Keypad? I knew this guy who had a microwave with a mechanical dial timer.
This one was fancy for its time. Even came with a little temperature sensor thing you could stick in your food but I lost that in a move years back.
Mine is around 35y old, got it from my parents who don't use a microwave. Still going strong.
May yours live longer than mine did. I love old stuff that just keeps going, it's so satisfying to have things you can rely on without having to buy new every few years.
My Mom refused to have a microwave until the stove broke one Thanksgiving.
So my dad brought over the turkey in the morning, and I put it in my oven to cook. They had made most of the sides the day before, and they just needed heating up, so I sent him home with the microwave. The stove top still worked, so my Mom could make anything that required that, like the gravy.
I showed up with the turkey, and everything heated up easily in the microwave, and my mom was hooked. She had a microwave within a few days.
Then we went through that period where she cooked EVERYTHING in the microwave, even though the stove got repaired. I'd go over there for Sunday dinner, and literally everything was cooked in the microwave, including whatever meat there was.
"I cooked EVERYTHING in the microwave!"
"Yeah, Mom, I can tell. You know, your stove still works, you don't have to cook EVERYTHING in the microwave, right?"
Meat in the microwave. People need to stop.
FWIW, I replaced a 1988 microwave in 2008. The difference in performance was incredible. It no longer takes 5+ minutes to boil a cup of water. I heartily recommend a new microwave. Mine is a Sharp because I wanted the sensor reheat feature. I love it. Almost 20 years, and still great.
Boiling water in a microwave is such a US thing. Must really suck to not have 230V lines, cos with an electric kettle you can boil water pretty quickly.
This one wasn't the most powerful, but it didn't ever take nearly that long to heat a cup of water. Reheating coffee I usually only had to stick it in there for a minute or up to two if I wanted it scalding hot from stone cold.
I got a fancy one from a client worried about the RF waves it was giving off and it still takes 2 minutes to heat up a cup of coffee.
o7
43 years is legendary—Zappy lived a full, honorable life 🫡
Nooooo rip, Zappy did a good job
Hey, fucker. I'm still only 42 :-(
Sadly your next one will be but a child when it dies.
Sorry for your loss. It wasn't just good, it was the best
Must be a big, heavy old box. Nice longevity. Now you can buy one for a fraction of what you originally paid, even though they should be more expensive like everything else.
Ya I'd hate to drop this thing on my foot. It probably would have been fine but my foot would have shattered like a plate glass window.
The furnace in my house dates to 1987. It just survived another cold winter. My plumber says a new one would use about half as much gas and that parts are no longer available for the old one. I wish I knew whether to believe him or not.
Gas furnaces from 1987 when new could convert 75-80% of the chemical energy in gas into heat within your house. They lose some efficiency over time, but not that much - I would expect it's still getting 70-75% of the chemical energy converted into heat within your house.
The maximum efficiency available today is around 96% on the same metric. If you need 100 units of heat today, you are burning 133-143 units of gas. With the best possible furnace efficiency today, you would only need to burn 104 units of gas, which is 22-28% less - certainly not "about half".
There are multiple special requirements for the best possible efficiency, and they are more expensive, both to purchase and to install. You might be able to save money on bills, depending on gas rates in your area, and the total cost to purchase and install a high efficiency furnace. I can't really answer that without a lot more information.
As for parts availability, there should be a model number and a manufacturer indicated on it somewhere. These days, most things service professionals have access to are also listed on the internet for sale. That one is easier to convincingly check.
Yeah, I'm inclined to think parts are available but my plumber would never bother looking for them. The guy I was going to rent the house to said he had tons of spare parts for my kind of furnaces and I was prepared to give him a break on rent if he kept it going. Unfortunately I didn't get the house renovated in time for him to move in (and I'm still not done) so I can't really expect him to do anything for me.
Newer ones can be a lot more efficient, but the high efficiency ones aren't just drop-in replacements either because they require additional piping to the outdoors which can be a big issue depending on where in your house the furnace is located.
Is the heat exchanger still intact? No cracks? If it's cracked get rid of it before the carbon monoxide gets you. We went with a heat pump and will not return to a gas furnace.
No cracks in the heat exchanger. I have a CO detector mounted right by it in the basement (for whatever that's worth).
Ask another HVAC company about your options and benefits... See if they say similar things... Most likely given that it's almost 40 years old vs The efficiency improvements are probably across the board on new models... And see if the numbers match
Don't trust the HVAC guy, you know, who wants to sell more HVAC
But do trust another random HVAC guy who wants to, in fact, sell more HVAC
???
Bruh everyone wants to make money selling you shit. They only person who will want you to buy nothing is you.
I get where you're coming from, but it's kinda isolationist and sad. Distrust profit motive, but try to trust people when you can. I don't want to make money selling this guy shit, for one :)
I can see how it could come off like that. I mean I generally trust the HVAC man's opinion on everything except whether I should buy HVAC services.
Personally I advocate for self-education. It might have been difficult to discover the refrigeration cycle, and invent the furnace but it won't take you more than a few hours to learn enough to check your own equipment. Or how to check the brakes on your car. How to find a leak.
It's quite liberating to be able to tell that they're full of shit. That isn't your Car's Air filter, or that your AC needs a capacitor not a $15,000 full replacement but that you'll be buying it from someone else.
Knowledge is power ✊
I care. My condolences for your loss.
In my family we literally have a refrigerator that has been passed down 2 generations. First it was my grandmothers, then it was my dad's and now it's mine.
The thing is a tank, clean it out and do preventative maintenance every so often and it should live longer then me.
Refrigerators that old are one of the few appliances that pay for themselves when you replace them because of the efficiency gains.
To an extent. But when you need to buy 2 modern fridges to run 30 years, the math is still advantageous but it's a lot closer over time.
Oh no! My Panasonic microwave is 10 years younger, i hope it lasts as long, because it is just the best.
Panasonic Made the best microwave ovens
Is it the electronics that are giving out, or the keypad itself that is worn down? (I wonder if you could simply hack a new keypad with some switches and perfboard...)
It seems to be the keypad, or more importantly the membrane switch behind the keys that makes it work.
You probably could hack in a different one but that would be a pretty messy job, and wouldn't fit well.
Maybe not, honestly you could look into some parts suppliers, I doubt you'd find the exact same one, bit you could probably fit the same form, presuming it's numbers and not speciality buttons..digikey is one I've used in the past
The cyberpunk in me wants to see a usb numpad drywall screwed to your 80s microwave real bad
Made in Japan! RIP Zappy.
Haha thanks, my GF had her 43rd birthday as well on the 24th, so at least she beat a Japanese mini nuke.
Yeah, they sure don't make 'em like they used to. My mother's kitchen had a 1984 JCPenney branded microwave (with no turntable) that worked right up until 2024, the original light bulb inside dying sometime in the 2010s.
On the one hand, I remember hating it because it didn't heat evenly, on the other, it was certainly built like a shit brickhouse if it lasted forty years.
This one had a turntable so it did a pretty good job, even though it wasn't the most powerful thing out there. I'm really hoping I can find the part I need so it doesn't end up in a landfill, it deserves better than that.
RIP to your microwave.
I have a 10-ish Microwave now (after 30+ year old Amana). A Sharp. Pretty nice, with programs. The enamel is starting to go. Pisses me off. Components I can replace, and parts are available, but it's the frame that is dying, and I doubt they sell spares.
All things end, such is life. It's like the river carries water; only when it flows downhill it makes space for new rain.
RIP en paix ton microonde big
Just to be sure, have you tried unplugging it, waiting 30 seconds, and plugging it back in?
Ya, that was one of the first things I tried... I was hoping it would reset and start going again to no avail.
I've got it apart now, but this weekend if I have time to mess with it I'm going to plug everything back in and try it again. Maybe it just needs a little vacation lol!
So, I water damaged a laptop years ago, and while i didn't kill it, the repair shop said it was likely some corrosion would eventually cause problems and it could break in the future without notice, and also my monitor had a damaged area in the bottom corner about the size of a credit card. You could see things there, but the color was really distorted.
I needed a solid and reliable laptop for work as there was real time stuff it was used for where failure would be catastrophic so I got another one, but I still used the broken one for various things.
Well, to my surprise, like 5 years later (after repeated low but yearly use), I turn it on to test some software on the older operating system, and the fucking monitor is perfect, no longer distorted.
Clearly it just needed a vacation!
I work in IT and deal with people spilling shit on their laptops all the time. This is precisely why I tell them that im not saying their shit is broken, Im saying they cant depend on it. Right now it might seem fine. Once whatever drop of liquid manages to corrode whatever random trace enough to break the connection, it wont. That day could be tomorrow, that day could be 10 years from now, or even never!
But the important takeaway from the conversation isnt that the laptop is broken, the key takeaway is when it stops working right, IM NOT PUTTING TIME INTO FIXING IT. Replace it, or dont...but dont call me on that day because the answer then is going to be the same as now...replace it. If you dont want to replace, goto 10. Thank you, have a nice day.
That being said, I'll use those things for noncritical shit all day long. I dont care if it shits the bed...I just grab another piece of shit off the shelf and make that the new bed shifter. But my plex server taking a dump is not the same as your CAD workstation taking a dump mid project, obviously.
I like taking mine on vacations where I dont need a reliable machine and if it does finally break, or gets stolen, im less fussed about it.
Perfect use case! Well, as long as the battery isnt compromised, I aint trying to die in a flaming plane crash lmao
I have so much random eWaste built up myself that Im like Oprah over here..."You get an old crappy laptop, you get an old crappy laptop! If it breaks who cares, I have plenty more where those came from, but dont use it for your tax documents because I will not be responsible" lol
Man, my vacation would be fucking ruined if my laptop conked out on me.
What do you need your laptop for while on a trip that you couldn't manage on your phone if you had to?
Ironically enough, I write smartphone apps on my vacations. Maybe you can do that shit practically on smartphones now, but I've never seen it.
Sometimes iffy electronics will work if you keep them cold. You might try keeping the microwave in a chest freezer—just run a fairly flat extension cord in.
Uh, so it turns out this is one way people die horrible deaths. Microwaves are pretty dangerous contraptions.
The danger is you need to discharge the capacitor or you will get a shock.
You should get a 4-in-1 microwave/airfryer/convection-oven/broiler. I have one and I have not looked back.
I bet that if you hit it strong enough, it will start working again.
I did try percussive maintenance before I started taking it apart. Didn't work on the microwave but I might have done something to my hand.
It is repairable, but you would need to use non standard parts to replace the magnetron.
Only 43 years young, God takes them away too early );
I had one about that old that died a couple years back.
What part of the keypad broke? Is it fixable with a soldering iron and/or a 3d printer?
looks to be the membrane switch. One person commented that I 'MIGHT' be able to fix it with some conductive paint so I will probably end up giving that a try if I can't find a replacement. Nothing to lose trying at this point.
remember PYREX, they went cheap and using soda lime glass laminated instead of borosilicate. pyrex vs PYREX, its still being sold in the EU. there are borosilicate glassware from other brands, but none of them seem to match Pyrex, just better than the soda lime variants.
OXO is just very overpriced borosilicate, if you are interested probably the closest to PYREX. i did seem some pyrex lunch containers are borosilicate?
I could've gone to school with your microwave. RIP