ResMed S8 repair for no power

[SuperSleeper]

Got this email from a kind person who'd like to share his solution for a particular power issue with his ResMed S8 machine... hopefully it will help someone:

I have two machines. The older S8 I only use for travel and camping. I use the 12 VDC plug when camping. I took the S8 on a trip after not using it for several months. Plugged it in to 110 v and nothing happened. I purchased a special screw driver T10S-50mm VTQTT10 to take the machine apart when all I should have done was remove the top cover to remove the switch pad. To make a long story short the only repair necessary was to clean the switch pad and board contacts with alcohol and now it works fine. Not being able to run the machine on a simulator is a concern.

I hope this info will help someone

[srlevine1]

Got this email from a kind person who'd like to share his solution for a particular power issue with his ResMed S8 machine... hopefully it will help someone:

Not being able to run the machine on a simulator is a concern.

Does anyone know what the author means by "Simulator?"

[PaytonA]

Since I have an S8 I thought that I would know the answer to your question. NOT. I have no idea. Sorry.

Best Regards,

PaytonA

[big_dave]

I'll bet that "simulator" was mangled by autocorrect.

The keypad has open-contact switches that can be affected by corrosion. Supplier #1's forum has a long-running thread discussing how to fix the problem. Search for "how to fix on/off button resmed s8 autoset spirit 11".

[10bigal10]

Search for "how to fix on/off button resmed s8 autoset spirit 11".

Found it. Here's the info to repair it:

Hi , i have a resmed autoset s8 spirit 2. i have had this machine for 4 years now and it hasn’t missed a beat, well nearly hasn’t missed a beat.

about 12 months ago i started having a problem with the on/off switch. some nights it would take me 5 minutes of continually pressing the on/off switch to get it to kick in, This was very frustrating especially if it was a late night and i was tired. the last thing i needed was trying to coax my machine into taking part in my nightly sleep routine.

Eventually after a month or so i went into a cpap shop and asked whether i could buy a replacement switch, i was asked what the problem was and was told that this particular machine had this as a common problem. Ok then sell me the switch and i will be on my way, i will fit it myself.

The girl on the front desk told me that they couldn’t sell me a a switch and that i would have to bring the machine in and they would send it away to be fixed, They would then hire a machine out to me for the two weeks it was going to fix the fault in my machine, the approximate quote to fix my machine was going to be around $250. Plus a rental fee for two weeks for their rental machine.

I declined the offer, mainly because of their attitude , it was obvious they wanted to make some money out of the deal, in fact for the easy fix i did it was a ridiculous amount of money, would have cost me with the fix and hire of their machine it would have been $300.

So what was the problem with the switch, i pulled the on /off button/cover up and out of the machine,it just pulls out with a little bit of force, it isn’t held in by anything except a tight fit and a rubber surround around the cap. On the underside of the cap are two tiny pieces of carbon about the size of a match head, with constant use the carbon tips are gradually worn out of shape and when the button is pressed they don’t make proper contact on the small circuit terminals under the switch, What i did was borrow my wife’s nail file, i think its called an emery board, looks like a nail file only its made from cardboard with a rough face. I just ran the emery board across the two small carbon tips about 20 times approx,lightly, the carbon is fairly soft so there is no need to really get stuck into it.

after i smoothed off the carbon tips i just pushed the cap back onto the switch, then turned the machine back on, pressed the button once and away it went, i have had it now fixed for a week and it has worked perfect every time, such a relief to be able to hit the button and away it goes, also make sure you disconnect your machine from the power socket before you start playing with it.
fergi

i am not sure wd40 is ideal but a electrical contact cleaner is probably better as the solution evaporates away better, however i tried the electrical contact cleaner and it made no difference, then i pulled the cap off the switch and found the two tiny carbon contacts, i think the problem here as to why the electrical cleaner wont work is the fact the carbon contacts have worn uneven and needed to be resurfaced gently to make them flat again on the contact end, further to what i discussed in my previous thread re sanding the carbon contacts i notice that mine have not got a lot of length left in the carbon contacts, i am going to try using a tiny drill to drill out the carbon and then glue in some new carbon contacts that i will be making from the inside of a 1.5 volt ever ready battery, i haven’t pulled a battery apart for a few years but i remember about 20 years ago pulling a battery apart and it had a small carbon rod inside which i managed to fit into my electric drill that needed new brushes.

anyway i will see what happens.