Sweet mother of god. The sheer number of different skills marshalled to reverse engineer that little board is inhuman. Huge respect to the guy for all that work and the patience he had to constantly push through every failure.
what we miss is a universal control computer to control those washing machines. It is very often that part that breaks and that is "so expensive that you'd better replace the whole machine".
I love reverse engineering efforts, and like to partake myself from time to time, so I'm very happy to see this; but, for a fraction of an infra-red-wave period I thought Miele had decided to be cool and open source some diagnostic tools for everyone to benefit.
If I'm not mistaken, they were the first (and only?) to open source 3d models for vacuum cleaner accessories.
This reminds me of my own troubles with my AEG washing machine.
Probably, the most important lesson (for someone who wants to fix their washing machine ASAP) that I learned from that was that there are non-userserviceable error codes and you need to perform an undocumented procedure on your machine to get those codes. I wrote about it in more detail here: https://andri.yngvason.is/repairing-the-washing-machine.html
I would have loved to have an open source diagnostics dongle for my AEG. Maybe next time I'll try and make one. :)
When after some time the water pump on my 2014 Miele dishwasher gave up the ghost, I had a look at their parts catalogue. I had mixed feelings.
On one hand, they still produce parts for things they sold in 2008, maybe even earlier, I was looking for a pump. Very repair-friendly, very anti-ewaste. Kudos.
On the other hand, for the price they have of that pump and labor, I could buy a perfectly serviceable new midrange Bosch thing. Which I, after a short inner struggle, did. After all, the pump may have been the tip of an iceberg of more costly repairs. It's a real Apple or Porsche of home appliances — it costs a lot when you buy it, and then it keeps costing you later.
But maybe this knowledge is going to be handy with the Miele fridge I still have...
Cautionary tale from here in UK. We had a Neff (same company as Bosch and Siemens) dishwasher which we used heavily for 10 yrs then it started to leak because they'd used plastic in the base which got warped with heat. So, ditched a perfectly running machine due to a design flaw. Replaced it with a Miele in the hope that'd be better. So got a nice-and-simple base model, about £750 I think (as opposed to £400ish you can pay for another Neff). Turns out its made in Czech, not Germany. Although apparently Germans are cynical about their own factories these days, and it may be same quality. So far, it has a design fault that the drain detector is over sensitive. If bits of food fall on the base it interpets that as its still got water in and perpetually keeps trying to drain unless you pour a jug of water in to disperse food bits. Also depending how you close the door sometimes it seems to not engage, have to open and re-shut to make it work. One of the solenoids somewhere sounds a little rattly / not totally healthy, but that may be nothing. Quality of cleaning, and ease of stacking, appears less good than the Neff was. Suffice to say, I reserve judgement on whether paying extra for a Miele is worth it. They claim they're good for 20 yrs but if you read the small print that's at only 5 runs a week or something , not every day. So it may not actually be much better than the Neff in the end. But the Neffs now look cheaper and tackier than the ones from 10 yrs ago. Not an easy decision. Our best appliance purchase ever was a "Tesco value" microwave, which is Chinese cr*p that's still running fine almost 20 yrs later. ;) Good luck with your purchase ;)
Miele... Expensive, works great (when it does), but absolute shit customer service in the US.
One of my largest local retailers cut back on Miele in general, they had a high return rate. Miele makes a number of great products, but their customer service is so so so so so bad. Stuff like this is great to see.
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[ 1.9 ms ] story [ 34.2 ms ] threadhttps://medusalix.github.io/posts/miele-interface/
Stellar Work!
I love reverse engineering efforts, and like to partake myself from time to time, so I'm very happy to see this; but, for a fraction of an infra-red-wave period I thought Miele had decided to be cool and open source some diagnostic tools for everyone to benefit.
If I'm not mistaken, they were the first (and only?) to open source 3d models for vacuum cleaner accessories.
Probably, the most important lesson (for someone who wants to fix their washing machine ASAP) that I learned from that was that there are non-userserviceable error codes and you need to perform an undocumented procedure on your machine to get those codes. I wrote about it in more detail here: https://andri.yngvason.is/repairing-the-washing-machine.html
I would have loved to have an open source diagnostics dongle for my AEG. Maybe next time I'll try and make one. :)
When after some time the water pump on my 2014 Miele dishwasher gave up the ghost, I had a look at their parts catalogue. I had mixed feelings.
On one hand, they still produce parts for things they sold in 2008, maybe even earlier, I was looking for a pump. Very repair-friendly, very anti-ewaste. Kudos.
On the other hand, for the price they have of that pump and labor, I could buy a perfectly serviceable new midrange Bosch thing. Which I, after a short inner struggle, did. After all, the pump may have been the tip of an iceberg of more costly repairs. It's a real Apple or Porsche of home appliances — it costs a lot when you buy it, and then it keeps costing you later.
But maybe this knowledge is going to be handy with the Miele fridge I still have...
Reverse Engineering the Miele Diagnostic Interface - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45953572
I’ve read so many horror stories. I don’t think I could consider any other brand.
One of my largest local retailers cut back on Miele in general, they had a high return rate. Miele makes a number of great products, but their customer service is so so so so so bad. Stuff like this is great to see.