A Tangled Mess Take Away

Oh this tangled mess required a lot of time and energy to straighten out. Im guessing  20+ hours over several days to get the connections right.

These wires belong to our stove hood.

Who knew this stove hood contained a mother board that shorted out after 5 years of extremely light use?  Who knew that the parts would be unavailable in the U.S. and had to be shipped from Canada? Who knew that the motherboard replacement that arrived sans instructions would not be larger causing a whole lot of additional aggravation? 

Can you tell where I am going with this? It was a disaster in the making. The black capacitor box you see dangling in the first picture could no longer fit in next to the motherboard.

This started out to as a family affair but frustration set in and my husband and son had enough at about hour 6 or 7. 

In desperation, I called the company and was assured it was safe to leave the capacitor outside the black housing box. Capacitor aside, I was still at a loss as to how all those wires were supposed to fit in that little box on top of the motherboard especially because I wasn’t there when it was taken apart.

 

The wires had been connected and reconnected so many times that a couple of the wire connectors detached from the wires and two of connections fell off the mother board as well. So off to Radio Shack I went for replacement connectors, soldering iron and solder. Yes, I soldered the connectors back onto the motherboard.

Honestly, I wanted to give up so many times, but I refused. After a number of emails and phone calls to the company, finally,  I was able to get it all back together. I have to say I was proud of myself for not giving up and jumping for joy when I finished. However, this is one DIY episode I hope never to star in it again.The family and I celebrated with takeout because the last place I wanted to be was near that stove hood. I needed my space, at least for one night. LOL

So what is my take away from all of this?  Even when we don’t know how to proceed or can’t see a way out, sometimes just walking away helps tremendously.  I walked away several times. I covered the hood opening with tinfoil as this repair was spread over a three week period. 

         

This tangled mess was a reminder that perseverance prevails!

Have you had a problem, DIY or otherwise, you thought you would never solve?