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Author Topic: Miele SAB-100 Accu Nova Power Head  (Read 22667 times)

Offline beko1987

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Miele SAB-100 Accu Nova Power Head
« on: November 24, 2015, 10:03:51 pm »
A fellow collector is having a clear out I think, and sent me a big box of random stuff.

Of immediate note was a Miele Accu Nova battery powered turbo brush







I've wanted one of these for ages, but 2 things have always put me off:

1 - Their fooking expensive, if you can find one for sale
2 - The battery life is woeful. I've read that Miele canned them off quickly, reports of people having 2 or 3 new batteries from Miele before Miele refunded them and sent them an air powered turbo. Ibasiac has one, and on his Demo it didn't last very long, and that had a new battery in.

Still, one for free, go on then! It came with 3 spare batteries and 2 chargers with foreign plugs. I tested the volts on the battery first, and it read a big fat 0. Not surprising.



Popped one on charge, and left it for 2 hours. Nothing...

I then checked for voltage coming out of the charger. Nothing...

Sensing something was odd, I found another power brick of roughly the same voltage



The new one (which I checked first) is the vtech one. It has power



I made a temporary proof of concept connection



and plugged it all in



It didn't explode, and after a minute registered voltage



gave it 5 more minutes and checked again



Plugged it in, and...



Oooh, a light. This head doesn't actually work unless it senses movement and airflow, so I hooked it up to the Miele and it ran for 7 seconds, then died!

Close enough, the battery is back on charge.

Because I have no idea what state the batteries are in, and because they are shite when brand new I may have a crack at rebuilding one of the packs with fresh/upgraded cells. After some extensive googling it doesn't seem too tricky. One day... more playing to be done first!
Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!


Offline Parwaz7862

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Re: Miele SAB-100 Accu Nova Power Head
« Reply #1 on: November 24, 2015, 10:49:34 pm »
That is a lovely powerhead! Wish there were more like these. Shame about the battery, I am sure you will manage to modify it ;D :thumbsup:
If only these were more common and were longer lasting the dilemma the UK has with 99% of cylinder vacuums being straight suction or fitted with a turbo brush would be resolved!

Offline beko1987

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Re: Miele SAB-100 Accu Nova Power Head
« Reply #2 on: November 24, 2015, 10:54:58 pm »
Yes, the battery does seem to be a common flaw, but if the cells could be accessed and replaced, I will try and get some higher value ones (providing the existing cells have some sort of markings to work out what the current value is)

I did get another battery powered turbo head in the box too, a Bosch AkkuPlus, which, conveniently uses the very same batteries (possibly why there was 3 and 2 chargers). It also doesn't need the vacuum running and movement to work, it has a switch, so I can test the batteries out in that too, when the accu nova stops, I'll try the bosch and see.

Once I have a battery fully charged, have used the accu nova a fair bit, and been through several charge cycles I'll time it, then when I upgrade (if I can) another battery pack I can see what the difference is!

If it wasn't 5 to 11 I would be using it now! I did try it on the Miele quickly, and it needs setting 3 to make enough airflow to turn the head on, although the bag is 3/4 full. And setting 3 is too noisy, so that can be tomorrow's job!
Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline Parwaz7862

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Re: Miele SAB-100 Accu Nova Power Head
« Reply #3 on: November 24, 2015, 10:59:45 pm »
Hehe :P Bosch is a pretty good make, should be great :thumbsup:
and regarding the time, I agree lol when I get a vacuum from eBay or wherever and we collect it at night, I am pretty eager to start working on it. I once refurbed a DC07 allergy (with new parts) we collected at 11PM and refurbed it till like 3AM and then vacuumed with it a bit, our downstairs is pretty big (3 living rooms) so we can shut the doors and nobody upstairs can hear ;D


Offline beko1987

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Re: Miele SAB-100 Accu Nova Power Head
« Reply #4 on: November 24, 2015, 11:01:37 pm »
Lucky! If I don't get away with it, I wake Amy/Charlie/Eva up, and I'd have to run away and sleep in the car/office/mums if I did that... Tomorrow sounds good to me!
Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline Parwaz7862

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Re: Miele SAB-100 Accu Nova Power Head
« Reply #5 on: November 24, 2015, 11:04:00 pm »
Lol  :P  :))

Offline beko1987

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Re: Miele SAB-100 Accu Nova Power Head
« Reply #6 on: November 24, 2015, 11:04:48 pm »
Having blipped all 3 batteries on the charger too now, they all work! The one that's been on charge the longest works REALLY well, the others work for a few seconds, but have only had a minute on charge each so far. I've written numbers on them too, so for testing purposes I can see which one I have done what to. All this battery malarky is good practise for when the Roomba comes, which may be as simple as 0v, or worse. Hopefully 0v and it hasn't popped anything on the motherboard
Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline Parwaz7862

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Re: Miele SAB-100 Accu Nova Power Head
« Reply #7 on: November 24, 2015, 11:06:58 pm »
Sounds fantastic :thumbsup: Nice experimentals!

Offline beko1987

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Re: Miele SAB-100 Accu Nova Power Head
« Reply #8 on: November 25, 2015, 11:38:59 am »
Well, of the 3 batteries:

1 went on charge from 8pm to 1am (first night feed)
another went on 1am to 5.30am. Nothign caught fire.
The third (and smeggiest looking one), I cracked open before bed









Looks rebuildable. Having a look on the bay of E, I can buy a 4,400mah pack which would make it run forever...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HPI-Plazma-7-2v-4300mah-Nimh-Stick-Pack-Re-chargeable-Battery-101933-/252072579601?hash=item3ab0b25211:g:-Z0AAOSwjVVV4FWn

but I would have to snip the wires and solder the existing terminal connections on, and possibly the thermal resistor too. Would make a killer powerhead though...

But, 10 minutes ago, I found this for £15...

http://www.tmart.com/7.2V-2000mAh-Rechargeable-NI-MH-Battery-for-Makita-191681-2-632007-4-9000-9001-9002_p335371.html?cc=GBP&fixed_price=hk_intl&gclid=Cj0KEQiA1dWyBRDqiJye6LjkhfIBEiQAw06ITt8Kvq6qRAnSVsfdB3NKMiuqpsRSRQwQwRn1dqQCcAEaAphH8P8HAQ

which, although 2,000mah, is probably an easier thing to do than rebuilding a battery pack. For now, I will use the hell out of the old 2 batteries and see what their like. They may be ok, but I think their only 1,200 mah I think, so pretty poor. Will time their running time after a few charges and discharges anyway, then maybe splash out on a new 2,000 battery and compare.

There was some discussion on facebook last night on chargers too. The genuine Miele charger is a dumb one, and just pumps the voltage until its turned off I think, the same as the chargers I have (which are for a different power head, which I do also have) Someone sugested buying a nice, genuine Makita charger, which has built in protection and health indicators.

So this is on my watch list now

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/381474033823?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

So, the in depth hardcore way will be to rebuild a battery pack with nice new cells and re-fit the end cap on somewhow (need to do some measuring), the easier and maybe cheaper way (cos if I break the battery case, I have an RC battery pack with no use...) is just to buy a £15 2,000mah battery and use a better charger so they dont die, and keep the existing, older batteries for top up uses.
Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline Parwaz7862

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Re: Miele SAB-100 Accu Nova Power Head
« Reply #9 on: November 25, 2015, 12:55:38 pm »
 :o Incredible! I am confident that you will manage to modify the head successfully ;D :thumbsup: 😄😎

Offline beko1987

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Re: Miele SAB-100 Accu Nova Power Head
« Reply #10 on: November 25, 2015, 12:57:24 pm »
One day! Will put the split battery in the shed until after christmas and just buy the 2000mah £15 battery for now!

Unless the original batteries last 30 minutes, not actually tried yet tbh. Can't wait to tear the head down and see how it works though
Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline Parwaz7862

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Re: Miele SAB-100 Accu Nova Power Head
« Reply #11 on: November 25, 2015, 01:03:02 pm »
Nice!! Not sure if the battety will be alright in the shed as its winter tho

Offline Tech12

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Re: Miele SAB-100 Accu Nova Power Head
« Reply #12 on: November 25, 2015, 03:12:12 pm »
Sam: Have you got a bog standard 12 volt battery charger ?
Repairs to All makes of Small Commercial & Domestic appliance. Power tool repair.
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Offline Madrat

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Re: Miele SAB-100 Accu Nova Power Head
« Reply #13 on: November 25, 2015, 05:57:30 pm »
What about using Ni-MH or Li ion battery's?

Offline Tech12

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Re: Miele SAB-100 Accu Nova Power Head
« Reply #14 on: November 25, 2015, 07:33:16 pm »
Only problem with changeing battery types, is that the charger for 1 type is not necessarily safe to use with another type. They may have different charge rates & cut off points which can cause serious overheating of both battery and charger and possible explosion of the battery.
Repairs to All makes of Small Commercial & Domestic appliance. Power tool repair.
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