well I prefer to try repair than bin stuff if its possible. In terms of wires/contacts, all looks to be intact as do the components, only the track in the handle for the hose connection got burned off which is bridged with wire now.
Problem is when all hooked up the S556 behaves as it would if the hose wasn't connected at all, so full tilt when power turned on. The remote in the handle never lights up. Buzzed all the wiring end to end and its all ok so its not a broken wire between the remote panel and the main switch board. So it could be that the remote panel got fried but at £90+ for a hose its a gamble, the EDW550 maybe around £40 but again no way to prove either/both is where the fault really lies.
Case of trying to figure out the circuit schematics I guess now, tho removing that big connector block on the EDW550 isn't a simple desolder as you can't shift the solder on the blind side of the board, tried that earlier and it didn't budge :-( So trying to map bits of it out by eye/probe results. Am working with it disconnected tho, tis real risky to try probing around on either board with it live, as there's 240AC running along the cabling. The brown wire that runs into the handle goes into the remote board and out to the power connector so defo not one I want any contact with if its plugged in ;-)