M1630N PANEL NOT WORKING

The contacts behind the panel get dirty and greasy and can stop working. Remove the front panel use a q-tip and some rubbing alcohol to clean the contact pads on the back of the plastic front cover and the contact pads on the circuit board. Reassemble and it should work. WARNING! Microwaves have very high voltages in them more than 4000V that can easily kill. Make sure its unplugged from the power supply, let sit for a few hours to make sure the caps are discharged and DO NOT touch any of the high voltage lines or capacitors inside the unit, work only on the front panel.

I had the same problem , it was finger touch control panel, when I cleaned with spray then it worked for some days . Finally to get ride of it , I changed control panel with a new one.

Click this link to understand the working
of the microwave: How the microwave works

for spares check on the links available on the site above.

You are right the control panel is very expensive, you can try the filter to see if you can get it working, but I must admit a new microwave oven sounds appealing.

You will need to change the keypad along with the control board, because they are essentially of one piece. But the part will equal, if not more than a new microwave oven.

The touch panel most likely just needs to be replaced. Without any extensive testing, you can order a new panel from repairclinic.com and if replacing that doesn't fix the problem, then the panel can be returned within 30 days, though it should from what you have said so far.

Let me know how this works out for you.

Benjamin

F3 Shorted key panel (touch pad).
1. Will occur if a shorted key panel is detected continuously over 60 seconds.
2. Replace key panel (touch pad).
What you can first try before replacing the keypad is first unplugging the microwave. Then you can get access to the panel by first removing the top grill and then unscrew the top of the control panel. There is a strip that looks like tape which attaches to the control panel which you need to wipe off and then blow dry. may not work the first time but be patient. also clean the bottom of the door and the latches to make sure the connection is clean. After that is should hopefully work without replacing the touch pad.

Let me know how this works out for you.

Benjamin

take it back apart and look for a ceramic fuse it may have gone bad

That model doesn't show up at my normal Samsung US parts supplier. Can you post all the numbers found printed on the transformer? One of them should be the Samsung part number. Normally you can look at the voltage rating of the large filter capacitor on the control board and assume that the AC secondary voltage will be about 2V less (in ACrms) than that DC voltage. Now what I'm saying may seem a bit twisted - and it is - but what I mean is this: If the cap is rated at 15VDC, then I'm saying that a secondary voltage of about 13VAC rms should be a good safe level for testing. To confirm this, multiply 13VAC by .635 (assuming it uses a full-wave rectifier) and you get about 8.26VDC. Then allow for about 50% derating by mulitplying the 8.26VDC by 2. This gives you 16.5VDC, which with my generous derating, is pretty close to the caps 15VDC. Then you can remove the transformer and use an isolated Variac(tm) to apply that calculated AC voltage to the secondary connections at the circuit board to see if it powers up. You can measure the DC voltage across the cap as you adjust the Variac(tm), making sure you don't get too close to or exceed the DC rating of the cap. Once you get it working with a main DC voltage of about 50-75% of what's printed on the main electrolytic capacitor, you can start shopping for a sub transformer. It's much easier if it's not a VFD display which would require a separate filament winding, but there's nothing wrong with using a small second transformer for that. You can even mount them both on the chassis and run long leads to the board. As long as the leads are of sufficient gauge, routed and secured well, and protected from nicks, there's nothing worng with that technique. You should make them long enough that if the front panel is later removed for service, the next technician will be able to see the wires before he pulls them out or otherwise damages them. I would also add a varistor on the primary if there's not already one! *grin*