# Delonghi ESAM4200 Problems



## ibruceuk (Sep 4, 2012)

Hi,

Lucky me, I have been donated a Delonghi ESAM 4200 - the catch is that it was broken with the infuser jammed at the bottom.

So I had it in pieces and noticed that a piece of plastic had broken off the black guide that the infuser holder screws to in the transport mechanism. This plastic operated a microswitch which I assume told the machine when the infuser had reached either the bottom, or the 'park' position.

After much bodging I added a new and improved microswitch that operated when the infuser hit the park location where it can be removed.

Now when I plug the machine in the infuser moves down to sweep the coffee away and then back up to 'park'. All's good so far.

The problem is when I power on by using the power button the infuser moves up pauses halfway immediately before it moves to the right and then continues upwards. For some reason it stops short of the top and then the red (!) exclamation mark light comes on and stays on constantly with the two cup buttons flashing green.

It is stopping just as the infuser contacts the yellow plunger type of thing. I am thinking it needs to go up about another 1 cm or so so it can operate the microswitch at the top.

Has anyone come across this before? I have thoroughly cleaned the infuser.

Is the bottom microswitch supposed to indicate the 'parked' position?

Are there any other sensors at the top of the machine that it hitting to early/late?

Cheers,

Ian


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## DublinLoveBean (Aug 29, 2012)

Wish I could help you but thankfully by 5400 hasn't given me any real issues to date.

Perhaps your new switch is allowing it to park too deep and it simply counts the revolutions from park to fully up and stops when it feels it has raised by the required amount?


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## ibruceuk (Sep 4, 2012)

Thanks for your reply.

I did try a little with moving the switch up and down. If I move it higher then once powered on (before actually switched on at the machine) it moves down and then up but firstly it doesn't go low enough to 'swipe' across the top of the infuser and then it parks too high so the infuser can't be removed. I am assuming it should park in a position that allows the infuser to be removed?

This is what I assume the bottom microswitch should do....

Activate as the infuser passes the park position and stay active whilst the infuser moves further down to the 'clean' position and then deactivate as the infuser moves to the park position and stay deactivated whilst the infuser is at any position other than below park. Does that sound right?

Cheers,

Ian


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## DublinLoveBean (Aug 29, 2012)

ibruceuk said:


> Thanks for your reply.
> 
> I did try a little with moving the switch up and down. If I move it higher then once powered on (before actually switched on at the machine) it moves down and then up but firstly it doesn't go low enough to 'swipe' across the top of the infuser and then it parks too high so the infuser can't be removed. I am assuming it should park in a position that allows the infuser to be removed?
> 
> ...


Just found this video and the 4500 certainly seems to have the same interior as the 5400. Certainly it should be capable of being removed when parked. Thinking about it, I think I can only remove mine when the machine is actually turned off, not when in standby and ready to operate. Perhaps the video here will assist you?

Best of luck.


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