Digital smoker not working, help??

[fong0041]

Hey, so I wanted to smoke some chickens yesterday, I plugged in my device, the control panel lit up , it beeped then it went dark (all perfectly normal).  However, it would not turn on either the heating element, nor the smoke generator when I pushed the on/off buttons.  It wouldn't respond to anything.  Then I pulled the plug, waited, plugged it back in.  This time I got a green "E" display, and the auto advance for the feeder would cycle through 5 or 6 times, then it stopped.  again, no response to any buttons I was pushing.  I pulled it apart, cleaned out any debris that was in there, and spot-checked the electrical connections.  Nothing suspicious.  I was short on time, so I re-assembled, tried it again (nothing), then resorted to grilling the chickens.  Any ideas?  I don't think the controller is fried, since it lights up and beeps upon plugging it in.  Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

Nathan

[NePaSmoKer]

Hey, so I wanted to smoke some chickens yesterday, I plugged in my device, the control panel lit up , it beeped then it went dark (all perfectly normal).  However, it would not turn on either the heating element, nor the smoke generator when I pushed the on/off buttons.  It wouldn't respond to anything.  Then I pulled the plug, waited, plugged it back in.  This time I got a green "E" display, and the auto advance for the feeder would cycle through 5 or 6 times, then it stopped.  again, no response to any buttons I was pushing.  I pulled it apart, cleaned out any debris that was in there, and spot-checked the electrical connections.  Nothing suspicious.  I was short on time, so I re-assembled, tried it again (nothing), then resorted to grilling the chickens.  Any ideas?  I don't think the controller is fried, since it lights up and beeps upon plugging it in.  Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

Nathan

An "E" message is letting you know that there is something wrong with the advance system. It's the connection between the motor arm and the micro switch. Please open the generator, and take a look at that switch which is going to be a gray rectangle shaped switch; first make sure that it is connected, secondly makes sure nothing is blocking that switch and the arm.

An "E1" message is something to do with the sensor cable. The sensor cable is the short skinny cable that runs from the generator to the tower. Please make sure that it's connected, secondly unplug it and switch the ends around, so plug "A" side into "B" and the "B" side into "A" sometime that makes a better connection. Also make sure that is nothing blocking that connection ie: loose chips, dust. Then check the connection; by wiggling one side of the connection and then the other, if the "E1" message temporally goes away while you were wiggling one side, you need a new sensor connector.

[Habanero Smoker]

Sometimes visually looking at the wires is not enough. It's a pain, but you should unplug and replug all the wires in the generator, to ensure that they are secure. From your description, it appears to be a loose wire or short inside the generator.

If you go to the below link, the "E" and "E1" errors explanation may be helpful, but there are also more tips you may want to check out. Concentrate on the Digital Smoker section.

Bradley FAQ's

[fong0041]

Thanks, the link to Bradley FAQ's was very helpful.  Here's my latest assessment:

In retrospect, I don't think I had the damper opened up enough, causing smoke and moisture to back up into the smoke generator.  The small gray switch associated with the puck advance was stuck, so I extracted that and was able to coax the black clicker switch to function properly (it was stuck in the depressed position, so I just pushed on it several times with my finger/screwdriver until it popped out to its normal position).
As for the display, I think that too much moisture caused the buttons on the circuit board to become less sensative than typical, and the heat/moisture caused the push-botton cover to warp such that pushing a botton on this cover did not adequately push the button on the circuit board (which is behind the push-button cover).  To overcome this, I cut toothpicks to the proper length so that they would act as extensions to the push-buttons, such that when reassembled the push buttons will once-again make proper contact with the buttons on the circuit panel.  This is definitely a band-aid, I will have to call Bradley customer support and find out how much a replacement panel will be, but at least I can make my ribs in the mean time.

Nathan

[Habanero Smoker]

Very innovative workarounds. Bradley will definitely provide you with excellent support.