My 6 Rack DBS won't Auto advance Pucks

[Edward176]

Hi all , wonder if someone can help me with an issue I am having with my DBS 6 rack smoker. While I was smoking last week for some reason the Generator wouldn't advance the pucks at the 20 minute interval, and of course that 1 puck smoldered for several cycles and turned to ash before I found it.  I manually advanced it and it seemed to work after that, then again yesterday the same issue. Today I opened the Generator, vacuumed and cleaned with alcohol and then reassembled the unit. It wasn't all that dirty or full of wood shavings. I have to manually push the advance button twice for it to advance once. I now have it set up and running and monitoring the auto advance every 20 minutes. First 20 minutes it just went "click" and nothing happened, manually I pushed it twice and held the button in place and it advanced. Now the second 20 minute interval it worked fine and advanced the puck. It appears to be an intermittent issue, but it sure is a pain. So if anyone can offer any assistance I'd appreciate it. Thank You

[Edward176]

Well, I've been pushing the "Advance Wood" button and it seems to be working fine, sometimes I have to push it twice to activate, but it appears to be working. The motor cycles and everything there seems OK. But it still sometimes fails to advance a puck automatically. I've now monitored it for 4 x 20 minute cycles and each time the pucks advance, for now. Just checked it and it failed to advance the puck, had to push the Manual button 3 or 4 times for it to manually advance. Yes there is a problem and if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear it. 

[Edward176]

Maybe there is something to operating in cold weather? The temperature was around freezing today and below freezing last week when I smoked. Is the Bradley Digital Generator that sensitive to temperatures around the freezing mark?

[Grouperman941]

When I have had an intermittent problem like that, it has usually been some sort of debris in the mechanism. I clean with compressed air.

Check the FAQ for more troubleshooting:  http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?481-Bradley-Smoker-FAQ-s

[Edward176]

Thanks for the info Grouperman941, I repeated everything again, opened the Generator, Blew out the entire box, wiped everything including the shuttle, tracks and puck platform with alcohol. Checked all wire connections and secured all wiring behind the shuttle to prevent entanglement. Basically everything from the sight you forwarded to me and I still have that intermittent puck not cycling. It'll operate for several 20 minute cycles, miss one, and then operate for a while after that. The outside temperature right now is 32'F and I"m hoping that the cold weather is the problem, otherwise I may be looking at replacing my Digital Generator! Any idea what I"m looking at dollar wise here in Canada? And where to get one?
Thank You   

[Habanero Smoker]

Did you try aligning the guiderails?
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?488-Answers-To-Bradley-Smoker-FAQ-s&p=777#post777

It may be time to call Bradley. The only other thing I can think of is a stripped gear in the motor? Or the micro switch may be intermittently getting stuck, and it may need to be cleaned.

[Edward176]

Thank You Hab, I followed your advice and re-cleaned the Generator, blew it all out again with compressed air, wiped it all down with alcohol and loosened the screws for the shuttle (puck pusher track) and plugged it back in and manually operated the Wood Advance button at least 20 times. It ran flawlessly and even sounds the way its supposed too. Tightened the track screws and reassembled the Generator box. I believe it will operate properly now as it even sounds normal. I push the advance wood button, I hear a click, and then the shuttle retracts fully and advances fully, click again, and stops, just like it did when it was new. ;D  I did keep the Generator in the house over night so it would be warm as its 24'F right now and was around 18'F overnight. Either way I still have to smoke something next week, when it warms up into the 40's and 50's F, to be sure and confident that the fix is true.
So Thank You Habanero and Grouperman for your expertise and help, Thank You

[Habanero Smoker]

Glad to see you up and running again.

[Edward176]

Hello Habanero, need to pick your brain once more regarding the same issue as before, Wood puck/bisquet not advancing. It started acting up again yesterday and misses a cycle and burns the wood bisquet for 40 minutes, or sometimes longer. I cleaned everything and this time I connected the smoke generator and opened it up and monitored the operation. It seems like the arm from the motor which operates the shuttle contacts the button on the micro-switch, which stops operating the motor, and when activated the arm then rotates in the opposite direction until it contacts the button on the switch and stops-normal operation. I repeatedly activated the WOOD Advance button and noticed that the arm would sometimes just move a fraction of an inch and stop, pushed again the arm would move either a little again, or reverse direction and complete its cycle. Sometimes I'd have to push the WOOD Advance button several times and the arm moves a fraction of an inch each time and then continues its normal cycle. I'm lost and frustrated here and am wondering if its an alignment issue, or worn out Micro Switch? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.     

[Gafala]

Well you could call Bradley and see what they say.

[Edward176]

Just got off the phone with Bradley and it was suggested that I replace the motor and micro-switch. It sounded like the motor, according to Bradley, and since I have it apart I can replace the switch as a precautionary since its inexpensive to replace. So thank you all for your patience and suggestions. :)

[Habanero Smoker]

I just getting to see this post. I wasn't on yesterday evening. Glad to see Bradley is sending you out some new parts. It sounds like either the motor has a few stripped gears, or there is something obstructing the movement of the arm. If replacing both motor and switch doesn't resolve the situation, look for anything that ca be blocking the movement of the arm or shuttle.