Adding a 500w Element to OBS or 900w

Kitchen Commander · October 06, 2011, 07:53:01 PM

I love it! :D You guys are like me. We like to make things better and more powerful. Maybe we watched to many episodes of Tim The Tool Man Taylor. More power!!! Auuugghhh!!! Auugghhh!!! Auuughhhhh!!!

You should see my riding mover with the 426 hemi. Time to mow the lawn? 45 seconds. Just kidding, it's only got a little 6 hp honda motor and I can't even ride it. ::)

RFT · October 07, 2011, 04:55:33 AM

I am just making the smoker "bullet proof" My lower cover is going to be way overkill. Using 2" square stainless tubing. They didn't have any 2" aluminum remnents laying around which actually would have been perfect.

TedEbear · October 07, 2011, 12:06:59 PM

Quote from: cajunboudreaux on October 05, 2011, 09:06:45 PMTedEbear, when bypassing the slider. Does the light still work if you keep it plugged in? Just wondering if there is a way to keep the light operational without adding more switches.

Yes, just plug the two loose wires in the pic I posted into the LED and it will turn on/off whenever the PID cycles the power, the same way the original slider control did.

dogwood · July 11, 2012, 08:51:19 AM

Quote from: TonyL222 on September 20, 2011, 04:52:52 PM
Quote from: Habanero Smoker on September 16, 2011, 01:21:54 PM
If you have the OBS I don't feel it is a good idea because the full load is going through the temperature control. Just a reminder; you shouldn't do this mod without a third party temperature control device like a PID, or one of the BBQ Guru controller with a Raptor.

That one is easy to address (got the idea from you). Just remove the faceplate, remove the spade connectors from both sides of the slider and also the light. Cut off the spade connectors, strip, and twist all 3 wires together. I fastend with a ceramic wire nut. As stated, you MUST have a PID or other temperature controller after this mod.

I know this is a old post but I am adding 900 watt element. I have a small fan and auber PID and just wondering what is the third wire you refer to: "Cut off the spade connectors, strip, and twist all 3 wires together" when removing wire from slider is there not only two wires? One on each side that are joined together? I plan on leaving LED connected which looks like it has two wires.

Sorry before I tear into this I want to make sure I understand.

Habanero Smoker · July 12, 2012, 02:06:25 AM

Hi Dogwood;

I have an older OBS, and when I wrote that I was not aware that Bradley had change their wiring code. The wires I am referring to are to the temperature control device, behind the face plate. Remove the faceplate to get to that wiring.

Looking at the photo below you see three white wires, yours my be of different colors, but you should definitely have a red wire - leave the red wire alone. The two white wires that run off the screen need to be attached, those complete the circuit to the element. The short white wire that runs to the temperature light completes the circuit for that light to work. You need to unplug the wires from the circuit board and splice them together. If you can find a small metal tab that will fit inside the spade connector, so use that to plug the two connectors together, if not cutting the connectors off, striping the end and fastening with a wire nut works also. I'm not sure why I said to use a ceramic nut, a plastic nut works fine.

dogwood · July 12, 2012, 09:42:36 AM

Thank you very much for clarification.

Darren

Narclax · July 15, 2012, 01:14:31 PM

Instead of starting a new posting, hopefully I can get some ideas right here.

Yesterday I started my attempt to add a the second heating element to my "old" OBS. I decided to follow the instructions for the on/off switch at the SM site. Finished it up today, plugged it in, and blew the breaker. Upon checking the resistance im getting 0, so something is shorted.

While following the instructions I noticed that the color of my original wires were the exact opposite of what was posted (According to the post the original blue was hot, which came from the sensor up top, and the white was neutral coming from the bottom of the unit) I wired it up according to the instructions, only swapping the colors (1 extra new wire connected to my white wire, the hot, and 2 extra to the blue neutral.) Once again followed the instructions as to how to connect the switch, put everything back together and now I'm sitting here trying not to throw a wrench lol as I blow breakers.

The only problem I had during the install was when i went to disconnect the 2 female spades from the temperature circuit board, the entire connectors came off the board, leaving only the 2 small holes each. I re soldered the male parts to the board and connected everything back up when I was done. I can't imagine that fried the board and is causing the problem, but I'm not sure what else I could've done.

If anyone has any ideas I would love them, as this shouldn't be this complicated. :( For now I'm going to disassemble again and check the circuit board with the multimeter and double check the switch connections.

Thanks all for the help!

TonyL222 · July 15, 2012, 06:36:10 PM

Quote from: dogwood on July 11, 2012, 08:51:19 AM
Quote from: TonyL222 on September 20, 2011, 04:52:52 PM
Quote from: Habanero Smoker on September 16, 2011, 01:21:54 PM
If you have the OBS I don't feel it is a good idea because the full load is going through the temperature control. Just a reminder; you shouldn't do this mod without a third party temperature control device like a PID, or one of the BBQ Guru controller with a Raptor.

That one is easy to address (got the idea from you). Just remove the faceplate, remove the spade connectors from both sides of the slider and also the light. Cut off the spade connectors, strip, and twist all 3 wires together. I fastend with a ceramic wire nut. As stated, you MUST have a PID or other temperature controller after this mod.

I know this is a old post but I am adding 900 watt element. I have a small fan and auber PID and just wondering what is the third wire you refer to: "Cut off the spade connectors, strip, and twist all 3 wires together" when removing wire from slider is there not only two wires? One on each side that are joined together? I plan on leaving LED connected which looks like it has two wires.

Sorry before I tear into this I want to make sure I understand.

On the OBS two wires connected to the ends of the slider and the third went to the light.

Habanero Smoker · July 16, 2012, 01:33:25 AM

If you can post some pictures that will help. Bradley did change their wiring color code, and I have discussed this with others by PM's and they conclude Bradley is not following standard wiring code. So it is best to find a wire and follow it to it's source. Mine will be eight years old in a month, and it is wired and coded differently.

As TonyL222 pointed out the third wire going to the circuit board is for the LED. If you don't hook that to the other two wires the LED will not work. But I am not sure what you are doing. Why are you by passing the circuit board? When you are hooking up the switch, you should be only working with the wiring to the second element. None of the wiring to the original element should be in the same circuit as the switch. Also it is important that you hook the hot and neutral wires to the correct terminals of the switch. How are you male connectors marked on the switch? Is one terminal copper, or are they all the same type of metal, but numbered 1 through 3?

dogwood · July 16, 2012, 09:56:39 AM

Sorry, I removed original element and added the 900w element. I just splice the two wires on the board together, in my case I just added a spade to one of the wires and it popped right into the other. No other changes required, front light still works and flashes in harmony with the PID controller :)

Note: this applies to the OBS.

Narclax · July 17, 2012, 02:49:19 PM

Quote from: Habanero Smoker on July 16, 2012, 01:33:25 AM
If you can post some pictures that will help. Bradley did change their wiring color code, and I have discussed this with others by PM's and they conclude Bradley is not following standard wiring code. So it is best to find a wire and follow it to it's source. Mine will be eight years old in a month, and it is wired and coded differently.

Been busy with work but I'll get some pics up when I get a chance. Thanks for the reply.

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Narclax · July 18, 2012, 02:51:06 PM

Original circuit board

Original back panel

In the process of taking it apart again to check the circuit board.

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Narclax · July 18, 2012, 03:33:06 PM

Yay got it working. Had the neutral wires swapped on the switch. Changed those and I'm up smoking again. Now what to cook first...

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Habanero Smoker · July 19, 2012, 01:55:25 AM

Good to hear you got it up and running. According to the wiring of the circuit board, you would need to connect the blue wire to the two white wires to by pass the circuit. As for the wiring to the plug, the colors Bradley now uses puzzles me. I had a long discussion with Mike (Mr. Walleye) and TestRocket, when writing up instructions on how to add the additional senor and in-line fuse (I still need to get that done).

I forgot to take a picture of the wiring to the plug, but you can see that the wire leading from the sensor to the plug in my picture is blue, in yours it is white.

Narclax · July 19, 2012, 04:33:47 AM

Yeah luckily I noticed that early on or it could've been worse. I still don't know how I switched those wires but I was watching the office so I'll blame that lol.

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