code E, pucks kept feeding

[turbo38gn]

 First off, I'm just starting my 4th year with my 4 rack digital, it's been great! I've learned a lot, but still have many recipes to try. My favorite, and everyone that has tried them are my smoked St Louis ribs cooked by the 3-2-1 method. I just ran into my 1st real problem since my 1st post here 3 years ago. Did a batch of ribs a few weeks ago, came out great with no issues. Got ready to smoke some country style ribs last weekend, turned my machine on to warm it up and back in I go to finish prepping. Come out a little while later and temps not reading right, the whole digital readouts were funky... played with the plugs in and out, reset.. it would work then cut out setting an E code... got it running long enough to load some pucks and went back in finish prepping. Came back out and the pucks were all fed out.. well, long story short, I had to get cooking for the SBowl party so I improvised and loaded one puck at a time. meanwhile, on the computer I go to look for info, came up with one similar situation where a guy opened up the digital box and found a loose wire. I finished cooking while having to continually reset the unit without what seemed to be temp control either, ribs came out ok.
  Fast forward to today, just opened the box up and found the little toggle switch the arm hits to signal the brain that a puck has completed its trip to the burner had fallen out of position, the screw that holds it in place had backed out. There is supposed to be 2 screws holding it in place, I could only find one so I removed a screw from  another part held in place in the box and used that. Should be ok now, it's pouring rain outside so I didn't get a chance to try it.
  I share this so if anyone has a similar issue, hope this helps..

[Gafala]

Put some locktight on it that will help in the future.

[turbo38gn]

 I should have, but it looked like the locktite on it before didn't work out to good. I used a couple globs of rtv silicon on the tops of the screws down the side of the switch to the mounting plate..

[Habanero Smoker]

Thanks for making us aware of this problem.

[turbo38gn]

  Ok, update coming...... I installed the box, plugged it all in and turned on the heating element.. everything seemed to work fine. Element warmed right up, temp began to rise. I then turned on the biscuit feeder ..... it immediately fed a biscuit then continued to feed biscuits until it started flashing E .....  I looked for the instructions, trouble tree, for help on the code but haven't found anything..

[Habanero Smoker]

It sounds like either the micro switch (toggle switch) is damaged or the arm is out of alignment and is not depressing the switch in far enough.

You can test the micro switch, and adjust it. The below link, give you directions on how to do that.

Micro Switch Test/Adjustment

[turbo38gn]

It sounds like either the micro switch (toggle switch) is damaged or the arm is out of alignment and is not depressing the switch in far enough.

You can test the micro switch, and adjust it. The below link, give you directions on how to do that.

Micro Switch Test/Adjustment

   My unit does not have any adjustment slots. After thinking abut it for a few weeks, I had a party coming up so I decided to just order a whole new box, only cost $100 bucks. The rep, Susan, I spoke with from Bradley USA, asked for the serial number, so I brought the box into my shop the following morning. Since I had it in the shop, I decided to clean the feed ramp and area around it a little better with a scotch pad .... then I saw it... the replacement screw I used to fasten the micro switch with was sticking up through the plate a hair, stopping the feed ramp from completing it's cycle. I ground it down, plugged it in .... I'm smoking again!!
   I proceeded to call Bradley to let them know, but decided to order a new digital box, temp sensor and the heating element, ($125) just to have a spare in case of any issues down the road. My smoker is outside, gets a little bit of weather abuse, I just don't want to be in the middle of a smoke and have something fail with no backup. Pretty cheap insurance. I figure the smoker box itself, should last for another 10 years..