Pucks not advancing

bigredsmoker · January 20, 2008, 01:29:12 PM

I'm in the middle of a cold smoke, about 40 minutes in, and notice very little smoke coming from the box. I peek inside and se that the puck did not advance and push the old puck into the water bowl. So I hit manual advance and it advances fine. I come back about 30 minutes later and same thing, no auto puck advance. Is this a known issue? Smoker is only about 2 months old. I think I will probably just call Bradley on Monday and see what they say. Any suggestions or feedback is appreciated.

Terry

Mr Walleye · January 20, 2008, 01:51:26 PM

I would definitely give Bradley a call.

Must be an electronic issue if the manual feed works fine. The only other thing I can think of is a loose wire in the generator or something like that.

Mike

bigredsmoker · January 21, 2008, 09:52:57 AM

Called Bradley today and they are sendingme a new unit. Gues I will try taking apart the old one and see if I can fix it. Then I will have a spare I guess.

Terry

Mr Walleye · January 21, 2008, 09:57:44 AM

Absolutely BigRed!

If nothing else you will have some spare parts.

Mike

bigredsmoker · January 21, 2008, 01:56:11 PM

Well I've opened it up and have been putting it through its paces. It appears that my problem is with the switch that turns the puck advance motor off. It only has a problem on counter clockwise rotations of the motor. It would go until the switch turns the motor off, but would then not go again. Even on when I pushed the manual advance. If i would then give the arm a little push so it would make more contact with the switch it would then advance. I also got an E error message when it would get stuck like that. I have been getting these errors all along and would take all of the pucks out and tap on it a little and then it would wrk again. In my tests it did it for me on several of the counterclockwise rotations. Then, it suddenly stopped doing it. I have manually advance probably 50 times and no problems. Don't know if it has jus worked itself out of the problem or what. It's probably a good thing Bradley is sending me a new unit. Is there somewhere you can order parts? Anyway, now I am letting it run and watching if cycles ok at the 20 minute mark.

Terry

Mr Walleye · January 21, 2008, 02:24:12 PM

I don't think you can buy the switch itself. Hopefully someone like Arcs will comment on this... but what I would do is spray the switch good with electrical contact cleaner. It may well be just a case of a piece of something stuck in it.

Just a thought....

Mike

Arcs_n_Sparks · January 23, 2008, 06:55:22 PM

Quote from: Mr Walleye on January 21, 2008, 02:24:12 PM
I don't think you can but the switch itself. Hopefully someone like Arcs will comment on this... but what I would do is spray the switch good with electrical contact cleaner. It may well be just a case of a piece of something stuck in it.

Just a thought....

Mike

Mike has good advice. I have never looked at the switch to find replacements, which is probably a conventional microswitch.

I have not reversed engineered the puck advance schematic, but I suspect the switch interrupts power to the puck advance motor. When the puck advance timer calls for a puck, it momentarily overrides the switch and thus allows power to flow to the motor. The motor energizes and drives the mechanism. I comes around and hits the switch to interrupt power to the motor. This should work in both CW and CCW directions. If not, that would indicate a mechanical alignment/adjustment problem. Just a theory...

Arcs_n_Sparks

Ontrack · January 23, 2008, 07:07:18 PM

Funny, arcs, but that's exactly what I was going to say! :-\. Of course, you know I'm lying through my teeth, ;D, but I love to watch (and admire) somebody who has the electronic and mechanical knowhow to diagnose a problem like that. I can build you a railroad from coast to coast, then turn around and drink with you all the way back, but that's pretty much my level of expertise right there. :D

Consiglieri · January 23, 2008, 07:32:35 PM

Quote from: Ontrack on January 23, 2008, 07:07:18 PM
I can build you a railroad from coast to coast, then turn around and drink with you all the way back, but that's pretty much my level of expertise right there. :D

The light goes on, and there's a connection to the "Ontrack" handle.

Ontrack · January 23, 2008, 07:38:51 PM

Exactly, Consig, but as much as I hate my job, I wish I would have come up with "powder puff" or "shampoo boy" or even "twinkle toes"...

Consiglieri · January 23, 2008, 07:42:25 PM

Heck, we can call you those things, Ontrack, or a number of others we have on reserve. ;)

I hear Friday a-comin, it's rollin' round the bend... And I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when.

Ontrack · January 23, 2008, 07:47:18 PM

Call me what you like, Consig, my skin is thicker than my boots. Just please don't sing to me. ;) And, this IS Friday night for me, I'm off till Monday! :P

Arcs_n_Sparks · January 23, 2008, 08:27:15 PM

Fortunately, I am drinking at a distance. :D

Monday I went from the West Coast to the East Coast, and Tuesday from the East Coast to the West Coast, so I appreciate all those that move stuff (people included) from one side of the country to the other!

bigredsmoker · January 24, 2008, 04:09:43 PM

Ontrack, who you with? My Mother in-law has been with the UP for 40 years.

Ontrack · January 24, 2008, 04:46:29 PM

bigred-I've been with NS for 29 years. What does your MOL do at UP?