Smokefire ex4 problems - bad power supply or igniter?

[KevinRH]

I bought a 1st Gen ex4 used.
It supposedly it gave the guy no issues for some years but then it would not work recently and he just gave up on it and sold it to me cheap. Weber sent him a new motherboard and igniter. I believe that made it the display come on and work until the motor or igniter tried to fire. I bought it today and the display/unit was dead.

Now... I spent a few hours playing with it... the unit will power up with the igniter UNPLUGGED.
If the igniter is plugged in, the until will not power on and the power supply will not put out 24v and the green led will not stay solid, it just flashes.... and the small control board will not have the 5 and 12 v led on. Once I plug pull the plug on the igniter the until powers on and I can see the menu and the fans runs. When I put a cheap ohm meter on the 2 leads going to the igniter is appears to measure a dead short. What resistance should I see on a good igniter? How do I test the igniter?

I pulled the auger and the motor off. I can turn the motor with a crescent wrench so I assume it is not locked up.

Any help would be appreciated
thanks haeffnkr

 

[Ed P]

I know nothing about the Smokefire, and the TVWBB member who was very helpful with this sort of thing passed away recently (RIP, Lew.).

Some time ago, he posted a picture of a hack that eliminated his igniter grounding problem. It's a guess, but maybe a bad igniter or igniter ground is pulling down the power supply. You could check the igniter resistance to ground and compare it to a new one. You can also do a search on @Lew Newby and possibly find the answer. Here is the link to his grounding hack...good luck!

EX4 Not Starting

If you are getting caked up pellet debris on the bottom of your fire pot you might be getting drippings running down your feed ramp into the fire pot. Make sure your feed ramp rests on top the V bar rack. First real photo shows wrong way. The other 2 diagrams show it correctly installed.

tvwbb.com

 

[Bruno]

Some guys like the great Lew used a stainless hose clamp at the end of the glow plug.
It’s weird but I’m on my first one still, 4 years and it works. Wish I could help more.

 

[KevinRH]

I will pull out the igniter and check it later. I don't understand how it works though, I guess just dc volts across an almost dead short and it gets hot?
There are 2 wires coming off the 24v PS going to the igniter. When the igniter is plugged in, it holds down the whole PS/Control board and the unit is dead. Unplug the igniter and the grill powers up. Currently, the igniter is showing a dead short with my meter.
How is a clamp going to change that? What should a good igniter ohm out at?

I just called CS and they put me in the Weber ex4 special queue and I am to get an email in 24 to 48 hours. Any one have a phone to this special ops troubleshooting dept?

thanks Kevin

 

[Joseph K]

I think it would be worthwhile to get a new glowplug bracket assembly if you intend to keep the EX4. You can talk to the CS person to get one as a warranty replacement or as a purchase. That way not only you can get a working one but you can pinpoint the problem and you can move forward with your analysis and the fix.

 

[Ed P]

I will pull out the igniter and check it later. I don't understand how it works though, I guess just dc volts across an almost dead short and it gets hot?
There are 2 wires coming off the 24v PS going to the igniter. When the igniter is plugged in, it holds down the whole PS/Control board and the unit is dead. Unplug the igniter and the grill powers up. Currently, the igniter is showing a dead short with my meter.
How is a clamp going to change that? What should a good igniter ohm out at?

I just called CS and they put me in the Weber ex4 special queue and I am to get an email in 24 to 48 hours. Any one have a phone to this special ops troubleshooting dept?

thanks Kevin

I don't know enough about the Smokefire to give an intelligent answer, only that Lew had an igniter problem that was fixed with a more secure ground connection. I think you've narrowed it down to either the power supply or the igniter...hopefully, Weber can guide you from there.

To me, if you've only got 24VDC to begin with, and one pole is grounded, and if you have a bad ground connection at the igniter, it could potentially cause a voltage drop to the igniter so that the igniter element never gets hot enough to drop the current flow. There is likely a nichrome element in the igniter, and nichrome wire increases in resistance as it gets hotter. If you don't have enough voltage to push enough current through the wire to get it hot enough to decrease resistance, then you could be pulling down the power supply.

Or not. Just a WAG (wild-a$$ guess). Good luck! Let us know what Weber says.

 

[LMichaels]

Actually I think Ed is likely on to something. The other thing is I will lay odds the Weber controller is like the ones in my MM and my Z and like every other controller I've seen. It's 2 PCBs "sistered" together with some type of connector holding them. An actual "control" (or "brains") and some type of switching PCB. Those igniter rods take quite a bit of current. I will lay odds you have a combo of bad grounding and cracked solder joint on the PCB where the leads or power connector is to the igniter rod. I was going nuts with my MM with one bad board after another due to a production issue. My buddy has a really nice soldering station at his home stereo shop. Took the board there, he removed the solder from all the power output connections (the fan, auger and igniter), and resoldered everything with actual lead solder not this new fake crap they call solder. MM been working solid ever since. He did same on a brand new board MM sent me. So I even have a spare now. But I suspect when I'm looking up from my dirt condo that MM will still be running

 

[KevinRH]

The igniter housing was bent a little and the igniter was inner electrode was touching ground side causing a direct short.

For anyone reading this ... a good igniter measures about 9 ohms.

I fixed the ignitier/housing and used a clamp to keep it all tight. I reassembled it all and the unit powered up. I checked the burn pot and before I set the temp and started the warm up, the igniter was glowing. I got the app connected and set the temp. It all fired up went up to 300 quickly. I let it run a while and the all was well... up to 325 and more success.
I then shut down... and the pellets kept dumping, the igniter might have stayed on., could not tell for sure. .. I let it do this for 10 minutes then pulled the plug. The fire pot burned out and I put it away. So not a total success, but progress.

So ....
I have warranty parts coming for a new motherboard and a new igniter. No tracking number yet.

thanks for all the help this far!
I will update when I get the parts in and assembled.

In the short time I had it running with LumberJack pellets, the smoke smelled great and not like some of the camp chef units I have played with previously. The app and the grill was pretty cool. I am excited to get this going.

thanks Kevin

 

[Darian Hofer]

The igniter housing was bent a little and the igniter was inner electrode was touching ground side causing a direct short.

For anyone reading this ... a good igniter measures about 9 ohms.

I fixed the ignitier/housing and used a clamp to keep it all tight. I reassembled it all and the unit powered up. I checked the burn pot and before I set the temp and started the warm up, the igniter was glowing. I got the app connected and set the temp. It all fired up went up to 300 quickly. I let it run a while and the all was well... up to 325 and more success.
I then shut down... and the pellets kept dumping, the igniter might have stayed on., could not tell for sure. .. I let it do this for 10 minutes then pulled the plug. The fire pot burned out and I put it away. So not a total success, but progress.

So ....
I have warranty parts coming for a new motherboard and a new igniter. No tracking number yet.

thanks for all the help this far!
I will update when I get the parts in and assembled.

In the short time I had it running with LumberJack pellets, the smoke smelled great and not like some of the camp chef units I have played with previously. The app and the grill was pretty cool. I am excited to get this going.

thanks Kevin

That’s fantastic!

 

[LMichaels]

There ya go. So now you can enjoy a pretty decent pellet cooker "on the cheap". Good on you!

 

[KevinRH]

Is it normal that the glow plug is on/glowing soon as the unit is powered on? Glowing before temp start cycle?

Also, I was told on a different forum that during shut down mode, it is normal that the unit will dump more pellets and continue to cycle the fan as to get the fire box cleaned and empty. True? I thought that it was malfunctioning.....

thanks again, Kevin

 

[LMichaels]

Is it normal that the glow plug is on/glowing soon as the unit is powered on? Glowing before temp start cycle?

Also, I was told on a different forum that during shut down mode, it is normal that the unit will dump more pellets and continue to cycle the fan as to get the fire box cleaned and empty. True? I thought that it was malfunctioning.....

thanks again, Kevin

See how it does with a flashlight and let us all know. Pictures please as well

 

[timothy]

Also, I was told on a different forum that during shut down mode, it is normal that the unit will dump more pellets and continue to cycle the fan as to get the fire box cleaned and empty. True? I thought that it was malfunctioning.....

True. Mine usually takes a good 15 mins. (EX 6 )

 

[Rich Dahl]

The igniter housing was bent a little and the igniter was inner electrode was touching ground side causing a direct short.

For anyone reading this ... a good igniter measures about 9 ohms.

I fixed the ignitier/housing and used a clamp to keep it all tight. I reassembled it all and the unit powered up. I checked the burn pot and before I set the temp and started the warm up, the igniter was glowing. I got the app connected and set the temp. It all fired up went up to 300 quickly. I let it run a while and the all was well... up to 325 and more success.
I then shut down... and the pellets kept dumping, the igniter might have stayed on., could not tell for sure. .. I let it do this for 10 minutes then pulled the plug. The fire pot burned out and I put it away. So not a total success, but progress.

So ....
I have warranty parts coming for a new motherboard and a new igniter. No tracking number yet.

thanks for all the help this far!
I will update when I get the parts in and assembled.

In the short time I had it running with LumberJack pellets, the smoke smelled great and not like some of the camp chef units I have played with previously. The app and the grill was pretty cool. I am excited to get this going.

thanks Kevin

For years I've read the sagas of the Smokefires woes. I'll concede that maybe a Smokefire probably can create a better smoke profile by design, but I've never had anything cooked on one as around here you can't find one working long enough to try it. I will say that I'll take my good enough will have to do Camp Chef with well over 250 cooks with zero failures over fighting poorly designed technology anytime.
I guess it's boils down to what you're willing to sacrifice for that little bit more.
Maybe if I was younger...Nah!

 

[KevinRH]

I turned it on and immediately the glow plug goes on. Ran a test at 300 then to 340 for about 45 mins. Shut down from the app and it worked (When I am with in BT range of the grill ) The grill properly shut down but the glow plug was still on. I am very impressed at how the burn pot is clean and the ash falls to the dump draw. This is a huge leap forward from many of the other pellet grills I have played with. Not having to vacuum out the grill is awesome.
I turned off the grill, turned it back on again and immediately the glow plug went on ... turned orange ... turned back off and was done.

So... for $40 buck I am doing pretty good so far!!! The grill works, Safe to use for the most part I would say.

Got emails that some warranty parts are starting to ship, Motherboard assembly is not shipped yet though. Hoping the new MB will fix the Glow Plug issues ... who knows what all got fried when that glow plug was shorted.

The flavor bar brackets are gone, Weber is shipping new ones, as well as a new flame catcher, it is pretty rusted too. Also the Gen2 pellet parts are coming as well as a new meat probe and some pellets. I asked for new grill grates but was told no... Any other stuff to ask for from Weber?

The pics below of the firepot were taken after the unit successfully shut down.

thanks for the help! Kevin

 

[Rich Dahl]

I turned it on and immediately the glow plug goes on. Ran a test at 300 then to 340 for about 45 mins. Shut down from the app and it worked (When I am with in BT range of the grill ) The grill properly shut down but the glow plug was still on. I am very impressed at how the burn pot is clean and the ash falls to the dump draw. This is a huge leap forward from many of the other pellet grills I have played with. Not having to vacuum out the grill is awesome.
I turned off the grill, turned it back on again and immediately the glow plug went on ... turned orange ... turned back off and was done.

So... for $40 buck I am doing pretty good so far!!! The grill works, Safe to use for the most part I would say.

Got emails that some warranty parts are starting to ship, Motherboard assembly is not shipped yet though. Hoping the new MB will fix the Glow Plug issues ... who knows what all got fried when that glow plug was shorted.

The flavor bar brackets are gone, Weber is shipping new ones, as well as a new flame catcher, it is pretty rusted too. Also the Gen2 pellet parts are coming as well as a new meat probe and some pellets. I asked for new grill grates but was told no... Any other stuff to ask for from Weber?

The pics below of the firepot were taken after the unit successfully shut down.

thanks for the help! Kevin

View attachment 89436View attachment 89437View attachment 89438

Glad to see you're making progress and Weber is helping you also. So! agree it would be nice if I didn't have to drag out the dedicated vacuum cleaner after every cook on the Camp Chef. Guess they all have their own drawbacks.

 

[KevinRH]

I got my parts on Friday and Saturday, got if fired up and did my first attempt at a steak. Next time need more sear, but was still impressed with this unit so far. Found out the MB is on back order so the glow plug igniter still stays on constantly. The flavor bar bracket is one per... I argued with CS that it is one per order, so today they are sending a second one.

 

[KevinRH]

Motherboard came in and resolved my glow plug/igniter issue. All works as it should now.
I just CANNOT believe the other guy sold me this grill for $40 and how Weber sent me a boatload of free parts to get it going like NEW AGAIN. Even free parts like meat probes and pellets were sent. I soaked all the grill racks and with some degreaser and some scrubbing, they look new again.

Overall this grill is way way way above any of the older legacy type pellet grills out there. This grill has no big cookie sheet heat deflector/ash stopper like legacy pellet grills. I have had Camp Chef, Cabelas, Grilla grills. I have seen Traegers. Again, the self cleaning fire pot is a huge benefit of this grill. Then adding the wifi/app controls on top of all that. Wow!

thanks for the help! KevinRH

 

[Bruno]

Motherboard came in and resolved my glow plug/igniter issue. All works as it should now.
I just CANNOT believe the other guy sold me this grill for $40 and how Weber sent me a boatload of free parts to get it going like NEW AGAIN. Even free parts like meat probes and pellets were sent. I soaked all the grill racks and with some degreaser and some scrubbing, they look new again.

Overall this grill is way way way above any of the older legacy type pellet grills out there. This grill has no big cookie sheet heat deflector/ash stopper like legacy pellet grills. I have had Camp Chef, Cabelas, Grilla grills. I have seen Traegers. Again, the self cleaning fire pot is a huge benefit of this grill. Then adding the wifi/app controls on top of all that. Wow!

thanks for the help! KevinRHView attachment 89841View attachment 89842View attachment 89843

Weber customer service is amazing!!

 

[LMichaels]

Weber customer service is amazing!!

SOMETIMES.
The question I have is this. Did they send you all those parts knowing full well you were NOT the original owner?