Smokefire ex4 problems - bad power supply or igniter?

[LMichaels]

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

Don't be so quick to denigrate the "cookie sheet". Much of the function of getting smoke into the food is NOT quelled by it. It's more a function of oven and venting design. Yeah, it may be able to run at 600 deg but then I've NEVER grilled at 600 in my life even on grills that could.
Bottom line it's a proven design and it flat works. And is pretty much dead reliable.

 

[KevinRH]

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

They did not ask and I did not tell. I was a previous registered user, they sent me parts before for my old Genesis Grill. Re this grill.... They had the serial number and they sent the previous owner new parts too before he sold it to me.

 

[KevinRH]

Don't be so quick to denigrate the "cookie sheet". Much of the function of getting smoke into the food is NOT quelled by it. It's more a function of oven and venting design. Yeah, it may be able to run at 600 deg but then I've NEVER grilled at 600 in my life even on grills that could.
Bottom line it's a proven design and it flat works. And is pretty much dead reliable.

My experience is not the same. The cookie sheet does nothing but collect grease and burned on food that you continue to burn and burn and burn that emits a burned stink, not a sweet smoke smell. Even when you clean it or use foil to cover, the first time you use it again, the grease and food just drips, sticks and burns emitting a burned Pizza aroma that is bad If not awful, at temps between 325 and 400. The old design is just dumb and why I sold all the multiple pellet grills I tried, and believe me, I tried.... I can buy an electric oven and do the same thing without feeding pellets, cleaning the cookie sheet and vacuuming out the fire box.

The Weber design is completely opposite of this and why I took a chance on this grill.

YMMV

Kevin

 

[LMichaels]

Yeah, I don't have any issue with it. Occasionally (just like the flavorizers on a the gas grills) you simply scrape it off. At least I don't have to deal with the ash and grease mix in the bottom (a real potential PIA IMO and something I don't want to deal with). But, IMO just kinda bad juju casting shade on another's choice

 

[Greg Ross-MN]

My experience is not the same. The cookie sheet does nothing but collect grease and burned on food that you continue to burn and burn and burn that emits a burned stink, not a sweet smoke smell. Even when you clean it or use foil to cover, the first time you use it again, the grease and food just drips, sticks and burns emitting a burned Pizza aroma that is bad If not awful, at temps between 325 and 400. The old design is just dumb and why I sold all the multiple pellet grills I tried, and believe me, I tried.... I can buy an electric oven and do the same thing without feeding pellets, cleaning the cookie sheet and vacuuming out the fire box.

The Weber design is completely opposite of this and why I took a chance on this grill.

YMMV

Kevin

There is some truth to this. One of my friends has a ReqTec and he rarely cleans it. His drip pan is disgusting. A charred, blackened mess. Looks like a burnt marshmallow.

 

[LMichaels]

There is some truth to this. One of my friends has a ReqTec and he rarely cleans it. His drip pan is disgusting. A charred, blackened mess. Looks like a burnt marshmallow.

When I vacuum out my cookers I simply take out the so called "cookie sheet" a quick scrape with a putty knife. Nothing more rigorous that than. I don't see the issue. And sometimes I do some VERY long, and greasy cooks. And sometimes I crank them up to 450-500 deg and have no issues with bad smells or anything. Every 3rd to 5th cook (depending on what the cooks have been previously), I spend all of MAYBE 10 min. Maybe no even that long. If I have to clean the RTD might take 2 or 3 min longer total.
And if I use drip pan under the REALLY greasy stuff like pork butt, or brisket, spare ribs and so on, I almost never even need to take the putty knife to the deflector. I just set it aside, vacuum the ash and call it a day. Then my cleaning takes 5 min. I don't see the issues here.

 

[Sully-NY]

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

Kevin,
I believe I’m having the same issue. Seems like some type of short with my igniter. With igniter housing plugged in the grill screen goes crazy and powers off. With it unplugged, grill seems to be fine. I removed the igniter housing with the grill on and I could see some little sparks when the igniter touched the metal around the square hole upon removal. Also, I encountered this problem right after installing a new burn pot. I’m wondering if when I removed the igniter and housing to replace the burn pot I damaged the igniter housing somehow and it’s causing a short. This all sound similar to your issue? I’ve filed a warranty claim for a new igniter housing hopefully that goes thru. In the mean time could you explain what exactly you fixed with the clamp that you put on, or what to visually look for if it’s damaged? I have a voltage tester but unsure of how to test the igniter. Thanks for your time if you see this. Happy smoking.

 

[KevinRH]

Sully,
Pull the igniter and bracket assemly completely out of the pit and unplug it and start troubleshooting.
Does the pit power on and work with the igniter unplugged, If so it is likely the igniter/assembly.
Plug the igntiter bracket into the wiring with the glowplug NOT installed. Does the pit power on and seem to work? If yes then take your meter and set it to OHMS Setting, on the lowest setting, and measure the resistance of the plug 9 or 10 is good... If lower than 7 or 8 then it is shorted and pulling down the motherboard and making the display error and not allowing the pit to start/function.

 

[KevinRH]

Continued ... Part 2
If the plug measures say 8 to 11 ohms it is good. Then reassassemble the glow plug into the bracket and clamp it together. Make sure you measure the ohms of 2 wire plug assembly after you reinstall it and confirm it still measure 9 ish.

You might have accidently shorted the plug to the igniter bracket assemble when you reassembled the grill and the new burn pot, it happens, been there.

Clamp the plug to the plugholder assembly with a small Oeteker clamp or twisted wire. If you too big of a clamp such as radiator hose type clamp it will not fit back into the pit/burner pot assembly. Thus a small tight clamp is needed. The plug needs to be inserted straight with the harness bracket when clamped and assembled, thus keeping the outer negative connection from shorting with the positive side of the plug. This is how I got into trouble the first time... before I clamped it all together the right way.




I hope this helps someone!

Good luck
Happy Grilling
Kevin