CAB 50 control board

[mainedan]

what could be causing a control board going dead. I replaced the control board in a cab50 today, as soon as I plugged it in it popped. The only other thing I replaced was the igniter, it stopped working about a day before my first board went.

 

[Ssyko]

Somthing is shorted. Check wires, connections look for burnt or worn insulation, bare wires touching frame or other wire. Unplug new igniter check resistance. What popped? A fuse?

 

[mainedan]

I have checked the wired, nothing seems to be, but I could be missing it somewhere. The ignitor should be 30-50 ohms correct?

 

[Ssyko]

Yeah as long as it’s not a dead short. remove control board then Check harness connections for a short is the wall plug and outlet wired properly? Did the fuse blow on the board? Anything look burnt on the board?

 

[mainedan]

WelI I replaced the fuse on the board, didnt see anything burnt on the board, but I didnt on the original one either. It started up, but the ignitor is not working now. That is the least of my worries, it's $30 not $200+ the board is. I can not find my tester at the moment for the ignitor, but if it is working at the moment and I have to light it by hand for a bit, so be it. Just not sure what to check. Do not want to blow a board.

 

[Ssyko]

On the board there should be a silk screened “F1 or F2” it should be a pico fuse I believe it is near the card edge connections. you can use a dmm and check if it is good or if it is blown/open.

 

[mainedan]

Thanks for the help, I will test the old board to see if it is blown, as soon as I can find the dmm :/ If all goes well, I will have a spare board, if not then I wont

 

[mainedan]

It has continuity, so I am not sure what the issue is, I put the tester on the continuity/audio setting and it beeped, set it to 200 ohm and I got a reading, was fluctuating a bit, but could be my shaky hands,
The stove is working now, I just wish I knew what was causing it so I could check that first next time,
Thanks for the help

 

[Ssyko]

If it has continuity the fuse is good. Thats a good thing. Glad the stove is working,

 

[mainedan]

Ok, I shut the stove down last night and tried starting it up today. The same thing happened as before, it stated, fans, pellets and started to light. Then it just shut down. If I were to test the igniter, what would it's resistance be? Also, could it be a snap disk causing this. Also does the igniter need to be plugged it, just want to eliminate areas.

 

[Mt Bob]

Did it blow the fuse,again? It sure sounds like what Ssyco has said,you have a wire rubbed through the insulation,shorting out sometimes.

 

[Ssyko]

the resistance for the igniter is 35-50 ohms unplugged. Now if the stove is firing up it has to reach a certain temperature. The Thermocouple is what tells the stove there is a fire and to feed more pellets and continue start up mode. What lights are on when you start the stove (in the control box). Did you follow the instructions for the new control box? Mode selector set to 1 in control box?

 

[mainedan]

Well I checked the fuses, all are good, pico, 7 amp and the one on the board. did find the short, the new ignitor burned through the insulation, replaced it with a good one and tried again. There are no light on the board lighting up. tried jumping the #3 snap disk, nothing, tried a new cord, nothing.
The manual says it should be set to #2 on the board, so unless something changed with the setting that I am not ware of it is in the right setting.
I do have power to the outlet.

 

[Mt Bob]

Well,those boards can only handle so much abuse/shorts.Lets see what Ssyco says.

 

[Ssyko]

Did you check for power (120vac at the fuse)? If there is 120 there the board is smoked. Take your board out of the box and check for burned traces and hold it to a bright light to see if any traces in the middle of the board look like theses in the circled area

 

[mainedan]

I'm kinda a newb when using the dmm, continuity and ohm I'm fine with, so I haven't checked for 120vac only tested for continuity. I couldn't see any tracers that look like that, but where the connection interface is, it doesn't look right. I think this is going to end up being an expensive lesson...

 

[Ssyko]

Yep traces blew up in the middle of the board, and yes it is a lesson but not quite as expensive as some other stove boards but still pricey.

 

[mainedan]

Thanks for your help, I can look at it in a positive way, It would have cost $120 for a guy to come out to check, but I still wouldnt know what happened. Teach a person to check tracers and all lol

Thank you