Hi troops

Not new to the boards and been around other stove forums.

I learned of this little corner of pellet stove heaven and decided to check it out.

Some of the members here know me from other parts of the stove galaxy.

Been in the pellet stove world since 1992

Currently running the following stoves

Whitfield Advantage 2 T
Whitfield Prodigy 2
Quadrafire 1000

We are heavy into biomass fuels and burn Hazelnut shells in our 2 Whits

With the old Whits getting along in years and the on board electronics reaching the end of their functional life span, I started work on some custom controllers.

Some of you folks may have seen some of my early schematics and work on the controllers.

I recently completed testing a complete stand alone controller for the Prodigy 2
Testing included several days of operating a series of lights to represent the Draft fan, Auger motor and room air fan, then progressed to running actual components on the bench.

The tests are complete and the unit is ready for prime time.
The switch can take place at any time necessary, with the controller now mounted near the stove it could be done in a short time if need be.

My early incarnations were successful but needed refinement and some components did not make me feel warm and fuzzy, hence a longer development time.

Currently I'm gathering parts to build the new controller for the Adv 2 T

The Prodigy project served as a basis, but the two stoves are a bit different and required several changes in the wiring and control components.

This boiled down to using the same 14/12 control cable, same wire colors to feed the various components and the same recycle timer and latchout relay.

The additions were a one shot start up timer and a bypass relay to feed main power to the system once the low limit snap switch has closed.

Various other little tid bits were added, such as strategically located (in the wiring) indicator LED lights to show that the various components have power (or not) to aid in diagnostics if there is a failure.

This may sound terribly complex, but it is not.

The reason for all this change is to end up with off the shelf parts that handle the basic controls and do so at low cost.

Most control board failures are limited to a few parts, but the parts are not generally available to the general public, and servicing them is tedious work.

My custom controller uses readily available solid state 2 inch square "puck" type relays.
These fasten in the control box with one small bolt and the wiring plugs on with standard spade type connectors.

The remainder of the wiring is all standard color coded copper.

A failure on a cold winter night could be repaired in a few minutes and the fire rekindled.

One strong point is that the timers and relays that were chosen are heavy duty industrial controls rated between 10 and 20 amps load capacity, so the small sub 1 amp draw that they will see normally will never even tax them at all.

The timer used on the auger system has an unlimited cycle rating, so it should last a looooooooooooooooong time.

These being all solid state makes life good all the way around.

The timers/relays are the heavy lifters and are CHEAP by most standards and a spare or two can comfortably be kept in the box of stove parts on the shelf.

Another reason for this endeavor was to add some extra safeties into the systems and allow for more adjustment in the control of the fuel feed (for alternative fuel)

In this past week we picked up another lovely Advantage 2 T for $200 that has control board issues and is otherwise in near perfect condition.

The plan is to use this stove as the test bed for the new controller and then when the time comes, swap out the system on the stove in the house.


A few pix too.

Happy to have found this little spot and looking forward to helping out.

Snowy

 

Welcome Snowy, glad you found us.

 

welcome back

 

Welcome Snowy!!!

 

Welcome Snowy!

 

Welcome

 

oh yeah!

it was your post asking about where SmokeyTheBear had gone that led me here.

 

Thanks troops.

I missed many of y'all and went snooping to see wassssssup.

I have been doing what I do best, just trying to re-engineer pellet stoves, and always looking for a nice EXTRA unit at a bargain price

Here is a copy of my latest Schematic that will work dandy on many older stoves.

 

I missed you guys.

The crew at the old haunt seems to be mostly newbies any more.

 

indeed, i was feeling like an old hand.

 

Welcome Snowy, Glad you found us! Just made my appearance, not to long ago.

 

Sweeeeeeeet

Well I will certainly be enjoying helping those in need as well as cruising the different areas.
Thanks for the "warm" welcome

 

"better a nOOb with the braintrust..."

when Dexter was gone, i just assumed he had gotten tired of answering the same old questions, and had retired to a quiet life where no one could ask him if he thought an OAK was a good idea.

 

Welcome to the show

 

Glad ya found yer way, Snowy

 

You two got some catching up to do.

Glad you both found us, The cast of characters haven't changed at all. or should that be the character of the cast? Friday and Saturday nights still get off kilter and a good snow storm still seems to bring out the "best" in many of us.

 

Welcome!