Whitfield advantage 2 controller board help

[jdroost]

Hello all.
I have been given the task of repairing my parents 1991 Advantage 2 pellet stove.
As bad luck would have it...it broke over Christmas while my father was in the hospital (when it rains it pours).
The issue is the room blower will stop running at times. This can be instantly be made to happen by sweeping
the blower speed pot.off of low. The motor will pretty much only work on full low or full high. I sprayed and sweeped the potentiometer with some deoxit but it did not help. My mom assumed the motor was bad (and we had a new in box replacement somebody had given us) but results were the same after the swap.
Also cleaned all plugs (and replaced the main power cable)..checked the thermostat stat wire (it's jumped) and removed the jumper harness for the igniter upgrade kit that was installed from the factory.
Pretty sure the controller is causing the issue here.
They can't really afford (nor can I) the upgraded digital board...and investing $300+ on a 30 year old stove is causing us hesitation on a replacement board that
is a guess for the repair anyway.
On a side note I build guitar pedals for fun...so I am fairly handy with a soldering iron/sucker.
I pulled the board and it looks like a couple triac's run the motors. I have no clue on their specs and don't
have a scope to test them.
What I feel I can do easily is replace all the electrolytic capacitors (I actually had all but one on hand) and see if that fixes anything..
I assume the pot.could also be bad but it looks to be a discontinued bourns unit and it's a guess anyway.
My questions are.
Has anyone successfully home rebuilt one of these boards?
Also...are the triac's still available if I need one (and does anybody know the part/model #)
**EDIT-looks like it's a * bta12 400c (only see them for sale in Europe/ebay)
Is there a schematic of this board available?
Thanks for any help in advance.
JD

 

[Ssyko]

Welcome jdroost more than likely the bad component is the pot. if the triac's (BTA12-600bw will work) have failed the blower would run constantly or not at all. you won't find schematics for any pellet stove. they don't want them repaired I have 100k cermet pots if you can post the data sheet for yours i will check if the footprint is compatable.

 

[jdroost]

Thanks so much for the quick reply. I was actually able to get numbers off it this morning (PCW1J-C24-BAB503).
It looks like mouser has a header for it but hey don't stock it.

PCW1J-C24-BAB503 Bourns | Mouser

PCW1J-C24-BAB503 Bourns Potentiometers 50K 20% Sq 22mm Single Turn datasheet, inventory, & pricing.

www.mouser.com

I am going to try and ohm test it in circuit today (though I am doubtful that will work).
Going to be a bear to pull it as the frame is also soldered to the pcb.
EDIT* FOUND THIS
https://www.alliedelec.com/orderapp/cart/viewcart

Looks like the shaft may be only difference,

 

[Ssyko]

50k pot in that style is turning into rarity lol if you 90 the pins this may work

3310C-001-503L Bourns Inc. | Potentiometers, Variable Resistors | DigiKey

Order today, ships today. 3310C-001-503L – 50k Ohm 1 Gang Linear Panel Mount Potentiometer None 1 Kierros Conductive Plastic 0.25W, 1/4W PC Pins from Bourns Inc.. Pricing and Availability on millions of electronic components from Digi-Key Electronics.

www.digikey.com

 

[Ssyko]

322 in stock. Exact replacement.

PCW1J-B24-BAB503L Bourns Inc. | Potentiometers, Variable Resistors | DigiKey

Order today, ships today. PCW1J-B24-BAB503L – 50k Ohm 1 Gang Linear Panel Mount Potentiometer None 1 Turn Conductive Plastic 0.75W, 3/4W PC Pins from Bourns Inc.. Pricing and Availability on millions of electronic components from Digi-Key Electronics.

www.digikey.com

 

[jdroost]

It tested bad (open at times ) in circuit today so I pulled it.
Unfortunately it sweeps just fine out of the board (0 to 51k) so unless burning it out of the pcb fixed it (doubtful)
it's not the pot.
I already ordered a new one so it will get replaced along with whatever elect.caps I can get to.
I am not sure what triac runs the fan motor (auger works fine) so I guess I will replace them both
Aside from that...it would need to go out for proper diag.(or I will need the new board).
Parts are cheap enough so far.
I will need to order the BTA12-600bw (although upon checking they are discontinued as well)
Would the bta12-600bwrg work?

BTA12-600BWRG STMicroelectronics | Discrete Semiconductor Products | DigiKey

Order today, ships today. BTA12-600BWRG – TRIAC Alternistor - Snubberless 600 V 12 A Through Hole TO-220 from STMicroelectronics. Pricing and Availability on millions of electronic components from Digi-Key Electronics.

www.digikey.com

Thanks for all the help/information.
It's greatly appreciated.

 

[Ssyko]

Bta12-600bwrg or the 800bwrg have the same general specs that the original has with a 5-50 mv latch so it would actually be a good upgrade.

 

[jdroost]

Ordered the triacs last night.
Tossing darts for sure...but at least it's just my time and a few bucks in parts.
Thanks again

 

[Ssyko]

Jd have you tested the blower motor on its own? It may be hitting it’s thermal shut off and not be related to the pot.

 

[jdroost]

Jd have you tested the blower motor on its own? It may be hitting it’s thermal shut off and not be related to the pot.

It's a new motor (and the old one in the unit did the same thing).
I can definitely put full voltage to it tonight (just to eliminate two bad motors).
One thing I did not do was backfeed my meter and look at motor voltage when fan speed was swept off of the 1 to 3 (towards middle of the pot) setting. (I know I probably should of...but I forgot to).
Can I assume if I hit worse case...I can wire in a fan speed variac for the room blower?
I am not sure of any interaction with the combustion blower.
Will test the fan direct tonight.

 

[Ssyko]

Yes variable will work just dont turn it down to far. i would just hook up a cord and plug it into the wall outlet.

 

[jdroost]

Replaced both triacs and the pot (caps are not in yet).
Still not fixed. It actually was a bit better...but not functioning correctly.
Blower will stall if swept towards 3/4 to full (at times).
I decided to mess with the service trim pot for voltage adjustment (forgot my meter again) and it is causing the blower to smooth out or lock up at times.
Turning it (trim pot) full clockwise and the fan speed to full power causes the motor to make noise and eventually stall. I can sort of come to a sweet spot where I can run the motor on medium setting to but I am afraid to run the stove as the fan still seems to fluctuate in speed.
Maybe the triac is getting too much gate voltage at that point (bad resistor or something) but I am no E.E. and know little about how to diag. the circuit.
I did find a burnt part of the board (r21) near the triac that runs the blower (yes I figured out what one it is) that's reading 96 ohm in circuit.
The color bands look to be either red,black,orange (20k) or orange,black,orange (30k) so without pulling it from the board it's hard to tell if it got cooked. I did re-flow the resistor after pic.

Little disappointed I could not fix it.
I have the elect. caps on the way so I will replace them anyway.
Will get a video and voltage readings next time I hook it up.

 

[Ssyko]

I think that resistor might be brown/black/orange 10k @ 1/2 or 1 watt. Thats just what i can see from your photo. Only way to be sure is to pull 1 leg and ck out of circuit. And it sure looks like its been hot before. If the board has carbonized from a burn it may be leaking voltage out or into that circuit (not likely but possable). How are the voltages at the transformer? Follow the ac through to your pot and see if any thing is open or gone high resistance. The electrolytic caps usually turn into resistors when they go bad so they may be suspect in voltage drop.

 

[jdroost]

I think that resistor might be brown/black/orange 10k @ 1/2 or 1 watt. Thats just what i can see from your photo. Only way to be sure is to pull 1 leg and ck out of circuit. And it sure looks like its been hot before. If the board has carbonized from a burn it may be leaking voltage out or into that circuit (not likely but possable). How are the voltages at the transformer? Follow the ac through to your pot and see if any thing is open or gone high resistance. The electrolytic caps usually turn into resistors when they go bad so they may be suspect in voltage drop.

I had not even thought of tracing it from the transformer side (good tip).
Will spend some time with it this weekend.
Thankfully Pa is looking to be in the 50's this weekend so I have had some time to repair without
my parents using up too much of their oil.

 

[Traveler12]

Hello all.
I have been given the task of repairing my parents 1991 Advantage 2 pellet stove.
As bad luck would have it...it broke over Christmas while my father was in the hospital (when it rains it pours).
The issue is the room blower will stop running at times. This can be instantly be made to happen by sweeping
the blower speed pot.off of low...

Jd,

when the room blower stopped, did the combustion fan also stop, but the auger motor continued to run (piling up pellets in the burn chamber with the flame extinguished from being choked by lack of fresh air)?

 

[BarryDrez]

Hi, did you manage to fix this? I think I am having the same problem. Thank you.

 

[MButkus]

There is someone that can repair the board.

Heatwave Electronics | Stove Controller | California

When your stove stops working due to the controller board malfunctioning, you need not buy a new stove or controller when the controller can be refurbished for a fraction of the cost. Heatwave Electronics can reverse-engineer the controller boards for many of the popular brands and models...

pelletstovecontrollerrepair.com