Stoven Mishap

TentHunter

TentHunter

Moderator
Well, I'm about to find out how good the customer support is with the Stoven. The Stoven suffered a mishap (My fault NOT Stoven's).

The other night I went out to grill a few steaks on the Stoven and when I turned it on the auger started turning and kept turning no matter what I did with the controls so I shut it off. The auger was turning backwards. Then My son discovered he'd accidentally hooked the 12V battery up backwards :(.

Now the motor doesn't seem to be turning with enough torque and least bit of pressure causes pellet jamming. Being a DC motor, it should be able to run backwards, but since it ran constantly that tells me the voltage was bypassing some of the circuitry and was most likely over voltage which most likely damaged it.

I was not a happy dad, but hey it was an honest mistake which then lead to a lesson in battery safety and why its important to hookup a battery properly (especially to a charger) and it looks like the boy has learned something from it.

I just wish it wasn't at the most likely cost of a motor.

Keep a set of fingers crossed for me!
 
TentHunter

TentHunter

Moderator
Rip said:
...might want to consider a polarized connector...
Click to expand...

Agreed! I am already thinking of ways to prevent this from happening again such as attaching the adapter to the battery with nuts/bolts (since it's a lawn & garden battery it already has the bolt holes).


The 110 connector is already polarized :). I just need to get electricity back to our detached garage.
 
CarterQ

CarterQ

Moderator
Hope you get it up and running without to much hassle Cliff! Unfortunately the lessons that we remember the best are usually ones that were the most expensive, just a guess but I'd say your son will never reverse polarity on a battery again!
 
TentHunter

TentHunter

Moderator
CarterQ said:
Unfortunately the lessons that we remember the best are usually ones that were the most expensive...
Click to expand...

How true! This was also a good opportunity for me to practice patience with the kid who does so much to help me all the time with this grilling/smoking thing!


John from Stoven called this evening and we discussed what happened. He gave me some things to test/troubleshoot and it looks like worst case scenario replacement parts will be less than $100. I sure can't complain especially considering it was not a Stoven caused problem! :p
 
TentHunter

TentHunter

Moderator
The elctronics supplier who makes the control board gave me some diagnostic stuff to check which I plan to do today since its my day off. They're thinking it's either the voltage regulator or motor control chip got damaged due to hooking the battery up backwards. I'll keep you posted!
 
Bear

Bear

Moderator
My Grandad used to say: "A bought lesson is better than a taught one".

I hope it turns out to be a cheap one.
 
TentHunter

TentHunter

Moderator
Update - Good News!

John from Stoven called me this afternoon. The circuit board was fixed with little issue and tested thoroughly under load to be sure it was right. It was being shipped back to me from California this afternoon.

What was unexpected is they fixed it at their cost even though they didn't have to. I can't complain about that! If shipping goes right I should have my pellet grill up and running within a week. :cool:

It's good to see another American manufacturer stand behind their product. :)
 
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