Year 4 with a DVC-500 not off to a good start.... Help!

The original idea of my post was this - if a guy makes a little business of selling POTS on Ebay and has for years then this must at the very least be a suspect part. Now idea number two - is there a better part out there you know like from old TVs or military spec stuff that would make our DVCs more reliable. Now for the rant.

Where is Harman in all of this? Are they above reading this excellent board and do they care more about the dealers than the customer, you know like GM? Why did I buy a Pocono well 'cause the motors I can buy from Grainger/Pat Supply and both LL and Automation Direct are very responsive to customer issues as they seem to care. This is to to say that there are not many other first rate stove suppliers out there but the point I am making is that if LL was to sell me another stove it will not be that my Pocono was worn out but that they had invented a better stove that I needed. Hence my purchase of the AnthraKings. Detroit thought that had the world by the tail but similar arrogance allowed foreigners in and getting the business back will be much harder than just keeping it.

Yes, Harman I am available as a consultant at $1000 an hour - please call me. Of course, other more experienced posters will advise you for free beer but I am hopeful.

Agree. For a seller to have identified these pots as a prob and sell replacements does indicate an issue right... My tech says there's not likely to be a better quality pot in this config. We talked about a better set of pots remotely mounted and wired to the board but I'm not there yet....I've replaced the pots with those from the eBay seller, no change to situation. New board coming .

Harman? Ya this has been a frustrating customer service experience , one I haven't experienced with any other product or purchase. They totally rely on their dealer network for which I understand why. However they then need to hold thier dealers fully accountable to service their product, have common parts and diag tools always available, have properly trained resources and support in any region where they sell their products. They need to monitor and measure their dealer network performance, perform customer service surveys and take action when nessasary. I've spoken to many good dealers that have gone out of their way to support, they are out there for sure. Im not so sure id replace this unit with a Harman unit if i had to. Sorry Harman. My rant.....

Wow.... what a story....and it's not over! I hope you find the answer soon. It's gettin' cold outside.

Got my hands on a new control board. New experience now...... Now the thing immediately turns all but the combustion motor on when plugging in and within a few seconds, gives me 5 blinking lights on the status indicator which means a faulty TCP probe according to the manual. However I had changed that probe already. I tried the original probe and still 5 blinks. I have new draft and combustion motors but thought I'd swap the board first.

Can anyone believe this!

Sounds exactly like the Jimmy, and a few other vehicles I;ve owned. This is why I HATE electronics. Yeah, they're great when they work ... but WHEN they fail $ $ $

ablumny wrote:Got my hands on a new control board. New experience now...... Now the thing immediately turns all but the combustion motor on when plugging in and within a few seconds, gives me 5 blinking lights on the status indicator which means a faulty TCP probe according to the manual. However I had changed that probe already. I tried the original probe and still 5 blinks. I have new draft and combustion motors but thought I'd swap the board first.

Can anyone believe this!

Make sure you do a fresh boot-up in between new attempts so micro processor is reset. You do this by pulling the plug for half a minute and then plug back in...toggling the power switch is not sufficient for a full reset. Miss this little detail and you'll go batty.

Got my hands on a new control board. New experience now...... Now the thing immediately turns all but the combustion motor on when plugging in and within a few seconds, gives me 5 blinking lights on the status indicator which means a faulty TCP probe according to the manual. However I had changed that probe already. I tried the original probe and still 5 blinks. I have new draft and combustion motors but thought I'd swap the board first.

Can anyone believe this!

Hmmm, my olfactory sense is now working overtime. With my totally c rappy Harman P38+ pellet stove (sigh, one of my many life stupidities) the power goes through the probe first. So when you replace it your have to replace the control board as well and at the same time. That is according to the Harman tech who said his training class did not tell him of this. At least, that was his excuse for leaving me in the cold for 6 weeks +. Does that mean together? So whenever this fragile probe dies the board must be changed and at the same time. This locks you into a $500 service call. When I complained about that one he told me these stoves are by law not your primary heat source so what is the problem. That made me feel so much better. Something stinks here. So what are the consequences of that probe going to open circuit or shorting out which to me seem to be the only two possibilities here? Love to know what your tech says on that one. Motors are easy to test and you seem to be very sophisticated and motor failure would have been diagnosed by now. What wonderful reliability engineering? Did the guy that designed this work at GM?

My solution to you is to consider following my idea. On the Yahoo financial HNI message board every hour I posted my tale and suggested that no one should invest in this crappy company. The Yahoo boards are unmoderated but widely read by the investment community. The people who only worry about this mornings stock price at HNI (not your problems) HQ read them too. Within two days a somewhat offended guy called me to give me the secret number and a van turned up to fix it - properly this time. This is the message - Hey Mr. HNI President I will p isss on your grandmothers grave if I have to (whatever) - I need help!!!!!

…..make sure you replaced the circuit board with the right one!...there is a 3/4"x3/4” chip on the board with a white label…..it should say COAL on it….apparently folks try to use a pellet circuit board, they are VERY similar!


...more early morning thoughts!

Yep, been unplugging the power each time I mess with it. Not taking any chances on a $200 board.

I was told by one dealer tech that the pressure sensor ($400!!) had to be replaced at the same time as the control board. No one else has said the same however. The pressure sensor seems to get AC house current in and feed out 5v DC back to the control board. I'm not measuring voltage on that output however nor do I know if I should be all the time.

Techs coming in a week. I have a nice assortment of parts for them !

..... Stalk Harman on the finance boards? Maybe for fun after the holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

coalnewbie wrote:…..make sure the circuit board with the right one!...theres a 3/4"x3/4” chip on the board with a white label…..it should say COAL on it….apparently folks try to use a pellet circuit board, they are VERY similar!


...more early morning thoughts!

This board is used for a dozen or so pellet stoves and some coal units. It very different then the one I pulled out which was clearly single purpose for my stove. The new one has a dip switch bank on it and instructions call out how to set based on stove and of course the dvc500 is listed. It's the replacement part# Harman calls out.

The pressure sensor seems to get AC house current in and feed out 5v DC back to the control board. I'm not measuring voltage on that output however nor do I know if I should be all the time.

Sorry about this thread but I HATE to be beaten and you would think I would be used to it by now. True, but there are only a number of possibilities here.

No voltage out is the norm in which case the hunt goes on.
It is a variable voltage out (unlikely) as pressure level is a make or break and you are not metering pressure
Your meter is busted
By applying 5V in (4.5V from three AA batteries should suffice) all is well again.
Pressure sensor isolated of course

Happy etc.etc.

Thanks.. Heck yea, I hate to be beaten as well.... But I'm running out of logical moves. I'm not so sure it's the pressure switch. Immediately after plugging in and with the temp pot set to off, everything goes on and that's a problem right there. Nothing should go on. So with my new board I have new problems. Ill call the source tomorrow and see abut another board .....for the service guy next Friday! You have to admit, this is insane!

Thx
Andrew

Changed both the draft and combustion motor. Put the original control board back in since the new one clearly has a problem giving me a 5 blink code error. Anyway, plugged it back in and good signs, lit the coal bed and everything seemed to be good. Definite increase in draft and combustion air flow and the coal lit quickly.

......and then 2 blink code!!!! And stage one shut down.

Dealer tech says older DVC500 units need to have pressure switch changed when changing control board. That's why I have the 5 blink code on the new board and they are the second dealer to say that.

Meanwhile, old board is driving new motors correctly it seems until 2 blink code appears.

More to come ......service call this Friday .

Ok here the latest

Dealer that sold me the motors and boards has been working with Harman. They confirmed I need to replace the pressure switch if I replace the control board, another $390. I had sent the board back to them thinking it as bad, he agrees to credit me if that's what I want or he has the pressure switch on order for his stock anyway. Real nice people.

Meanwhile, a local dealer tech (not from my selling dealer) came by yesterday. He had the Harman diagnostic tester with him and he took down all of the readings. He had lots of ideas but I had already done most of them. He will need to speak with Harman on his readings. No charge so far.

So I'm still burning oil. It's been warmer then expected so not panicked.

Next update, next week after I hear back from the local tech......

Thx all.
Andrew