TROUBLESHOOTING AND REPAIR INSTRUCTIONS FOR L&L KILNS
troubleshoot-general.pdf
REV: 4/15/2017
Page 16
2017
L&L Kiln Mfg, Inc. 505 Sharptown Rd, Swedesboro NJ 08085 856.294.0077 F:856.294.0070 [email protected] hotkilns.com
DynaTrol board.
E) You are simply completing each TC circuit without using
the TC wire or the TC. Do not let the ‘U’s touch anything
other than the TC connection points. Note: the fact that a
paperclip is not the proper type of metal to use in a Type K
TC circuit is not an issue for a test like this.
F) Close up the Control Box and turn the unit on. If it still
says
FAIL
then the electronic board has failed. If it reads
room temperature then the TC wire or the TC has failed.
G) If it reads room temperature with these jumpers in, and
you are not sure if it is the TC or the TC wire, just re-attach
TC2’s wire to TC3 and re-attach TC3’s wire to TC2. If the
FAIL
message is still on
TC2
then it is the wire, not
the TC. If it says that the
FAIL
is now at
TC3
, then you
know it is the TC, not the wire (there are many other ways
to determine this as well).
Turning Error Codes On or Off
1) When you receive your DynaTrol the error codes are
turned on. In most cases, you will want the error codes on.
They can be turned off if you are doing special firings, such
as jewelry or glass firing where the kiln is opened while
hot. Turning the error codes off turns off the dynamic zone
control feature that keeps the temperature in the kiln even
top to bottom. It eliminates nuisance shut downs but side
steps built in fail-safe measures.
2) The only Error codes that this can not turn off are
Err6
,
FAIL
, and
ErrP
in both the “Easy Fire” and “Vary Fire”
modes. In addition
Err1
and
Err8
are not turned off in
the last segment of an “Easy Fire” program. This is because
the built in calculations would make no sense if the kiln were
firing too slowly.
3) To turn Error Codes off do the following:
4) Press the
OTHER
button several times until you see
ErCd
.
5) Press ENTER
6) Display will say
On
(which indicates that the error
codes are turned on) or
OFF
(which indicates that the Error
Codes are Off). You can toggle back and forth between on
and off by pressing the
1
key.
7) Hit
ENTER
when you see
On
or
OFF
and you want to
keep that setting
8)
CPL
will display for a few seconds.
IdLE
,
tC2
, and
the current temperature then cycle in the display.
Can you restart the kiln after it stops because of
Error Codes?
You can try to restart the kiln after getting an error code.
Some messages, like flashing
ErrP
and
FAIL
, will not
necessarily turn off the kiln. Depending on the problem
though, re-starting it may or may not let it finish the firing,
or even start up again. An
Errd
will usually not re-start
easily because the temperature top to bottom is drastically
different. An Err1 at the end of the firing will re-start but will
probably re-occur in about 22 minutes. A
FAIL
message
will not go away even if the problem is fixed during the firing.
The kiln can still be firing with the
FAIL
message flashing
along with the number of the TC that failed. Stopping and
then re-starting the kiln after fixing the problem with the TC
circuit is the only way to erase the
FAIL
message.
ErrP
flashing with the temperature means that the kiln is still
firing, after just a short power outage or interference. Just
press any number to clear the
ErrP
. An
ErrP
which is
not flashing must be re-started.
Worst Case Scenario for Restarting After an Error
Code
Keep in mind that you run the risk of over-firing if you
re-start while the kiln is very close to the final temperature.
A pyrometric cone melts with the proper combination of time
and temperature. Add more time and you don’t need as high
a temperature, go to a higher temperature and you don’t
need as much time. When an error code shuts down the
kiln near your final temperature (within about 50 degrees)
and you do not know exactly how long it has been cooling,
or what temperature it reached before the error code
appeared, you run the risk of having too much unaccounted
for time in your time-temperature equation. The DynaTrol
calculates this equation automatically after determining how
many degrees per hour the kiln is climbing (time) and to
what temperature it is climbing to (temperature). However,
it cannot do this accurately after a high temperature re-start.
If you have cones in the kiln that you can see through the
peepholes, then use these after you re-start and turn off the
kiln manually when the target cone bends over.
If you do not have cones visible then you can gamble and
estimate a final temperature based on how many degrees
per hour the kiln has risen, including the time it was off.
For example, you come in and the control says
tC2
,
2200
(degrees F) and everything seems fine in your slow
glaze to cone 6 firing. But twenty-five minutes later you
come back and see
Err1
.
The first thing you want to do is press 1 to clear the error