Spark and not heating anymore

November 17th, 2022, 7:02 pm

Hi everyone,

I have an izzo Alex duetto v1. I replaced the entire group assembly today with a new one. Was working great. Then I decided to tighten it up a bit as it had some room. I didn't think to turn off the machine and unplug it. When I started tightening the screw, something sparked in my face. It was localized near the pid and static relay. Now the machine will not heat up. I checked the reset switches on the boilers and they're not popped out. The pid display is on, and the heating light is on as well however neither boiler heats up. What did I break? Is the controller fried or could it be something else?

November 17th, 2022, 7:31 pm

Can you post a hi-rez image of what might have sparked to help localize and trace the circuit?

November 17th, 2022, 9:24 pm

I was told the ground/earth cable that is connected to the bolt which mounts the groups to the body was what sparked.

#4: Post by **Pressino** » November 18th, 2022, 12:18 am

If the grounded wire sparked, it must have made contact with another electrified conductor that got "shorted" to ground. In the best situation, that will cause a fuse to blow or breaker to trip while protecting electronic and other components from being damaged. You need to know what current carrying conductor shorted out and follow it backward to find what could have been damaged. Hopefully not some costly thing like the Gicar or whatever electronic brain tells your machine what to do.

November 18th, 2022, 12:40 am

+1

A hi-res image of the area where this occurred might reveal a remnant of the event that would provide clues for circuit tracing.
Semiconductors usually blow before fuses or breakers trip.

Your AC outlet should also be a GFCI variety.

November 20th, 2022, 9:25 pm

You're completely right. I noticed the black wire was stripped and my wrench must've touched it while I was tightening the bolt with the ground wire. I traced the black wire back to the control board.

November 20th, 2022, 9:27 pm

Red circle shows where the spark occurre. Wrench made contact with both the black wires and the ground wire that is around the bolt

November 20th, 2022, 9:31 pm

Purple arrow shows the wires path

#9: Post by **Pressino** » November 20th, 2022, 10:20 pm

You may be lucky and not damaged the control board, if the short merely opened the circuit where the spark occurred. If you know what you're doing and can do it safely, check the continuity along that purple line. Maybe simple cleaning of the contacts is needed.

That's if you're lucky. As Dirty Harry famously said, Do you feel lucky?

November 21st, 2022, 12:16 am

I think I see the bolt that looks black. I also think that the black wire might be a control output from the PID that turns on the relay or SSR that powers the boiler element.

Can you post an electronic schematic or at least a wiring diagram for you machine? It's an earlier version than ours. A lot has changed since v1.