Pedal stopped working PP256

[Timberwolf]

just curious if theres any other 256 owners out there that had their chip go bad for the pedal control? It works great when plugged into the torch switch but won't go above a few amps with the pedal. Wish I could just get the parts sent my way to fix it but looks like ill be sending it in. Gonna be hard to live without for a few weeks. if it weren't for bad I don't think I'd have any luck at all

[performance]

Are you sure it isn't the pedal?

[dgarnier]

if it works with the switch you would think there would be some way to test the pedal and see if it is stuck or is it moving. That way you would know if the problem was with the pedal or the welder itself.

[Timberwolf]

yup sure it aint the pedal. The POT ohms out correctly but just for good measure I swapped out another 50K POT and same problem. Opened up the connector and all looks fine in there. Ray said there was a bad batch of chips so my guess would be that's the problem....unless yall have any other ideas?

[Timberwolf]

I spoke with Oleg and got things worked out. I really can't see why people have these threads on other boards that are bashing everlast. They really do work with you to make sure things are worked out and the customer is happy. Great group of guys working there!

[Timberwolf]

UPDATE: Replaced the 4053 chip and diode along with adding in the cap and all is well again. Then I had an odd problem where the arc would jump when the pedal was halfway down. Turned out to be a dead spot in the POT that's in the pedal itself. Replaced it and it's working great. Now just waiting till the 20 series torch comes in to try that little beast out.

[parkour]

Could you elaborate on "the arc would jump"? Does it get really bright for just a moment?

[Timberwolf]

I would be welding at say 35 amps then give it a little more pedal at which time the HF would come on the arc would go out for a second then come back at whatever amperage it should be at. The dead spot was causing the amps to go to infinite ohms and the HF to come back on. Replaced the pot and problem solved

[geezer]

I would be welding at say 35 amps then give it a little more pedal at which time the HF would come on the arc would go out for a second then come back at whatever amperage it should be at. The dead spot was causing the amps to go to zero and the HF to come back on. Replaced the pot and problem solved

A common problem with POT's is wiper arm tension, A pot is nothing more than wire wound around a horseshoe shaped core, with a little wiper arm that rotates making contact with the wire wraps, if tension is not enough it wont make a good contact and you have a dead spot. They are cheap and easy to replace in most cases. If you have intermittent operation or a dead spot, chances are the pot is to blame. Spinning your dials from time to time actually helps them by cleaning the wiper arm contact, or so I was told.

[parkour]

Timberwolf, thanks.