Primus 2490 electronic control panel

[Randy Dupree]

Thanks John!
With the electronics minded guys we have on WOG the electronics on Primus and aquahots etc is not magic anymore.
For years most of us (well me,anyway) had no clue what all those little things were in a circuit board.
Thanks to all of you electron guys too.

[mburmandds]

Again
The value of WOG steadily rises!
Thanks to all that participate!
I'm glad to have been able to add a small slice of info!

[whited44]

Originally Posted by jrs1951

Wow guys - thanks for all the suggestions. I had not looked at Dupree's site for while and didn't realize they had them. As for repairs Jim, with the exception of replacing the relays (3), anything else is pretty much over my head. (I did replace them - solved a couple of issues but I still have no function from the #1 switch - boiler doesn't start.)

Going to give this one some more thought before I take a big plunge for one.

(I have a copy of the unofficial repair manual. It's very comprehensive and my copy happened to be in Greek, one of the few languages I don't speak.)

I had trouble with one of mine. Boiler wouldn't lite. Ended up being the control board on the actual boiler itself. Gonna get em all fired up over thanksgiving weekend and exercise em

[1984Lodge]

Not sure if this has any bearing on what your doing Jeff, but Austin had posted a while back that he found out that the Primus does not like voltage below 14volts and it was causing an issue with his. He put a little booster on it and it helped cure his issues. He just posted not that long ago, and he is in your neck of the woods in TN too.

[Dieselbird01]

Originally Posted by 1984Lodge

Not sure if this has any bearing on what your doing Jeff, but Austin had posted a while back that he found out that the Primus does not like voltage below 14volts and it was causing an issue with his. He put a little booster on it and it helped cure his issues. He just posted not that long ago, and he is in your neck of the woods in TN too.

Just an observation, Austin was working on a 2480 Primus that uses a glow plug to ignite the gas whereas a 2490 Primus like Jeff Seaman mentioned, uses an electrode ignitor to ignite the gas.

According to the specs., a 2490 Primus should work with an operating voltage as low as 9 volts, whereas the specs for a 2480 Primus say that it requires a minimum operating voltage of 10.5 volts.

[1984Lodge]

Originally Posted by Dieselbird01

Just an observation, Austin was working on a 2480 Primus that uses a glow plug to ignite the gas whereas a 2490 Primus like Jeff Seaman mentioned, uses an electrode ignitor to ignite the gas.

According to the specs., a 2490 Primus should work with an operating voltage as low as 9 volts, whereas the specs for a 2480 Primus say that it requires a minimum operating voltage of 10.5 volts.

More great information! Thanks for clarification on the different models John!

[jrs1951]

Randy, Dennis Jim, Jeff, John and anyone else I didn't mention - thank all of you for your help. Long story shortened a bit: Keep in mind most of this was 'pre WOG' for me. Initially, I could not get the boilers to light. Using the Primus checklist (found on the web) the control panels both front and rear proved to be functional. The boilers and pumps were not. I found the $50 igniter boards on ebay from various manufacturers to be an appealing solution (if I could only make it work.) My initial attempts - (around WOG 2022) - were semi-successful but the igniter/electrode would not consistently light the propane. No matter what, I never got consistent ignition with a variety of electrodes. I even tried, Randy's suggestion of a spark plug. Then came the Atwood boards and Bingo! The spark frequency and intensity is about triple the previous ones (purely subjective - I have no way to measure it) that of the first board. It has never failed to light the boiler.
Now, both boilers are controlled by the Atwood boards. I fried one of the Primus Electronic Control Panels: That is well beyond me for repair. Jim has graciously volunteered to help with a fix.
And Jeff, I did see the posting about the 14 volt fix - I think it was the same day I tried these Atwood boards! Probably could have saved some time and money..
For now, things seem to be working well on the right side of the bus. I just need to get the left side going as well.
Thanks everyone.