Trying to revive a NINJA OL501Foodi 14-in-1, 6.5-QT Pressure Cooker Steam Fryer with SmartLid

[KYBOSH]

Found another appliance to experiment on.



https://support.ninjakitchen.com/hc/...4-OL500-Series

Previous owner complained that it would power on but the heating element, located in the lid, would not heat up. Customer support told them there is no replacement parts for it.

Will try to figure out what's what shortly.

Anything i should keep an eye out for?

[sam_sam_sam]

Yes how the top element is hooked to the bottom portion and how it is connected to the controller board my guess would be that either the wire cable is broken somewhere especially if it has been used a lot

[KYBOSH]

Yes how the top element is hooked to the bottom portion and how it is connected to the controller board my guess would be that either the wire cable is broken somewhere especially if it has been used a lot

I tried taking this unit apart the other day and its very hard to do.
But I was able to verify that the wires leading to the top of the cooker (where the convection fan and heating element is located) indeed had continuity with the main board.
So the issue seems to be with the mainboard. My guess (and Im usually wrong) is there is something going on with one of the relays there.
Everything on the secondary side works. The hotplate on located on the bottom works which shows that at least some AC current is getting to its intended destination.



Bottom:

[sam_sam_sam]

The first thing I would do is do a continued test on the heater elementand see if it has any resistance at all check the temperature over loads for a direct connection I would also recommend that you remove the relays and see if they function correctly or not if after you check all of that check all of connections from the heater element to the circuit board and make sure that all connections are secure

[KYBOSH]

The first thing I would do is do a continued test on the heater elementand see if it has any resistance at all check the temperature over loads for a direct connection I would also recommend that you remove the relays and see if they function correctly or not if after you check all of that check all of connections from the heater element to the circuit board and make sure that all connections are secure

That's exactly what I did.
The resistance of the heating iron was something like 2.2 or 22Ω. The fan also had a resistance but I did not write it down. The fact that BOTH the fan and the heating element was not working even though they had continuity made me suspect the board. I rigged the lid so that I could turn on the air fry function while the lid was open. I confirmed that the fan did not turn on, the heating iron did not get hot and there was no current flowing to either from the board (with a multimeter).

[R_J]

Without seeing the bottom side of the board, my first guess is bad soler connections on the relay.

[KYBOSH]

Without seeing the bottom side of the board, my first guess is bad soler connections on the relay.

As requested! Plus the corresponding flipped image of the other side for comparison.





I took the relays off and tested them on the bench but applying 12V to them and they worked perfectly.
I will have to sit down and test the components with a multimeter to see if anything obvious is shorted.
TR1 (204SD6) looks a little dodgy but It may be conformal coating.

[stj]

before you kill yourself, the heater is BLUE & BROWN - standard European colours for mains.
the brown goes through a thermal switch on the lid - there's a second one for something else too.

if i was you i would check all the safety's and look for hidden themal fuses before doing anything else.
it probably has a hidden microswitch or sensor to stop the heater & fan running if the lid is not closed!

[sam_sam_sam]

The soldering wire joints look like crap I would reflow all of the wire connections to the board

[KYBOSH]

before you kill yourself, the heater is BLUE & BROWN - standard European colours for mains.
the brown goes through a thermal switch on the lid - there's a second one for something else too.

if i was you i would check all the safety's and look for hidden themal fuses before doing anything else.
it probably has a hidden microswitch or sensor to stop the heater & fan running if the lid is not closed!

Thank you for the fair warning o' great sage!

I went back and had a look a the wires to see what was what.
The top seems nearly impossible to disassemble.
I haven't seen a way in yet.
Probably some snap tables holding the metal to the plastic housing but I dont want to break anything trying to find out and I haven't sourced a service manual yet.
But I can see the wires leading in and some that lead out.

The brown wire leads to under the pot (possibly to the heating element on the bottom but not to the one on top.
And it's not connected directly to the mains.
The mains are white, blue and yellow.

Leading into the lid are 6 wires and 4 of them are connected to the fan and heating element.
Going in are:
Blue (thick gauge)
Red (thick gauge)
Yellow (thick gauge...comes from a junction point under the pot. not the mainboard like the rest)
Light red (thick gauge)
red (thin)
black (thin)



The heating element is connected to the red and blue wires (both thick gauge).
The fan is connected to a light red and blue wire (both thick gauge). This blue wire is likely split from the 1 leading into the lid.
I do not see the what happens to the yellow wire (earth) or the 2 thin red/black wires.
These are likely connected to the switches and sensors you mentioned but I will have to go get access to it to find out for sure.



Edit to add: I went back and was able to remove some coverings from the hinge portion of the top. There were 2 additional thin gauge wires (black with black connectors) leading to the lid.



These wires have no resistance across them whether the lid is open or closed. Locked or unlocked.
On the mainboard they connect to CN1 labeled "Traditional" Any idea what is meant by this? Is Traditional meant to mean something rudimentary like an old fashioned mercury switch or something?

[KYBOSH]

So i finally got the top of the lid off. Didn't break anything but it was not easy to do. Found an article on iFixit where someone was able to get a similar model off and with that i knew it was at least possible. Here's what it looks like underneath.



What we have here is an ON/OFF switch which i habe confirmed working as when the switch activates (by the pressure cooker lock being engaged) the unit dispalys different operations or options than when its unlocked. And there is continuity across thermal fuse there.

i have not found a seperate tilt sensor but i thinknsuch redundancy is unnecessary with the ON/OFF switch built-in the way it is. The two black wires go to a thermocouple in the lid. I can apply some heat to it tonsee if the resistance increases. But as it is now there is no resistance on it.

One thing bugs me though....this unit throws no errors. It just starts a program and goes about its merry way without the fan coming on or the heating element getting hot. The only thing that does get hot in the few minutes i have it on is the bowl. Even in air fryer mode. Perhaps these things (heating element getting hot snd fan cutting on) dont happen right. Perhaps the inner chamber has to reach a certain temp for the element amd its fan to come on. Unfortunately the manual wouldnt tell you about these procedural things.

im going to verify everyhting on the lid and mark those as not the issue.

[redwire]

Did you check the TCO for continuity? I can see it in a teflon sleeve on the thick red wire, by the fan motor in pic 20240831_141309.jpg
The controller does not know if there is an open-circuit with the heater circuit.

Pic related, air fryers seem to be a winner for the chicken dinner lol.

[R_J]

It looks like the fryer can only support one element operating at a time, if blue wire is common, to the elements, the white wire is the element supply which connects to the RY2 (SRG) and in the position in the drawing, connects to RY1. when RY1 is energized, brown wire (pot element) heats. when RY2 is energized, it turns off voltage going to RY1 and supplies it to Red wire (top element) so is RY2 must be energized at some point.

[KYBOSH]

Thank you Gents.
I went back in and put everything back together and gave it another shot.
Everything fired right up this time.
Heating element activated and the fan started turning.
I only reinstalled the relays.
Didn't touch up any solder joints on any other component.
The solder joints looks good actually sam_sam_sam. No cracks or corrosion.
I have no idea why it decided to work now. There could be something on the mainboard which is failing intermittently but one thing I'm sure of is the issue isn't in top/lid.

[KYBOSH]

Might have spoke too soon. Started getting everything back together and now Im getting the same issue. No voltage to the heating element and fan. Something is up with this board. And most notably there is no error code at all. The unit thinks everything is fine.

[CapLeaker]

maybe the pins on the connectors?

[KYBOSH]

maybe the pins on the connectors?

I'll give it a look tonight. It also crossed my mind that there maybe something up with the contol panel. I tested all the resistors and they are good. Going to look at the diodes shortly.

[CapLeaker]

I'll give it a look tonight. It also crossed my mind that there maybe something up with the contol panel. I tested all the resistors and they are good. Going to look at the diodes shortly.

To me it sounds like a cold solder joint, a broken wire or some safety switch thingy.

[KYBOSH]

To me it sounds like a cold solder joint, a broken wire or some safety switch thingy.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

I went in this morning and touched up all the solder on the primary side but still no joy.
I tested diodes amd they were all good.
I started checking the wires for continuity again.
The front switch had continuity but it had continuity even when I open and closed the circuit with my finger.... weird.
I tested each wire individually. The black wire was open and the red wire was showing continuity on the black wire.
I opened up the loom and this is what I saw:


The switch which in front, which I thought was working was totally not working. It's a safety switch to turn the heating element and fan off when the lid is open.

Problem solved. I debated replacing the whole wire with something more robust but I just soldered them together and shrink wrapped it.
Put everything back together and testing it now.

Thanks so much guys.
Learned a good but about these countertop appliances!

[CapLeaker]

Sweet! You wanted to how how you fix such a thing, now you know. LOL. Did the wire got jammed somehow or is it right at the kink where the lid opens and closes all the time?