Brand New Electric Kiln. Is my firmware off?

[tarmael]

Hey team,

Could someone with a Paragon kiln rated to cone 10 (1288°C or 2350°F) confirm the temperature listed in their LIM/SFTY for me please?

I recently purchased a new TNF243, and am having problems. Paragon support is slow to respond, so I'm asking the community now.

The website and the information panel on the side of my kiln say it is rated to 2350°F, but the LIM/SFTY in the options say it will get to between Cone 4 & 5 (1177°C or 2150°F). I believe my kiln was installed with an AF4000 that has been configured with a lower rated kiln.

Thanks for your time

[Hulk]

Hi Tar!

Looks like a good choice - hope you like it! Is it an upgrade for you, or first kiln?

Confirm your controller is "Sentry 12 Key" unit (Sentry 2.0)?

Page 24 of manual indicates

"SFTY / Maximum Temperature View the Kiln’s Maximum Operating Temperature From , press repeatedly until appears. Press . The temperature displayed is the maximum operating temperature programmed in the Sentry for your kiln. (This temperature is also shown on the kiln’s electrical data plate.) It can be altered only at the factory. The controller will not fire hotter than that temperature"

 

err, AF4000 is "AutoFire 4000" ...errrrr... page 23, Orton manual (October 2018)

"Safety Temperature - SFTY This option displays the maximum programmable temperature allowed by the controller. Press the #0/Option key until SFTY appears. Press Enter to view the setting."

Where LIM limit is SFTY value.

Feature:

Safety Temperature limits: Allows the kiln manufacturer to set a limitation on the top programmable firing temperature.

 

You might try contacting Orton; Paragon's website indicates Mesquite (Texas), and the text phone number is Louisiana - they've had some weather recently - else you may have to wait on'm.

Looks like Gameco is the Australian contact, they may be able to help/advise:

https://www.artisansupplies.com.au/product-category/paragon-electric-kilns/

Please report back with your findings? Someone else will no doubt find it useful. Orton AutoFire 4000 SFTY reset setting configuration

I wouldn't expect a cone 10 rated kiln to reliably fire to cone 10 for the reasonable life of the elements, however, it should be configured to allow it to "try" - from there, the typical (mid fire) user may well wish to fire a bit higher than cone six, eh?

[Dick White]

We had this very discussion a few weeks ago with a different person who had a new-to-them Paragon kiln with a similar issue that the controller limit was set lower than the rating of the kiln, and thus made the kiln unusable at its full rated temperature when the controller cut out too low. The user manuals from Paragon all claimed this could only be adjusted at the factory, but @Bill Kielb found an instruction page that indicates how to get into the special options menu of the controller and fix this. Below is the page he found.

 

[tarmael]

The LIM doesn't go higher than SFTY.

So I need the SFTY adjusted to the rated maximum for my kiln.

I have had a response from Orton on how to do this, and I will include the instructions here. However you need to be careful with this. I'm waiting for a further response from the Orton rep about how to fix a problem his solution has created

[tarmael]

Okay, I have a response from Orton.

I will put the instructions here, but I warn, DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK

I'll detail the issues I had at the end**, but here is what the rep said and including my own notes:

How to adjust the SFTY or LIM of an AF4000

The SFTY setting can only be changed within the OEM setup menu, Here is how to adjust it;

 

1. Power on the controller while pressing and holding the buttons 4, 7 and START. The display will show RST.
2. Press ENTER button to see MODE
3. Press #1 button to set mode 1, then press ENTER
4. Select the CFG you wish to use (available options are 21, 22, 23, 31.*)
5. Press ENTER until you see SFTY
6. Use the keypad to set 1300, then press ENTER
7. Press ENTER until you see IDLE
8. Power off

 

The Limit temp or LIM can be adjusted in the normal options menu after changing the SFTY.

 

1. Power on the controller
2. Press OPTION button until you see LIM, then press ENTER
3. Use the keypad to set 1300, Then press ENTER to return to LIM
4. Press STOP to exit the options.

 

To change the mode (I don't know what this does)

1. Power on the controller and go into OEM RST mode as before
2. Select the mode you wish to use
3. Note, modes other than 1 require a password.
4. The password provided to me for Mode 3 is 9995. I do not know the password for other modes

 

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* Note 1

My kiln came with 2 issues:

• The SFTY was incorrectly configured and underrated to my kiln
• The wiring configuration for my relays was wrong (see next section of notes to understand further)

 

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**

21. Appears to be 1 Thermocouple, 2 relay outputs

22. Appears to be 1 TC, 2 relay outputs, separate control for top/bottom elements

23.  Appears to be 1 TC, 3 relay outputs, separate control for top/middle/bottom elements

31. Appears to be 3 TC, 3 Zone

There's a slight difference between all of the above

 

I'm unsure of how the programming for the relay outputs was controlled before, but this only partially worked _BEFORE_ I was instructed to go into the OEM settings and reconfigure the SFTY.

 

Before I was able to power the relays with it's current wiring by setting it to FULL to my desired temperature. Now after going into OEM settings and reconfiguring things, I can't even do that.

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