Electronic Ignition for Stovetop (w/pics)

[12thgenusa]

I finally got tired enough of the piezoelectric igniter on my Atwood stovetop that I decided to replace it with a battery-powered igniter unit. You know what I’m talking about. You twist the knob; bam, bam, bam . . . bam, bam, bam and sometimes the burner lights and sometimes not.:M
I removed the old igniter and took some measurement to determine the available real estate. I found a replacement electronic igniter for Charbroil grills from Home Depot for $30 that looked promising.
The hole for the original igniter was 5/8” and the new one requires 7/8”. If you have a unibit step drill, that would work nice. But since I don’t and didn’t want to spend the $$ I used a stone grinder bit and “hogged” the hole out to 7/8. You need to “cheat” the hole slightly up and to the left for a little more clearance for the igniter.
Pull the wires off the old igniter and slide them on to the new, order does not matter. Even though the old igniter has round pins and the new has spade pins, the terminals slide on with a tight fit and work fine. Due to the higher voltage of this unit I saw occasional flashover between the terminals when it was activated. I solved that by adding a second layer of heat shrink over the terminals.
The new igniter has four terminals and since the stovetop only has three burners, that left one to add a sparker for the oven pilot light. The new unit comes with spare 37” and 32” igniter wires. I joined the two together and they were long enough to reach across the stovetop, and follow the oven control plumbing down into the oven. The longer wire looks like it has a high-temp coating, but I also wrapped the part that is actually in the oven with high-temp fiberglass tape. I needed a sparker so I removed the one from my gas grill side burner, which I never use anyway. After removing the burner assembly from the oven, I “guesstimated” the location for the sparker and drilled a 7/16” hole in the pilot support plate. Once the sparker was in place, I reinstalled the burner assembly. The sparker electrode had to be “tweaked” slightly to get a reliable spark to the outlet end of the pilot light tube.
If you don’t add the oven igniter, you need to install one of the supplied wires on the fourth terminal and coil and stow the wire so that it won’t short to the stove. If you don’t do this, the bare terminal on the igniter will flashover to the others.
After installing the single AA battery and turning on the gas, it was time for a test run.
Aaaahh . . . The stovetop burners light almost instantly, quietly and reliably. The electronic ignition sparks about six times per second for as long as you hold the button as opposed to three sparks per half-revolution of the knob on the old one.
The oven pilot lights nicely. I’ve found that if you turn the oven knob to “pilot” and hold it for about 10 seconds and then push the igniter button, it will light almost instantly. I was a little concerned about the wire in the oven, so I heated the oven to 500 degrees for a test. Everything looks good and smoke check passed.
DW is HAPPY, and you know what that means . . .:B

Before


Old Piezoelectric Igniter


New Electronic Igniter


Oven Pilot Light Sparker Installation


After

[homefor2]

I just completed this mod thanks to the OP. Only issue I had was trying to get the oven door off to make the install easier. Here is how it's done on a Magic Chef oven:
I figured it out. The Magic Chef oven has a bottom hinge and 2 larger levers at the bottom. The larger levers are spring loaded and have a hole in each one.

1. With the oven door all the way open, grab the larger lever with a pair of channel lock pliers and pull down and towards the door handle. Be careful not to let go as they are spring loaded. Having someone help put a nail in the hole of the lever will make it easier.
2. Do the same on the other side then you can lift the door till the nails take the pressure of the spring

3. Undo the small bottom hinge that's held on with a phillips screw. Support the door while removing the screws and it comes off.

[firecapt1]

Good job Jim!!

Now add a metal signal mirror to the oven floor and tilt it so that you can see when the pilot lights without having to bend down.

[JEBar]

4-7-14 .... today I was able to get back out in the camper and complete the install .... keys to making the project easier for me have been:

1 ... removing the oven door so as to be able to get closer to the oven pilot

2 ... being able to tilt the oven's heat diffuser so as to create work room

the oven door proved to be easy to remove when you know which way to pull .... when reinstalling the oven door the hinges can be dangerous .... they are spring loaded and need to be approached with extreme caution .... I used a pry bar to open them and direct them into the slots in the oven housing .... knowing what I know now, the install is a relatively simple one but in learning the process, lets just say there is a most definite learning curve .... I do want to press the point that this mod doesn't require any changes to the oven's propane system .... it only involves the source of the spark that ignites the surfaces burners and substitutes the same type of spark for igniting the oven pilot .... if we ever go to a different camper or if we ever replace the stove in ours. it is a mod that we will make again

Jim

[firecapt1]

You may be able to just remove the oven door. Mine comes off easily and allows better/easier access to the oven interior.

[JEBar]

suggestion appreciated .... I'm afraid that is the route I'm going to have to take

Jim

[12thgenusa]

I would suggest removing the whole unit for easy access. There are just four screws under the stove top and two below the oven door. Disconnect the gas line. The unit is a little bulky but not heavy. I've had mine out several times to untangle the shore power cord that is stored underneath the oven.

[JEBar]

with out camper, there isn't much room between the oven door when it is open and the cabinet with the sink .... suggestions as to how to approach gaining easier access to work on installing the sparker in the pilot area

Jim

[JEBar]

myredracer wrote:
JEBar and AnEv942, thanks very much, that's the info. I was looking for. I'd prefer the electrodes to be mounted underneath out of harm's way.

even though no problems with the wire going to sparker in the oven have been reported, I still want to keep it as far from the burner as is possible

Jim

[mikestock]

I made the same upgrade to mine a couple of years ago. I also ran another down to the oven pilot. That's the one that has been most beneficial. No more stooping. I purchase from Amazon, a striker made for a Weber grill.

[Harvey51]

Glad to see this thread bumped up again! A big thank you to 12thgenusa and others for inspiring me to do the mod. I posted my pictures on the BC RV forum to spread the word.
http://www.bcrvforum.com/cookstove-electronic-igniters-t1313.html

[myredracer]

JEBar and AnEv942, thanks very much, that's the info. I was looking for. I'd prefer the electrodes to be mounted underneath out of harm's way.

[AnEv942]

Myredracer- yes either will work. As long as the spark is in the gas flow path. Most, where you see 'inside' the burner are using factory ignitor. Thats what I did, unplugged stove top ignitors from manual striker and plugged into the new one.

Which is what I believe 12thgenusa (OP) did, then later installed externally as noted here.http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/24521274/gotomsg/27034982.cfm#27034982.

Been a while scince I had my burners out-Im unsure you can seperate to install inside? Does your stove top have the manual striker?
Mark

[JEBar]

myredracer wrote:
I note that the OP has the electrodes inside the aluminum "cans" on the underside. I have seen a few pics where some have a long electrode mounted on the side of the "can". Can either method be used? I have long electrodes and could cut them short to go inside the cans. I think OP had them there because that's where the original ones were.

for our surface burners, my plan is to use the OEM electrodes .... I have a long electrode that I plan to use for the oven but I'm still trying to figure out the best way to mount it .... that decision may not be made until I actually get to working on the install

Jim

[2littletime]

This is the best mod that I have done on my TT. Purchased from Academy for about 14.00

[myredracer]

I hope someone can answer this.

I bought an igniter kit to install in our cooktop. Only $9 at WM because the package was opened (yes, it does work fine).

I note that the OP has the electrodes inside the aluminum "cans" on the underside. I have seen a few pics where some have a long electrode mounted on the side of the "can". Can either method be used? I have long electrodes and could cut them short to go inside the cans. I think OP had them there because that's where the original ones were.

Does it matter which way you mount them? Some have said if you mount them on the side, it's finicky where you put the tip of the electrode so it will ignite okay. I'd rather put them on the underside where they are out of the way.

It sure seems dumb that you have to pay tens of thousands for your TT only to have to use a BBQ lighter on your cooktop.... :R