I have a Horizon 7.0AT treadmill with a dead console that someone was giving away for free on Facebook Marketplace. They had recently had it moved from the basement to a finished part of their garage only to find it was no longer working. I figured for the price I'd take a shot at fixing it myself.

I tested the cable between the lower and upper board first since that seems to be a common fault point after a move but it checked out. So possibly it was plugged into to an outlet that wasn't properly grounded once moved and subsequently suffered some sort of surge through the upper board?

The upper board receives power that's distributed to parts of it, but other parts are completely dead. It shows no sign of life - no lights, no working buttons. There also doesn't appear to be any schematic available online. There's a 7 blink code on the lower board that, as far as can tell, is a communication error with the upper board, which is probably not taking back at all in its current state.

Here's a picture of it when I first opened up the console, a picture of the top of the board after I did a crappy job swapping out a few suspicious capacitors, and a picture of the bottom of the board. Also a PDF from Johnson Fitness on the lower board that contains the pin layout to the upper. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

OK, for those of us nat familiar with things described by model number, what is a "Horizon 7.0AT ?

 

OK, for those of us nat familiar with things described by model number, what is a "Horizon 7.0AT ?

Sorry about that. It's a treadmill. I just edited that in.

 

Since you get "light blinks" on the top and bottom board, it seems that at least some of the power is present. And it is not reasonable that lack of a ground caused any of the problem, because that is not an operational ground, it is a shock-safety ground. So the next step will be checking fuses, which there are probably a few of them.
While the cables checked good, what about the connectors? That "MCB "file includes quite a few connectors and the voltages that are supposed to be present. If you can back-probe the connectors while the thing is powered that will reveal if the power is on and being distributed. One other thing to investigate is the safety switch. It may shut everything off if it is not working right.

 

Is this a MC2100 motor board on this model?
If so, what is the rate of blink on the man board LED?, also there is a 8 wire cable that communicates from the motor board to console, HD2 on the MC2100, if it has this version.

 

OK I see from the PDF it is not the MC2100 version!

 

Since you get "light blinks" on the top and bottom board, it seems that at least some of the power is present. And it is not reasonable that lack of a ground caused any of the problem, because that is not an operational ground, it is a shock-safety ground. So the next step will be checking fuses, which there are probably a few of them.
While the cables checked good, what about the connectors? That "MCB "file includes quite a few connectors and the voltages that are supposed to be present. If you can back-probe the connectors while the thing is powered that will reveal if the power is on and being distributed. One other thing to investigate is the safety switch. It may shut everything off if it is not working right.

Where the pin layout for the MCB to console states 1-8 to be:
12V, 12V, SIGNAL_A, SS 5V, N/A, SIGNAL_B, GND, GND,
I get:
12.11V, 12.11V, 9.53V, 11.46V, 7.14V, 9.69V, GND, GND.
The cable connecter on the console (upper) board seems good, but I can't see which way each trace goes once on the board so I'm not positive how to check. There is power present on some parts of the board, but not anywhere there are lights or controls. A schematic would be most helpful for sure.
The blinking light is only on the lower (power supply/motor control) board. There are no lights or any other sign of life on the upper (console) board.
I can't say that I see any fuses on the console board, aside from maybe one or two on the bluetooth module which have continuity.
It seems the safety switch is functioning properly as the relay on the motor control board clicks on and off when the key is inserted and removed.

 

OK, if the motor control relay clicks but nothing happens then motor power may be the problem. Now there is another area to examine.

 

OK, if the motor control relay clicks but nothing happens then motor power may be the problem. Now there is another area to examine.

I measure 0.71V to the motor with the safety key removed and 0.38V with it inserted, but that's with no signal from the console for it to run. I'm not sure if I can test it any further without the console working, or figuring out someway to tell it to run manually.

 

Hi All..... I read we have "7-blinks" on that lower controller, which should be the Horizon 1000111476 lower or possibly the 1000111682.
Now if we don't get a good boot or power upstairs, we won't chat(communications error), that will lock-out the lower until power is cycled.
If we have some voltages upstairs and missing others, we won't have a viable CPU running, so no keys should do anything nor will we get any beeps if there is a piezo mounted. I see some possibilities on the upper board as to issues, and I also know this particular upper had some issues at release. We should have a few of these refurbished if you end up needing one, you're welcome to one at no fee. I would be throwing out guesses without seeing the board or checking a few things. Johnson switched from the trusty Motorola MSP430 to a few different CPUs thru the 2013-2020 years, some codings were taken in blocks from the Motorola cpu and plugged into the new cpu's but the pwm spreads allowed, registers and some other factors caused issues in early models. I didn't check the pdf for lower number, but I know this is one of Johnsons digital units. I won't be back to the shop for a day or two but will check that board number and drop a comment on here, or you can post me a message if I can figure that stuff out ;o)

The mentioned "clicking" can be precharge relay, main relay, up lift, or down lift, with no LED indicators, so that won't point us anywhere good. The power for the motor-rail will NOT engage until all system checks are valid, including communications with the upstairs cpu, movement of lift usually in both directions, checking for a Hall-Effect "tick"(pulse) in each direction of spin, and valid setpoints set. If the CPU faults(blinks) you won't get any motor rail energized. The reading on those tabs with a lower powered but not engaged should be about 15-18v which is a bias voltage that can appear on tabs.

Servicers also tell me over and over they "measure xx volts" on the motor tabs when troubleshooting, and I must remind them, you are measuring a chopped slice of a BULK motor voltage of about +165vDC to which a meter will average and display, but they are on a low range or scale and that meter is seeing slices of HIGH Voltage, so when measuring the motor tabs, always leave that meter on it's highest range setting ;o)

 

Hi All..... I read we have "7-blinks" on that lower controller, which should be the Horizon 1000111476 lower or possibly the 1000111682.
Now if we don't get a good boot or power upstairs, we won't chat(communications error), that will lock-out the lower until power is cycled.
If we have some voltages upstairs and missing others, we won't have a viable CPU running, so no keys should do anything nor will we get any beeps if there is a piezo mounted. I see some possibilities on the upper board as to issues, and I also know this particular upper had some issues at release. We should have a few of these refurbished if you end up needing one, you're welcome to one at no fee. I would be throwing out guesses without seeing the board or checking a few things. Johnson switched from the trusty Motorola MSP430 to a few different CPUs thru the 2013-2020 years, some codings were taken in blocks from the Motorola cpu and plugged into the new cpu's but the pwm spreads allowed, registers and some other factors caused issues in early models. I didn't check the pdf for lower number, but I know this is one of Johnsons digital units. I won't be back to the shop for a day or two but will check that board number and drop a comment on here, or you can post me a message if I can figure that stuff out ;o)

The mentioned "clicking" can be precharge relay, main relay, up lift, or down lift, with no LED indicators, so that won't point us anywhere good. The power for the motor-rail will NOT engage until all system checks are valid, including communications with the upstairs cpu, movement of lift usually in both directions, checking for a Hall-Effect "tick"(pulse) in each direction of spin, and valid setpoints set. If the CPU faults(blinks) you won't get any motor rail energized. The reading on those tabs with a lower powered but not engaged should be about 15-18v which is a bias voltage that can appear on tabs.

Servicers also tell me over and over they "measure xx volts" on the motor tabs when troubleshooting, and I must remind them, you are measuring a chopped slice of a BULK motor voltage of about +165vDC to which a meter will average and display, but they are on a low range or scale and that meter is seeing slices of HIGH Voltage, so when measuring the motor tabs, always leave that meter on it's highest range setting ;o)

Hey IamJatinah, I was hoping you'd pop on here. I've noticed in some other threads that you're somewhat of an expert on Johnson Fitness equipment.

To confirm a few things, it is a Horizon 1000111476 lower board, and some of the upper board (1000376365) has power, but only shows it with a meter. There are no working lights or buttons whatsoever upstairs. The "clicking" sound comes from the lower board when the safety key in the upper board is inserted and removed, so I'm guessing this is either the precharge or main relay.

The previous owners stated that this machine worked fine until they moved it from their basement to their finished garage. Can you think of anything, besides a damaged data cable, that may have caused it to stop working after the move? It seems to me that it would be one heck of a coincidence if the move isn't what caused it to stop working. Providing, of course, they told me the whole truth.

Of course I wouldn't turn down a refurbished board if you're offering. I'm not sure how that would work exactly, but I could set up shipping and also send you my faulty one as trade.

 

Hi JMcG, well I am far from an expert in anything, but Johnson stuff I know for a good reason, aside from working for them for a while, we service most of their assemblies daily.

Moving these treads stresses the little service loop cable lengths and we find cable conductors pulled from housings leaving open signal paths, power loss, no safety key working.

The quickest way to get you back up would be to swap the board, and send that dead one to me and we look at it closer. I have seen the old 32k oscillators fail when we used the MSP430, and many of the newer CPU choices don't use the 32k or even the watch type, and appear more robust overall, so I might check to see it's running if you have a scope, if not, run your fingers across the leads of the oscillator, and watch or listen for that cpu to change states, as in the past I have seen my body capacitance spike a timing pin and a powered CPU advance an instruction or change states, telling me no valid crystal was working, rare find but possible. More likely, we may have an open resistor on the upper board disabling a power supply as there are a few smaller power supplies up there for the CPU and display. We could also have a failed CPU itself, quite hard to 100% that until you literally hot air a suspect and replace it with a known good pull, which we've done to verify failures and trends.
No schematics available for Johnson products, but I have found a few quazi schemo's on their websites over the years for Matrix stuff. Engineers in the States had to make their own as China wouldn't release them after initial designs were sent and cobbled or costed-down so only the few nerds out there knew the circuits, intents, restrictions and abilities of the Johnson groups, designs, formats.

The safety key click may be the precharge relay, as when lift is engaged, the CPU would prefer to return it to where it started, down .5 degree, relays click, lift up .5 degree, and the upper just verified dual drive as well as Hall-Effect ticks in each direction instead of the potentiometer showing the throw position of the lift, now the console gets to count, add, subtract, and recall, silly change and added part-count(cost).

I will try to message you thru this blog and we get address info, and I zip out a board if we have one. You give it a spin, if it works, you're all set, if not, we forge forward on another course ;o)

 

Hi JMcG, well I am far from an expert in anything, but Johnson stuff I know for a good reason, aside from working for them for a while, we service most of their assemblies daily.

Moving these treads stresses the little service loop cable lengths and we find cable conductors pulled from housings leaving open signal paths, power loss, no safety key working.

The quickest way to get you back up would be to swap the board, and send that dead one to me and we look at it closer. I have seen the old 32k oscillators fail when we used the MSP430, and many of the newer CPU choices don't use the 32k or even the watch type, and appear more robust overall, so I might check to see it's running if you have a scope, if not, run your fingers across the leads of the oscillator, and watch or listen for that cpu to change states, as in the past I have seen my body capacitance spike a timing pin and a powered CPU advance an instruction or change states, telling me no valid crystal was working, rare find but possible. More likely, we may have an open resistor on the upper board disabling a power supply as there are a few smaller power supplies up there for the CPU and display. We could also have a failed CPU itself, quite hard to 100% that until you literally hot air a suspect and replace it with a known good pull, which we've done to verify failures and trends.
No schematics available for Johnson products, but I have found a few quazi schemo's on their websites over the years for Matrix stuff. Engineers in the States had to make their own as China wouldn't release them after initial designs were sent and cobbled or costed-down so only the few nerds out there knew the circuits, intents, restrictions and abilities of the Johnson groups, designs, formats.

The safety key click may be the precharge relay, as when lift is engaged, the CPU would prefer to return it to where it started, down .5 degree, relays click, lift up .5 degree, and the upper just verified dual drive as well as Hall-Effect ticks in each direction instead of the potentiometer showing the throw position of the lift, now the console gets to count, add, subtract, and recall, silly change and added part-count(cost).

I will try to message you thru this blog and we get address info, and I zip out a board if we have one. You give it a spin, if it works, you're all set, if not, we forge forward on another course ;o)

Unfortunately, I don't have an oscilloscope, so I tried the method you mentioned to test the oscillator but didn't hear anything change with the CPU.
It also seems that I don't have enough cred on this site to initiate a private conversation, so I'll have to leave that to you. Hope to hear from you soon.

 

I have a Horizon 7.0AT treadmill with a dead console that someone was giving away for free on Facebook Marketplace. They had recently had it moved from the basement to a finished part of their garage only to find it was no longer working. I figured for the price I'd take a shot at fixing it myself.

I tested the cable between the lower and upper board first since that seems to be a common fault point after a move but it checked out. So possibly it was plugged into to an outlet that wasn't properly grounded once moved and subsequently suffered some sort of surge through the upper board?

The upper board receives power that's distributed to parts of it, but other parts are completely dead. It shows no sign of life - no lights, no working buttons. There also doesn't appear to be any schematic available online. There's a 7 blink code on the lower board that, as far as can tell, is a communication error with the upper board, which is probably not taking back at all in its current state.

Here's a picture of it when I first opened up the console, a picture of the top of the board after I did a crappy job swapping out a few suspicious capacitors, and a picture of the bottom of the board. Also a PDF from Johnson Fitness on the lower board that contains the pin layout to the upper. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

View attachment 237298View attachment 237299View attachment 237300

I had the same issue, I called horizon and they sent me a replacement board. A couple of months later, the same thing happen again. So I started inspecting the board, and the screenshot attached shows what I found to be the issue. This little section is a bank of resistors and one capacitors. If you look at the board, this little circuit section is just to the right of the fan. From the naked eye it looks like its totally normal. But if you magnify the area, I use a jewelers loop, you will see some type of green crust on the capacitor that is causing a short. Being extremely careful, I used a needle, I carefully remove the crust from the capacitor. If you are lucky the capacitor is still soldered and once you remove that crust hopefully the board will turn on. If it does not likely the capacitor is toast. I thought I resolve the issue, but a few months past and again the board treadmill console was cutting off and on. I rechecked the board and the green crust had come back. Cleaned it again, CAREFULLY, and of today (11/14) its working. My challenge is trying to figure what type of capacitor it is, because I believe its a manufacturing defect and would like to replace the capacitor and try to figure out what is that green crustiness. Hopefully you did not get rid of the treadmill. It is a good treadmill its just this issue that is a bummer. You can contact Horizon and get a replacement console board, but I would inspect it because its a mfg defect. Good luck.

 

I had the same issue, I called horizon and they sent me a replacement board. A couple of months later, the same thing happen again. So I started inspecting the board, and the screenshot attached shows what I found to be the issue. This little section is a bank of resistors and one capacitors. If you look at the board, this little circuit section is just to the right of the fan. From the naked eye it looks like its totally normal. But if you magnify the area, I use a jewelers loop, you will see some type of green crust on the capacitor that is causing a short. Being extremely careful, I used a needle, I carefully remove the crust from the capacitor. If you are lucky the capacitor is still soldered and once you remove that crust hopefully the board will turn on. If it does not likely the capacitor is toast. I thought I resolve the issue, but a few months past and again the board treadmill console was cutting off and on. I rechecked the board and the green crust had come back. Cleaned it again, CAREFULLY, and of today (11/14) its working. My challenge is trying to figure what type of capacitor it is, because I believe its a manufacturing defect and would like to replace the capacitor and try to figure out what is that green crustiness. Hopefully you did not get rid of the treadmill. It is a good treadmill its just this issue that is a bummer. You can contact Horizon and get a replacement console board, but I would inspect it because its a mfg defect. Good luck.View attachment 252716

That seems like some excellent detective work!!

 

One thread is enough, let's keep it over there
https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/horizon-7-0at-treadmill-console-assistance.183115/