Spirit treadmill dead, no power at all, what's the usual culprit?

[Thomas Martinez]

Saw a few people ask about Spirit fitness treadmills that will not power on, so thought it was worth starting a discussion about it since it’s come up in a few different places recently. Most fixes is easy before people start to go too deep into the treadmill.
Power source, on/off switch, safety key, and for those using UK electrical plugs, the fuse in the power cord are the place to start.

 

[Pixellated Han]

9 times out of 10 the safety key has developed gunk that prevents contact or the magnet fell out of the safety key itself. People dont realize that the magnets on the safety key can fall out and roll under the treadmill belt.

 

[Impossible Ibex]

On the XT and CT models there is also an inline fuse on the lower board under the deck that people typicaly dont consider when troubleshooting. The inline fuse protects the treadmill from power line issues and can blow when there is a power surge in the line.

 

[The Muppets Turtl]

9 times out of 10 the safety key has developed gunk that prevents contact or the magnet fell out of the safety key itself. People dont realize that the magnets on the safety key can fall out and roll under the treadmill belt.

wait the safety key has a magnet in it? I always thought it was just a mechanical switch

 

[Pixellated Han]

wait the safety key has a magnet in it? I always thought it was just a mechanical switch

Yep. On the console side it’s a reed switch and on the plastic key there’s a neodymium magnet. Cheap design but it works until the magnet eventually falls out of the key. Test it by holding any fridge magnet up to the slot on the console. If the console wakes up, the safety key is dead.

 

[Dist]

Tripped internal breaker on the motor is another common one on the Spirit treadmills that people dont consider. On the XT685 models there is a thermal reset button on the motor housing itself. It’s under the hood on the motor but you can feel it and you have to press it to reset the motor internal breaker. I pressed it once when I was done exercising and it fixed the issue.

 

[History of the Karate]

power cord. Always check the power cord.

 

[Fut]

is there a way to test the lower board without a multimeter? mine is dead and I dont own one yet

 

[The Hunt For t]

is there a way to test the lower board without a multimeter? mine is dead and I dont own one yet

lol just buy a multimeter theyre like 15 bucks at harbor freight, if youre fixing a treadmill you need one anyway

 

[The Muppets Turtl]

Tripped internal breaker on the motor is another common one on the Spirit treadmills that people dont consider. On the XT685 models there is a thermal reset button on the motor housing itself. It’s under the hood on the motor but you can feel it and you have to press it to reset …

does the reed switch trick work on the Spirit XT285 too? or only newer ones

 

[Pixellated Han]

does the reed switch trick work on the Spirit XT285 too? or only newer ones

works on every spirit ive touched going back to like 2012. Same parts bin.

 

[Ingenious Dog Dre]

The safety key and inline fuse on the lower board are probably the most common issue on Spirit treadmills according to the number of calls I get. The most common issues that come up with Spirit treadmills are the safety key (due to the magnets falling out of the plastic key), using a GFCI outlet that may have tripped for the bathroom or other outlet in the house, power cord not properly inserted into the outlet or treadmill, and the on/off rocker switch on the treadmill itself. The rocker switch on Spirit treadmills is well known to fail in short order. They are garbage and people tend to not realize its the switch until they replace it. I replaced a dozen of them last year alone. If its not one of these four issues it’s likely the lower board.

 

[Impossible Ibex]

The safety key and inline fuse on the lower board are probably the most common issue on Spirit treadmills according to the number of calls I get. The most common issues that come up with Spirit treadmills are the safety key (due to the magnets falling out of the plastic key), usi…

agreed on the rocker switch. Its a $4 part and takes 5 minutes but ive seen people throw a whole motor controller at it first.

 

[Mysteri]

mine was the cord. Felt stupid.

 

[Fut]

lol just buy a multimeter theyre like 15 bucks at harbor freight, if youre fixing a treadmill you need one anyway

ok fair, whats a decent cheap multimeter that wont die on me right away

 

[The Hunt For t]

ok fair, whats a decent cheap multimeter that wont die on me right away

the cheap yellow harbor freight ones are fine for this stuff. Dont stick it in a 240v panel and youll be ok

 

[The Grea]

Worth mentioning that Spirit treadmills draw a LOT on startup so if you have it on a 15A circuit with anything else that could be a trip. Dedicated 20A circuit is what the manual asks for and most people ignore it.

 

[History of the Karate]

Worth mentioning that Spirit treadmills draw a LOT on startup so if you have it on a 15A circuit with anything else that could be a trip. Dedicated 20A circuit is what the manual asks for and most people ignore it.

dedicated circuit gang

 

[Inquisitive Iguana]

I had one on an XT485 that had the same issue but with a different cause. The surge protector I had it on died. The surge protector itself was fine but there was a reset button on the power supply for the surge protector I didn’t notice that it had tripped after 3 years of using it.

 

[The Muppets Turtl]

how do you actually tell the difference between a dead lower board and a dead motor controller? are they the same thing on these?