Panasonic EP30004 massage chair with motor issues

[Puffie40]

My coworker has a Panasonic EP30004 massage chair that has started acting up on him.  Basically, the chair shuts down in the middle of moving the massage block - the voice system announces "The massage is ending", then beeps about 5 times.  You then have to press the power button again to turn it on.  If a program is not selected, you can operate the recliner functions with no issues.

I've narrowed the problem down to the "Width" mechanism - the width motor will move the rollers outward until they lock and the belt starts slipping, then the controller shuts down. If I manually rotate the width mechanism to the narrowest position and begin a program, the rollers will once again move to the furthest position and slip the belt. (I have not tried this with me sitting in the chair)

so my question at the moment is would this be a belt or width sensor issue?  I found a service manual for an EP30006 (https://www.manualslib.com/products/Panasonic-Real-Pro-Ultra-Ep30006-55068.html), and while Panasonic's service manual has pretty good detail on dismantling the machine, there is not must detail on how the sensor systems work.  There is a section on page 50 on testing the output of the sensors, so Im going to try that tomorrow.

[mike01101011]

Hi Puffie40,

Thanks for making this post. I’m having a very similar issue with my EP30004 lounger.

Toward the end of the back scan, with the massage heads at shoulder height; the heads begin to tap quite intensely, the unit emits a series of beeps / announces that the massage is ending, and the chair shuts down.

Were you able to find a solution? Did it end up being a belt or sensor issue?

Please let me know,

Mike

[Puffie40]

Hi Mike,
I had purchased a replacement position encoding strip for the back massage unit, removed the module from the back to install it, and it seemed to work properly after I reassembled it.  I didn't see anything wrong as the old encoder strip was still in good shape, and didn't need to do any electronic repair.  My guess is some lint was blocking the optical sensor so it could not read the encoder strip.

I did replace the belt as well - it was pretty worn and seemed to slip easily, but I don't think that was the issue.

I should also note the EP30004 appears to be an economized EP30006, so the directions provided in the manual I found will also work with your model.