Well, I have fixed the problem! When I took apart the feeder I noticed that the white wire had abraided down to the copper. It occurred where the wire harness goes through the hole in the sheet metal floor. This area was covered up by another piece of sheet metal, so I couldn't detect it without disassembly. About a 1" section of the wire harness was abraded with the copper wire of the white wire (ground wire for agitator motor)exposed. Evidently, this wire was creating a short circuit by contacting the sheet metal case. I taped up the wires and reinforced them, reassebled the feeder and it works great. I am not sure what might have caused the wires to abraid as they did. I suspect either: from the vibration of the operation of the feeder or possible the infamous 'critter did it'. I took a few pictures (poor focus unfortunately) if anyone has any interest. By the way... I would like to make it clear that I did not intend the original post to reflect poorly on Stren feeders. I apologize if this occurred. I LOVE my Stren feeder and would definitely purchase another (if I needed on that is). I would also like to add that both Greg Grimes and the tech support at Stren were very polite and helpful.

Sarc