Re: (ET) non moving tractor

["Steven Naugler" <snaugler earthlink net>]

To Harry and other Elek-Trak users:
    With respect to the capacitors on the control boards:  I had my
capacitors fail open circuit, so I removed the old ones altogether.  After
replacing the first one and two months later having a second one fail, I
just replaced all of them.  I also used a new capacitor of at least twice
the value because that is what I already owned.
    Even if the capacitors are bad the motor should run in speed one 
forward
and reverse, so I suspect that capacitors are not the problem.  The
capacitor is part of a time delay and latching circuit installed so that 
the
motor accelerates slowly enough that you can't do wheelies.  (I remember
part of a review in Popular Science where they tested preproduction
prototypes.  In that article the reviewers mentioned wheelies being a
problem but that GE promised a fix for the production items.)
    I won't add but one more thing to the list of things to check; there
have been many valid ideas listed.  I had one motor with worn brushes that
would not reliably run or start after sitting.  Turning the motor by hand
would sometimes get it to run.  Whenever this is the case you must replace
the brushes immediately.  Running the motor with badly worn brushes will
ruin the commutator after which it is replacement motor city.
Unfortunately, most of or all of the GE Elec-Trak motors must be
disassembled to get at the brushes.

Steve Naugler

----- Original Message -----
From: harry landis <hlandis hotmail com>
To: <elec-trak cosmos5 phy tufts edu>
Sent: Friday, April 16, 1999 4:35 PM
Subject: (ET) non moving tractor


> To the electrac users:
>
> If the dtive motor won't run after sitting for a long time and
> everything else works, you may have an obscure problem that prevents
> the contactor from closing. First put it in neutral, open the access
> cover, and push on the contactor by hand. If the motor runs, then
> there is a good chance that one of the electrolytic capacitors on the
> control board is bad. There are several, and I don't remember real
> well how to figure out which is which. But it is something like 50
> uF. Its purpose is to keep the contactor energized while shifting
> between speeds. If its value is too small, the circuit that controls
> the time delay between speeds won't work. The original value was just
> barely sufficient, and after 20 years, its value decreases. Try
> putting another higher value one in parallel with each of them (one
> at a time) and try the control lever. If the drive motor goes, you've
> found it. So replace it with a higher value one (2X or more) and
> you're  back in business. This is how I bought both my E14 tractors
> cheap. The previous owner couldn't figure it out.
>
> Harry Landis
>
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