Re: (ET) E20 failure mode....

["Mike Wallace" <metman glasgow-ky com>]

Guys,

Give some serious thought to calling up Steve Richardson and buying one of
the Alltrax DCX300-ET controllers, or you'll be fighting these kinds of
problems from now on.  This is exactly why I stopped using my large frame
tractors and put them in the backend of the basement; and then went back to
using my E10M.

Just keep in mind the KIS principle: E8's and E10's are about as simple as
you can get, and the DCX in a large frame will be too.

Mike Wallace
Glasgow, KY

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Zach" <czach computer org>
To: "Elec-trak list" <elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu>
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2004 2:02 PM
Subject: (ET) E20 failure mode....


> Well, it happened. My E20 started to become erratic, so I popped the
> front panel and took a look.
>
> First problem: Voltage gauge reads zero volts. Bought another one off
> Ebay; it reads zero too. Maybe it's a wire or something in there.
>
> Real problem: For the winter and fall I have been without speeds 6,7,8.
> I figured it was something in the control card, as that is supposed to
> control lock-out of the FW circuit. So I took a look at it today.
>
> Two of the four diodes at the bottom of the board were snapped *in two*.
> One of them apparently is acting like a dead short; when I moved it's
> ends apart I got a nice pretty arc and the motor *stopped* in speeds
> 1-4. Speed 5 (FW1, no lockout) brought the motor up to a screaming
> speed. 6,7,8 were nothing.
>
> Apparently this is how it gets the field current for normal driving. For
> speed 5 it was going thru the resistor.
>
> So I took the board off and am going to put new diodes in. What types of
> diodes should I use, and can I just get them at Radio shack?
>
> In addition, one of the resistors looks like it is *bulging* and the
> entire thing is soaked with the residue of mouse urine (it's a nice
> shelf for mice to build their nests; I have sucked out several over the
> years) Is it worth getting a new one? What else should I think about?
>
> Chris
>
>
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