(ET) RE: Dead on the road: IT"S ALIVE!!!

[Klein Robert W NPRI <KleinRW Npt NUWC Navy Mil>]

Well first let me thank all those who rushed to my aid with well thought 
out ideas regarding my total loss of power.  Dwight, Jim, Markus, John 
Chris Tim Harold, etc were most helpful with their knowledge through 
e-mails but also phone calls to me as well as offers to "bring it over and 
we'll fix that thing together".  Now that I've buttered everyone up let me 
tell you that I printed out every e-mail, sat down with my schematic and 
then headed into the garage to find the problem.  First I crawled 
underneath and checked the traction motor field wires and connector (SAT). 
 Then I opened the hood and removed the relay access door.  All relays 
looked good, all connections appeared good.  No burnt wires, resistors or 
diodes.  Then I removed the kick panel exposing the contactors/solenoids.  
The 4-04 wire was fine and the main power shut-off switch was SAT.  OK I'm 
running out of suggestions.  I checked the throttle pedal (SAT) and the 
brake interlock switch (SAT).  

Then I energized the charger/timer.  It hummed it's normal sound.  As a 
whim I clamped my ammeter around the charger output wire and got zero.  
Hummmmm  Grabbed the VOM meter and started tracing battery bank 
voltages.... AND THAT'S WHEN I FOUND MY PROBLEM!

When I lifted the sear/rear battery cover and started measuring voltage 
from battery terminal to terminal I found one of the terminals GONE!  As 
in "got real hot and melted away!".  The bolt that you attach the cable to 
had super heated the lead which had then melted into a puddle, which let 
the bolt/cable connection free, which then came to rest on the plastic 
battery top where it melted itself into the top of the battery case.  The 
fix ended up being to drill and tap the remaining battery terminal and 
refasten.  TAA DAA!  Problem fixed and back to blowing snow!  The battery 
bank spent the night on charge and this morning was topped off and ready 
to go!

Who would have thought.....

Once again thanks to all who offered help.  It may not have solved the 
problem this time but you can be damn sure I learned a lot more about this 
tractor.  If knowledge is power, I feel a little stronger now.

Bob Klein

P.S.  These pics are posted on www.elec-trak.com at 
http://www.elec-trak.com/forum/showthread.php?p=148#post148



-----Original Message-----
From: Klein Robert W NPRI [mailto:KleinRW Npt NUWC Navy Mil] 
Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2005 8:48 AM
To: 'Chris Zach'; Elec-trak list
Subject: (ET) Dead on the road


First let me say that I've never been so impressed with my Wheelhorse 
C-185 (E-20) then during this last two snow dumps here in New England.  
The combination of snowthrower for removal of the high volumn light and 
fluffy coupled with the quick change to the plow for the removal of 
hardpack on pavement has impressed the entire neighborhood.

Now for the bad news...  One of my favorite neighbors missed all this 
blizzard action by being in Hawaii on vacation (Talk about timing ).  
Being the good simaritan, I fired up the snowthrower and headed off to 
make sure he had a way to get in his driveway and into the house.  This 
entailed the removal of 4-5' high snow drifts over a loose gravel 
driveway.  After two hours I had removed a car width of snow 75' long as 
well as hand shoveled his walk, stairs, and front porch.  Fully exhausted 
I backed out and did a couple of passes in front of the mailbox.  It was 
at this time that I pushed into a pile of snow left from the plow, the 
engine and blower motor loaded down big time.  By the time I removed my 
foot from the pedal all was quiet.  The I figured I had over  heated the 
motor so gave it a 20 minute rest... But the motor was only warm to the 
touch.  Physically disconnected the snowblower.  Checked the fuses and 
50amp circuit breaker... All OK.  Walked home, got my IC Wheelhorse and
with the help of another neighbor towed the C-185 (E-20) back home.  Put 
the charger on.  Pulled the thermal circuit breaker off the motor and 
checked with a VOM meter... Everything OK.  Put the transmission in 
neutral and pushed the throttle pedal and the motor barely moved... Like 
it wasn't getting any real power.  

The front lift vcontinues to work fine.  No smoke or smell of burning 
wires.

HELP!  Could it be that I've fried a contactor/solenoid?

Bob Klein
Really Snowbound in Charlestown, RI


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