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Re: (ET) ok, not the fusible link




On Sun, 30 Jul 2006, David C Robie wrote:

HEY RJ - best one yet on this thread.  Time's a wastin.  And if she ain't
fixed right shortly, it is very hard to do Etroubleshootin with mittens
on.

Fortunately we have a two car garage - and the ET will be spending all of its down-time in there, nice and cozy. After all that time I spent strippin' her down and repainting, I'm not going to leave this beauty sitting out in the elements. :) (actually, I forgot to respond to your previous email about paints fading in the sun, and such. No worries here, since other than when she's in use, she won't see the sun).

Mike


Dave
Weymouth MA


On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 22:26:48 -0400 "RJ Kanary" <rjkanary nauticom net>
writes:
        If CB-1 is open, NOTHING works. Including the lift motor.
Also the
RTN circuits. No RTN, no PTO.CB-2, on the firewall, prevents the
firewall
taking on the literal sense of the term in the event that one of the
charger
diodes should fail shorted.
      As far as repairing the fuse holder.........depends on your
determination.While you are pondering that, get an inline fuse
holder,
splice it in, and get this thing working.We're burning daylight
here, and
soon it will be snow plowing time...................

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael S Briggs" <msbriggs alberti unh edu>
To: "RJ Kanary" <rjkanary nauticom net>
Cc: <elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu>
Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2006 10:08 PM
Subject: Re: (ET) ok, not the fusible link



RJ,
 Alrighty, will do (tomorrow morning). It will be my first time
doing anything on the drive motor - haven't touched it yet.
 Kind of funny - based on the schematics, I figured it could be
CB-1 - but I thought that was the thermal breaker near the fuse
panel. :)
 It may have failed - but it's seeming now like it should be
something else, since after soldering that control fuse holder, I
am
seeing some voltage on the fuel gauge (doesn't seem to be reading
accurately though), and from the schematic, it looks like the fuel
gauge
shouldn't read anything if CB-1 is open. Also, the PTO outlet
isn't
working, and CB-1 isn't on that circuit (at least it looks that
way from
the schematic).
 On the fuse holder - is there any way to fix the old one, or
should the whole thing be replaced? So far, it's seemed like my
attempt at
soldering the connection there hasn't been very effective.
 Hm, just realized that I haven't tried running the lift motor
since it died - I'm assuming it doesn't work, but knowing for sure
might
help isolate the problem. I'll try that in the morning too.

Thanks,
Mike

--

--------------------------------------------------------------
Michael S. Briggs
UNH Physics Department
(603) 862-2828
---------------------------------------------------------------

On Sat, 29 Jul 2006, RJ Kanary wrote:

   Knowing now that you have an AA model..................<VBG>,
I can
tell
you that the early fuse holders were problematic. What ever fault
cause
the
fuse to open could well have finished off the holder as well.
     Remember that bad high current connection that I suspected
that you
may
have, due to the motorboating and chattering that you had ?  I
think that
you
just may find it now. Take a look at CB-1, that large Klixon®
thermal
limiter
on the traction motor case . If it has failed open, nothing would
power
up,
including the "Fuel Gauge".
       Fix the fuse holder, investigate CB-1, and report back
with your
findings. :)

----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael S Briggs"
<msbriggs alberti unh edu>
To: "RJ Kanary" <rjkanary nauticom net>
Cc: <elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu>
Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2006 9:08 PM
Subject: Re: (ET) ok, not the fusible link



RJ,
 Mine's an AA.
 An update on what I've looked over:
 Since the fuel gauge wasn't showing anything, I decided to try
tracking
the path around it to see where the path was broken. From the
positive
end
of the pack to the fuel gauge was fine, the problem was on the
end from
the
- end of the pack to the fuel gauge. The path was fine to the
fuse
holder,
and fine from the fuel gauge to the side of the fuse holder
closest to
it.
So, that would seem to indicate blown fuse - but the fuse was
fine. What
I
ended up finding was that with the fuse in the fuse holder, it
had no
connection to the screw terminal where the wires connect.
 I tried just cleaning everything out well, filing off any
possible
rust,
and then sprayed it down with De-Oxit cleaner, but still
nothing.
 The rivet connection where the fuse holder is connected to the
plate
that
the screw is on (where the wires connect) was loose and wobbly,
apparently
not making a good connection. The other fuse holders looked nice
and
tight
at that rivet, but not this one - so I figured maybe I had
somehow
weakened
the rivet when I pulled out the blown fuse to replace it.
 So, I figured I'd try soldering that connection to make a
better
contact
between the fuse holder and the screwed in connections. That may
not
have
been a great idea (that block with the fuse holders connected
doesn't
seem
to like the heat), but it did at least get it where now when I
engage
the
power disconnect, I do get a reading on the fuel meter gauge -
but it
was
much lower than it should have been, and still nothing works -
no drive
motor, no PTO, etc..
 So, for the time being I pushed the tractor back into the
garage (man
that
thing is heavy - especially when you're pushing it up a hill).
Got a
good
workout though. :)
 It may just be that the fuel gauge is reading low due to some
additional
resistance somewhere in the path (perhaps at the fuse holder),
but I'm
also
suspicious that the pack may have been slowly discharging
through some
short somewhere - so I disconnected the negative-most battery
terminal.
 Apparently something other than just the fuse did blow, I just
need to
figure out what. What could cause this symptom of no power to
anything?
The
fuel gauge meter was showing nothing also, until I tried
soldering that
fuse holder connection - but perhaps I shouldn't have done that.
When I
then decided to check the resistance between the fuses
themselves and
the
wires connected to the terminals on the fuseholders for the
other two
fuses, they also seem to have no connection (between the fuse
and the
screws on the fuse block) - don't know if they were like that
initially,
if
they're supposed to be that way, or if I screwed something up
when
soldering that one fuse block.

Thanks,
Mike

--

--------------------------------------------------------------
Michael S. Briggs
UNH Physics Department
(603) 862-2828
---------------------------------------------------------------

On Sat, 29 Jul 2006, RJ Kanary wrote:

  Once again, I will ask what flavor of E-15 you have. Since
they have
three different wiring configurations, knowing which revision
yours is,
{AA, BA and so on.} would help me help you. The pertinent
information
is
on the data plate under the hood.
Thanks.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael S Briggs"
<msbriggs alberti unh edu>
To: <elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu>
Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2006 4:08 PM
Subject: (ET) ok, not the fusible link



Found a post from Wombat in the archives saying where the
fusible link
is
- just a wire going across two terminals on the Power
Disconnect. Ok,
so
the fusible link is fine, so it's apparnetly something else.
 Based on the wisps of smoke that came up around the speed
lever,
it seems reasonable to suspect something underneath it may
have blown.
There's that big ol relay down underneath there - but that's
just the
PTO
contactor. Unless it's failure mode is creating a short across
the
batteries, I can't see that being the problem, since it's not
just the
PTO
that's not working - nothing is.
 I suppose the smoke could have come from something in the
speed
control itself, but that shouldn't cause the no power at all
problem
(at
least from looking at the schematics, I don't think it
should).
 From looking at the Troubleshooting sketch schematic for the
E-15
in the manual, and just looking at what might result in the
fuel level
gauge not seeing squat, the only things between the fuel level
gauge
and
the batteries (so the only things that keep it from reading
batt
voltage)
are:
1. Power Use gauge - checked it with the multimeter, it's
fine.
2. 20 Amp fuse 3 - it blew initially, I replaced it with 20
amp light
fuse
for the moment.
3. Wire 13 goes from that fuse to the PTO coil (is this the
PTO
contactor?
Or some other coil?), but you don't seem to need to have a
connection
THROUGH the coil for the fuel gauge, since line 13 comes off
of that
same
connection point on the terminal, and continues to the fuel
gauge - on
the
negative side of it.
4. Line 5 comes off the + side of the fuel gauge, goes to fuse
2 (the
lift
fuse, but doesn't go through it, just connects to one end of
it, and
continues on from that same connection point), continues to
the L
contactor, but not through it, and to circuit breaker 1. Hm,
haven't
checked that yet - isn't that the main circuit breaker on the
back of
the
panel that has the forward/reverse relay and such on it? I
pressed it
to
reset in case it was the issue, but it seemed to be fine. I'll
check
again
in a  minute just in case.
5. Power Disconnect, which presumably doesn't itself fail in
any way -
I'll check though.
6. Fusible link - fine.
7. And then to the + side of the pack.

So, presumably something in there is failed. I'll head back
out with
my
multimeter and trace the line all around.
 This is kinda fun, albeit somewhat frustrating, since I had
other
things I wanted to do.

Mike

--

--------------------------------------------------------------
Michael S. Briggs
UNH Physics Department
(603) 862-2828

---------------------------------------------------------------

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