Re: (ET) Alltrax finally up and running!

[David C Robie <mycroftxx1 juno com>]

Bob;

I have watched this all through your problems and knew that finally, with
help from both the board and Alltrax, you would come up a winner with
this.  It's why we have a board.  As to the 2 wires;  I believe this to
be a result of GE making many different versions of their harness/wiring
scheme.  I have found over the years with many Etractors that you can't
trust their wire numbers and sometimes even connector pin numbers.  But
you can trust your own ohmmeter and voltmeter and eyeballs.

Regards, happy etrackin

Dave
Weymouth MA






On Wed, 6 Sep 2006 13:21:27 -0700 "Kleinbrahm, Robert"
<rkleinbrahm firstrepublic com> writes:
> 
> I have finally been successful in the installation of the Alltrax
> controller in my E-20 tractor.  This has been a long process which
> involved a few replacement units from Alltrax, and I want to share 
> my
> results with others who may be contemplating upgrading ET's.  The 
> first
> 2 units that I installed were seemingly bad units and caused me to 
> spend
> a considerable amount of time in troubleshooting my tractor.  This 
> could
> be a long story, but I will condense it to what I discovered on my
> particular tractor.  The first couple of units gave me an over 
> voltage
> alarm, which made no sense to me or to Alltrax themselves.  The 
> first
> units ended up smoking on me and were replaced by Alltrax, no 
> questions
> asked.  Alltrax also replaced a 3rd and 4th unit after I sent them a
> diagram as to how I had my unit wired up.  In the process of testing 
> the
> 3rd and 4th units, I noticed that the main drive motor was making a 
> loud
> noise and then the alltrax would fail.  I pulled the motor and on a
> bench test it appeared to be working, but very sluggish.  I then 
> paid
> for a 5th unit from alltrax and spent the better half of this last
> holiday weekend re-checking all my wiring end-to-end.  I discovered 
> that
> when I checked continuity from the field motor connections F1 & F2 
> back
> to the controller leads they seemed to be fine.  I then took it one 
> step
> farther and actually disconnected the J6 connectors and retested for
> continuity.  It was then that I discovered that the connector output
> lead for pin # 36 had 2 wires coming out of it, even though the 
> input
> side only had 1 wire.  I made the mistake of connecting both leads 
> from
> this pin out source to the F1 & F2 field connections on the 
> controller
> unit.  Which now made sense that continuity looked good from the
> controller to the motor, albeit on the same lead.  I made the 
> correct
> wiring change for the # 62 pin and then ran that to the F connector 
> on
> the controller unit.  > 
>  > 
> Anxiety was killing me at this point, as I was prepared to give this
> tractor up for a parts machine if I experienced another failed unit. 
>  I
> have a second, previously converted tractor, that I used to connect 
> its
> controller to my E-20 motors connections to verify that the main 
> drive
> motor still functioned.  This did work and the motor did indeed 
> move,
> but sounded loud.  I then took the plunge and connected the new
> controller unit back to the motor and fired it up.  No over voltage 
> this
> time, but was getting a 1 red led function, i.e. Throttle position
> sensor error.  I quickly found that the wire in the Alltrax wiring
> connector was not making and had to play around with it to ensure 
> that
> all the leads were functional.  Tried power again and Yeah - I now 
> had a
> solid green led and things look normal.  The controller is 
> functioning
> and the drive motor does turn, but it seems to be lacking power, 
> even
> with the curtis switch all the way down.  Someone on this list 
> mentioned
> in the past that a lack of power can be caused by the field windings
> being degraded.  I wonder if anyone else has dealt with this kind of
> thing.  Can these GE motors easily be rewound at a shop?
> 
>  > 
> I do apologize for the length of this message, but if I can prevent
> others from experiencing the same difficulties that I have endured 
> it is
> worth posting.
> 
>  > 
> Thanks,
> 
>  > 
> Bob K
> 
>  > 
>  > 
>  > 
>  > 
> Robert Kleinbrahm
> 
> Senior Network Engineer
> 
> First Republic Bank
> 
> 111 Pine St. 5th flr.
> 
> San Francisco, CA. 94111
> 
> (415) 288-1478
> 
> rkleinbrahm firstrepublic com
> 
>  > 
> 
> 
>  > The information transmitted is intended only for the person or 
> entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or 
> privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or 
> other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this 
> information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient 
> is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the 
> sender and delete the material from any computer. > 
> First Republic Bank and its subsidiaries do not take responsibility 
> for, or accept time-sensitive instructions sent by email including 
> orders, funds transfer instructions or stop payments on checks. All 
> instructions of this nature must be handled by direct communication, 
> not email.
> 
> We reserve the right to monitor and review the content of all email 
> communications sent or received. Emails sent to or from this address 
> may be stored in accordance with regulatory requirements.