Re: (ET) Nothing works!

["David Roden" <etpost drmm net>]

On 10 Oct 2008 at 13:21, RJ Kanary wrote:

> BTW, the overall voltage is low. Charging would be a good idea.

I think it's at least as likely that he missed a battery.  Five new, fully 
charged batteries should measure 31.5 volts open circuit.

No offense to anybody, but I'm a wee bit uncomfortable with a couple of 
the 
suggestions here.  IMO, "Try something, then see if the fuse or CB opens 
again" is less than healthy for the main disconnect switch. Each time you 
close it with a short circuit present, you're asking the contacts to make 
under full load. 

Where a short circuit is involved, I think troubleshooting should be 
carried 
out with power off.  Trace the wiring against a diagram, visually inspect 
for pinched or damaged wires, and use an ohmmeter or continuity tester to 
find places where a circuit is completed and shouldn't be.  

There are diagrams somewhere at elec-trac.org, no?  (I don't seem to get 
on 
well with that website and can't find anything their myself.  I liked it 
much better in the old days when it wasn't a forum.  But I think others 
have 
said the wiring diagrams are there.  Somewhere.)

Someone with no electrical background is at a handicap, but an ET really 
isn't that complicated.  Very little electronics; other than the circuit 
cards, it's 100% straight home-wiring-style electricity.  

Electricity is like water in your house, and the wires are like pipes.  
You 
can trace the wires like you follow pipes (if only they didn't go through 
some places where they're hard to see, eh?).   The "juice" has flow 
through 
some kind of "magic box," such as a motor or light bulb, to produce useful 
work.  (The water equivalent is the flow-motor siren in a fire sprinkler 
system.  They still use those, no?  Or an oscillating lawn sprinkler)  If 
the pipe is broken, the juice can't make it to where the work needs to be 
done.  If the pipe in gets connected to the pipe out before the magic box, 
again nothing gets done and the ... uh ... fuse blows.  (Oops, I just 
exhausted the analogy.)


David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 
Note: mail sent to the "etpost" address will not reach me.  To send 
me a private message, please use the address shown at the bottom
of this page : http://www.evdl.org/help/
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =