Have you checked each control wire to ground? Did you turn it on
without any cables attached first? What smoked. That would be a good
indicator of what might be going on.
Since you haven't turned the antenna it is hard to imagine that the coax
loop is pinched or compromised.
I don't know that the connections on that controller are but I would
look for a rogue wire that is shorting to to another post or pin.
Mike W0MU
W0MU-1 CC Cluster w0mu.net:23 or w0mu-1.dnsdynamic.com
Http://www.w0mu.com
On 5/31/2012 6:07 PM, Nathaniel Lee wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I am hoping for some help here with the DC rotor box from M2. The rotor and
> box were installed brand new along with the rest of the installation and
> worked fine at calibration on the dining room table and again for 2 days.
> After which the rotor box smoked. I sent the box to M2 and it returned today
> and smoked again upon wiring it in and I did not even have a chance to spin
> the antenna before the magic smoke appeared. It also still smelled smoky
> coming out of the shipping container.
>
> Before doing so, I checked the wiring from the tower to confirm the motor
> winding was not shorted and indeed, it had a few ohms of winding resistance.
> The cable is not undersized for the distance either 200'. I actually tested
> the rotor cable immediately after discovering the smoked box and it has not
> varied in terms of the measurement of the motor wiring's resistance for the
> last 3 weeks being without the box.
>
> The M2 people are suggesting something is wrong at the tower level. Since it
> cost a pretty darn big penny to have it all installed and I need a hip
> replacement soon, I am not running up and down the tower for this. Someone
> else has to go twice in order to retrieve and reinstall. $$! I checked the
> tower ground which is tied into the station ground and upon separating the
> two, the resistance was minimal, on the order of an ohm.
>
> They suggested checking the house wiring for a missing neutral? Really?
> Nothing else is smoking and the tail-twister in use at another tower performs
> flawlessly and is also tied into the same ground. Everything else is just
> fine. Not even a hot chassis. I am using braid everywhere for inside
> grounding and it goes to two 8' ground rods only about 5' away.
>
> How do I check for a missing neutral without getting zapped in the process?
> What else can I look for? I am peeved that it worked for 2 days without
> incident because it indicates it was not an installation error. Nothing has
> had a chance to deteriorate. I suppose testing with a light on a 2 prong plug
> would indicate a missing neutral?
>
> Nat Lee
>
> Somersworth, NH
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>
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>
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