Thanks to everyone for their replies. Using the information supplied by a few
from the group, I bypassed the connector on the tower and that did not fix the
problem. I then took the rotor off the tower and set it on my work bench.
I called Wyatt at M2 and he directed me to pull the top off the positioner and
then the plate and to pull the reed switch away from the magnet. He then had me
check between the pulse leads and they were shorted which told him the reed
switch is bad. I've ordered a replacement to be expedited to me. Hopefully
this fixes the problem.
Now I have a decision to make. I really don't need this big of a rotor. I'm
only going to be rotating an A3S and D40 dipole now and hope to replace the A3S
with a 3 element SteppIR in the future. The Orion is a little overkill. Also,
I'm recently unemployed. My position was eliminated in a corporate reshuffle
that flushed ten and a half years of service down the toilet. Although I'm
doing OK, I'm watching my wallet. I could purchase a Yaesu G-1000DXA (I've used
two G-800SDX models with great success in the past) and sell the Orion and hope
to gain a few bucks. I'm guessing the Orion, which looks great both inside and
out, could fetch between $800-$1000 on E-bay. I don't know. Thoughts on this?
Thanks again for all the help. Beautiful day in southern Louisiana to be doing
tower work. Sunny, warm and just a slight pleasant breeze out of the northwest.
73, Don AA5AU
-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com]
On Behalf Of Don Hill AA5AU
Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2005 8:56 AM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] M2 OR2800DC/RC200P-A Problems
A week ago I installed a used M2 rotor on my new 65' tower. Yesterday it
stopped working.
Here's the history. In March 2004 I took down a guy's tower and antenna and in
return he gave me the antenna and rotor (M2). I know it worked then because he
had to rotate the antenna in order to lower the tower. He never mentioned there
were any problems with the rotor. It apparently was only 2 years old at the
time.
It sat in my garage for a year before I finally decided to hook it up and play
with it on the bench. When I hooked it up, it did what is described in the
manual as "bumps the motor a few times and quits". After going through the
programming and checking all the connections, the rotor mysteriously started
working again. I figured I just had something programmed wrong. I disconnected
it and it sat in the shack until last week when I got ready to install it on my
new tower. I took it outside, connected it on my work bench and had the same
problem as before. The motor would bump and that's it. I played with it for
two hours and again, it mysteriously started working again. Again, I figured it
was just something I was unfamiliar with. I installed the rotor on the tower
and again checked it and it worked. Yesterday I installed a D40 on the tower,
hooked up the rotor outside so I could see the antenna rotate and the rotor
worked fine. Ran the cable inside the shack, reconnected the RC2800P-A and
again, it worked. Turned it off and went to dinner. After dinner the antenna
would not work again. Again, I went through all the set up procedures and then
went through and read most of the archives of this group to see if I could find
any help. None found.
All my cable resistances check OK. The total cable length is probably about
100' if that. I get the correct voltages out of the controller with the
positioner disconnected. I've gone back to factory settings and through the
programming a hundred times. I'm confident of my connections.
The one thing that puzzles me is that with the positioner connected I see a
short (1-2 ohm) between terminals 5 and 6. When I press CCW or CW, the
resistance seems to change to about 6-7 ohm, but never any DC voltage between
these terminals. I don't have an O-scope to check the pulses. I can bump the
positioner in each direction, but that's it.
Any suggestions other than calling M2 tomorrow?
Thanks,
Don AA5AU
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|