[Amps] Help ! Hard Fault 99

[Dick Green]

All zeroes for the HF log? That's *very* strange -- almost like the power is
being shut off external to the amp. You don't have any funny
circuit-breakers, surge suppression devices or other equipment on that
circuit, do you?

> -----Original Message-----
> From: James C. Hall, MD [mailto:nwtcc at earthlink.net]
> Sent: Monday, February 03, 2003 10:11 AM
> To: dick.green at valley.net; W0UN--John Brosnahan
> Cc: amps at contesting.com
> Subject: RE: [Amps] Help ! Hard Fault 99
>
>
> Thanks Dick for your information !  I had previosly measured the AC line
> voltage with an old RS Archer voltmeter from my novice days and got about
> 240 volts.  I then measured with my Fluke DMM and got 247.3 volts. The 240
> volt tap should be correct.  I checked out the HF and SF logs after 3
> attempts to turn the amp on. Interestingly, all 0's. When I
> attempt to turn
> the amp on, the led's barely begin to glow when it shuts off - < 0.5 sec.
> Most bizzare.  Got to head to work now, but will get over here
> during lunch
> and give Glenn a call. I'll let you know how it goes.
>
> Jamie WB4YDL
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dick Green [mailto:dick.green at valley.net]
> Sent: Monday, February 03, 2003 12:48 AM
> To: W0UN--John Brosnahan; James C. Hall, MD
> Cc: amps at contesting.com
> Subject: RE: [Amps] Help ! Hard Fault 99
>
>
> Jamie,
>
> When you say the amp immediately shutdown, do you mean before or after the
> three minute warm-up period? Many of the faults are detected only when the
> amp finishes the warm-up period. If it shutdown immediately after you hit
> the ON switch, then some sort of voltage problem is likely. I've seen the
> 87A do this when I had a defective leaky tube that was arcing internally.
> The arc pulled the AC down so fast that the amp hard faulted with various
> bad voltage codes. I'm not saying you have a bad tube, although that is
> possible. In my case, the arc was so bad that it sometimes blew the main
> fuses or the small fuse in the step-start circuit. I think John's theory
> that the AC tap is set incorrectly is more likely and is more consistent
> with the amp operating normally earlier in the day.
>
> Note that if the fuses are intact, in all likelihood the microprocessor is
> functioning. Are you aware that you can hook a PC to the 87A
> while the power
> is off and still perform diagnostic commands? That's because the
> microprocessor runs at all times when the amp is plugged into the
> AC -- even
> if the amp is powered down or has been shutdown by a hard fault.
> Among other
> reasons, this is necessary to be able to enter the unlock code! You should
> hook up your PC with a straight cable (not a null modem cable), run a
> terminal program, set the baud rate to 4800, and issue the following
> command:
>
> HF<Enter>
>
> The 87A will list the last eight hard faults. Unless you cycled the amp
> through the hard fault 14 times, you should see one or more fault codes
> other than the fault 99. I would hope the 87A wouldn't overwrite the hard
> fault buffer with useless fault 99 codes (only one is necessary) but
> wouldn't be surprised if it did. Anyway, if you see anything other than
> eight 99s, then you are seeing the hard fault codes that caused the
> shutdown.
>
> Let us know what happens.
>
> 73, Dick WC1M
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: W0UN--John Brosnahan [mailto:shr at medinaec.com]
> > Sent: Sunday, February 02, 2003 11:34 PM
> > To: James C. Hall, MD
> > Cc: amps at contesting.com
> > Subject: Re: [Amps] Help ! Hard Fault 99
> >
> >
> > Hi, Jamie--
> >
> > I didn't mean to send the copy of the Glenn note to the
> reflector!    ;-)
> > But now that I have I guess I will continue.  Without the error code
> > I don't know what to tell you.  The AC mains issue is only one
> > scenario that comes to mind.  And I copied the reply to the reflector
> > for the education of other readers--not to embarrass anyone!    ;-)
> > I am especially bad about not reading manuals--computer manuals
> > specifically!
> >
> > Basically Eimac specs filament voltage at +/- 5%.   And 5% of
> > 240 volts (the tap you set) is 12 volts.  240 volts minus 12 volts
> > is 228 volts as a lower limit.  You say your line voltage is 230 volts
> > +/- 5 volts.   Or 225 to 235 volts.   If it drops to 225 then it
> > is outside
> > the range of the 240 volt tap and its +/- 5% range.   So I think a line
> > voltage issue is a distinct possibility--maybe even a probability.
> > You need to set your line voltage tap to the proper one for your
> > line voltage and also contact CrossLink about resetting the fault 99.
> >
> > I have three Alpha 87As--although that does not make me an
> > expert on faults.    I have had very, very few over the 10+ years
> > that I have owned 87As.
> >
> > Good luck--John   W0UN
> >
> > At 10:18 PM 2/2/2003 -0600, James C. Hall, MD wrote:
> > >Thanks John for your very good information.  I indeed missed the part
> > >about the fault 99 and the 6 tries, your out deal.  But I did read the
> > >rest of the manual.  Checking the AC main prior to hookup, I
> > measured 230
> > >volts +/- 5 volts.  I left the tap at 240 volts.  Was this an error
> > >?  Should I have moved the tap to 220 volts ???  After resetting the
> > >microprocessor, I tried again, this time looking directly at
> the segment
> > >lights and with the terminal on.  It again failed and shut off
> > immediately
> > >- no indication on the segment lights was given and the
> terminal program
> > >returned no useful information.
> > >
> > >I, like you, think I might have erred on the tap setting.  I will
> > >re-evaluate and discuss with Glenn tomorrow.
> > >
> > >Thanks again,
> > >
> > >Jamie  WB4YDL
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>