[TowerTalk] Preventing tic ring motor from freezing

[Howard Klein]

Wayne,
Thank you for your suggestions. The rotor is the 1048D. Abut 3 years old. The pot resistance measurements do not vary with temperature. More likely mechanical in the area of the motor interface to the ring. I allowed it to stall for  several minutes a couple of times, probably not a good idea, and when it heated up enough it turned.
Howard
HK

From: w3ea at hotmail.comTo: k2hk at arrl.net; towertalk at contesting.comSubject: RE: [TowerTalk] Preventing tic ring motor from freezingDate: Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:27:36 -0500

Hi  Not sure which model or revision you have but assume it's the older aluminum box encased motor unit.The ring rotor is a basic electro/mechanical unit and it's weak line is it's positioning " POT"  there are two I call them the black ones and the blue one's . The blue ones are the latter and less susceptible to moisture invasion compared to the black ones, both are the weak links in a EMF strike but that's another story. The " failure FREEZE " indicates to me Moisture  there are no relays in the unit only the "POT"remove the wires from the in shack control box ( when it's frozen up ) #4 is CW #6 is CCW  and #5 is the wiperThe pots is 500 OHM  so a simple wire wring out OHM check between #4,#5,#6 will determine if it is in fact your thermal failure.   Carl usually has replacements POTS.    Wayne W3EA   > From: k2hk at arrl.net> To: towertalk at contesting.com> Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:51:33 +0000> Subject: [TowerTalk] Preventing tic ring motor from freezing> > > I need some ideas for preventing my Tic Ring motor from freezing. For the past three years every time the temperature falls below freezing my Tic Ring stops working. Other times it works perfectly. Maybe I got the tropical version :-). I don't believe it is associated with water entering. It is sealed and this occurs even when the WX has been dry for days. Carl says there is no grease inside. In any case I was thinking of some type of heating strip used for gutters or similiar. This poses the problem of thermostat and supply voltage problems. > It has become a fairly accurate way of knowing the temperature...32 F stops working, 33 F works FB. Any ideas?> Howard..K2HK> > > > HK> _______________________________________________> > > > _______________________________________________> TowerTalk mailing list> TowerTalk at contesting.com> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk

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