[TowerTalk] US Tower Dayton AC Motor issue

[Tom Anderson]

Scoutt:

In addition to what Gerald said, which is always good advice, another problem in Texas similar to the wasps are fire ants. My dad used to have a farm near Whiteboro TX almost to Oklahoma in North Texas.  He had a dickens of a problem of fire ants getting into any motor and the connected electronics if they were less than 10 feet off the ground.  He even found fire ants in his TV rotor one time and who knows how those pests got in there, but they did.  

I lost count on how many electronic front gate entrance motors and electronic circutry boxes he had to replace at tne entrance to his farm.  An electrician who made $$$$$ off of dad replacing the motors said the ants were attracted by the motor and circuitry's low pitched audio hum, at least that's what the electrician said anyway.

I tried to develop an ant proof box for my dad's stuff, but he wouldn't ever let me install the proposed unit to see if it worked and kept the ants out hi hi.


73 de Tom, WW5L

   


--- On Sat, 9/13/08, TexasRF at aol.com <TexasRF at aol.com> wrote:

> From: TexasRF at aol.com <TexasRF at aol.com>
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] US Tower Dayton AC Motor issue
> To: kc2pih at gmail.com, towertalk at contesting.com
> Date: Saturday, September 13, 2008, 6:04 PM
> Scott, you have described a classic case of an open start
> winding circuit.  
> The most common cause in this part of the country is mud
> wasps building a nest  
> around the start circuit throwout switch, causing the
> contacts to not make  
> connection. The second most common cause is a defective
> start capacitor but 
> this  usually noticeable because of swollen areas on the
> end of the capacitor.
>  
> The motors I have worked on have four long screws that
> clamp the end bells  
> to the motor body. Removing these screws allows one to
> trmove the end bells and 
>  gain access to the throwout switch to examine and clean.
>  
> Make note of all the wire colors and locations so you can
> return to the  same 
> electrical arrangement after fixing the problem.
>  
> Hope this helps.
>  
> 73,
> Gerald Williamson K5GW
> General Manager, Texas Towers
>  
>  
>  
> In a message dated 9/13/2008 2:01:14 P.M. Central Daylight
> Time,  
> kc2pih at gmail.com writes:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I am in the middle of getting a used US Tower ready to put 
> up. It has
> the MDLP1000 unit with the Dayton 1HP motor. Without the
> belt on  the
> output shaft of the motor (free), I am unable to get it
> motor  going
> full speed. It will just hum, spin slowly (like 1RPM) and
> blow  the
> break within 3 seconds. I am able to spin the motor up to
> speed  by
> hand and then hit the switch and it will spin up to full
> speed.  The
> output shaft on motor spins freely and easily.
> 
> I have a 50 foot  run of #10 back to the service entrance
> on a 20 amp
> breaker.  Nothing  else is on that breaker.  Without the
> motor I see
> 120V coming into the  control box at the tower. When I hit
> the switch,
> the voltage drops to 107.5  Volts and the amperage draw is
> 52 amps. It
> will actually hum and slowly  spin for about 3 seconds
> until the
> breaker blows. I am using a fluke clamp  on amp meter. Not
> sure how it
> can pull 50 amps for 3 seconds through that  20 amp
> breaker, but that
> is another story.  If I check things on the  main breaker,
> I see the
> voltage drop from 120 volts to 110 volts and 55  amps when
> I start the
> motor.
> 
> If I spin up the motor by hand and the  motor spins up to
> normal speed,
> it draws 9 amps (still with the belt off -  no load on it).
> 
> So I have read about voltage drop problems people have, 
> but geesh, I
> am running #10 right to the breaker and its 50 feet  long. 
> Do I need
> heavier cable or is it something else? Like maybe the 
> starter
> capacitor in the motor?  Its a 1HP Dayton 6K622N model
> ("Farm  Duty
> Capacitor Start"). I could probably run 220 VAC / 30
> Amps to it  as
> well, if this would help (and is possible).
> 
> Thanks,
> Scott,  WU2X
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