[TowerTalk] Ham IV Rotor Motor Voltage Boost ? (Sluggishrotation)

[Steve Jones]

I used a 5V filament transformer to boost the AC voltage on my old rotor 
years ago.  I put the transformer in a small box next to the control, and 
wired it into the rotor control housing, wiring the transformer primary in 
parallel with the AC power switch for the control.  That way the boost 
voltage came on when I turned on the rotor control.

73,
Steve
N6SJ

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Grant Saviers" <grants2 at pacbell.net>
To: "Doug Snowden" <dougn4ij at gmail.com>
Cc: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 27, 2011 8:25 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Ham IV Rotor Motor Voltage Boost ? 
(Sluggishrotation)


> The motor is AC and the internal transformer 24 volts so you can add a
> boost filament transformer of 6 or 12 volts in series with terminal 2.
> I don't recall the current needed since its been 25 years since I did
> this, but around 3-4 amps sounds right for the boost transformer
> rating.  This worked fine on my Tailtwister which was 330 ft from shack
> to rotator using the 16/18 gauge cable.  Select 6 or 12 volts boost so
> the voltage at the rotator is close to 24 volts, or do the Ohm's law
> math for the wire resistance loss.
>
> You can check for the correct transformer phasing by measuring the
> voltage at the boost output to terminal 1.
>
> IIRC both the transformer and box for it came from Radio Shack, add a
> switch to turn it off.
>
> Grant KZ1W
>
> On 11/27/2011 6:33 PM, Doug Snowden wrote:
>> Seen a few posts about putting the moor capacitor next to the rotor,
>> rather than in the control unit in order to
>> enable better turning (less slugishness).  I have a problem in getting
>> the antenna to turn.  I substituted a section of cable from the base
>> of the tower, and, indeed the antenna turns ok.  So it is dig up the
>> buried cable, and replace, or figure out how to jack the voltage up
>> several volts to the rotor.  Ideas on an easy way to increase the
>> voltage? another xfmr and a rheostat?  Seems like I should be able to
>> measure the series resistance to get an idea of how much to increase
>> the voltage.
>>
>> Doug, N4IJ
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
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