[amsat-bb] Spid RAS rotor issue

[Dave Webb KB1PVH]

Jeff,

 I went through 2 Rot2Prog controllers in less than a year. The relays seem
to be a big problem. I bit the bullet and bought a Green Heron controller
and haven't had any problems.

Dave-KB1PVH


Sent from my Galaxy S9

On Wed, Jul 11, 2018, 8:43 AM <kb2mjeff at att.net> wrote:

> Looks like the elevation up relay is fried in my RAS controller box. I'm
> going to take Harald's advice and replace all 4. Before I order the parts
> has anyone else experienced a relay failure with their RAS? If so what
> relay
> did you replace it with, make, part # ?
>
> I'm at this time running the controller and rotor at 13.8 volts, was going
> to try 28 volts to the rotor with the Spid approved mod, but now not so
> sure
> :-)
>
> 73 Jeff kb2m
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Harald
> Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2018 7:07 PM
> To: kb2mjeff at att.net
> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Spid RAS rotor issue
>
> Hello Kb2m jeff,
>
> I don't know if you have ELFA over there but from elfa the part
> nr. is PCB power relay 12VDC 400mW 137-44-376.
>
> It is more or less a standard relay.
>
> They are a littel bit hard to get out of the pcb but I used
> solder sucking wick as they called it, you may have to resolder
> some points to get it totally free.
> Not too much heat, ,,,,take some breaks :-)
>
> good luck in finding them.
>
> Harald
> la7qta
>
>
>
> Wednesday, July 11, 2018, 12:34:25 AM, you wrote:
>
>
> > Hi Harald. thank you for the reply. I'm sure my control box has a failed
> > relay also. I hear a faint click when going both ways in azimuth, but
> only
> > hear a click on down elevation. So I'm sure the up elevation relay is
> > defective. I'm going to take your advice and swap out all four relays.
> > Would
> > you be so kind to give me a part number and a source of the relays you
> > replaced with. Thanks in advance....
>
> > 73 Jeff kb2m
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Harald
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2018 3:07 PM
> > To: kb2mjeff at att.net
> > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Spid RAS rotor issue
>
> > Hello Kb2m jeff,
>
> > I recently had the exact same problem but the rotor was running.
> > To get it out of that position I took the plug out of the az
> > conn. and put the conn. from ez into az and drove it all the way
> > around again. they are equaly pinned. test which way you have to
> > rotate with the az buttons,,,,(or connect 12v with the right
> > polarity to the ez plug directly),,,,,,, much easyer to use the az conn.
>
> > I replaced the 4 relays, zeroed the controller and all is working
> > again.
>
> > The relays are some cheap ones so the best is to change them
> > anyway.
> > I have used it for 3 years and had truble before with those.
>
> > Hope this will help in solving your problems !
>
> > Best 73's
>
> > Harald
> > LA7QTA
>
> > PS: questions,,,just ask !
>
>
> > Tuesday, July 10, 2018, 12:32:26 PM, you wrote:
>
> >> I’m having a problem with my RAS rotor at my winter home. When I turned
> >> it
> >> on yesterday, after an absence of about 2 months the elevation went
> into
> >> a
> >> complete backflip when powered up, and is jammed against the roof with
> an
> >> elevation reading of 195 degrees on the control box.  I’m at my Florida
> >> home for just a few weeks to do some fishing, so before starting to work
> >> on it to maybe speed up the repair process a bit I’m asking here if
> >> anyone
> >> else had this problem. When the roof dries off I plan on going up there
> >> and remove the antennas before trying to move the rotor, to diagnose.
> >> Right now the azimuth will turn, but the elevation is stuck, it wont
> move
> >> up or down. I’m hoping it is just jammed into the roof, once unstuck
> >> hopefully all it would need is a re-calibration. Thanks for any useful
> >> information....
>
> >> 73 Jeff kb2m
>
>
>
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