[amsat-bb] Yaesu G-5500 meters and readings to LVB tracker not working

[Burns Fisher]

Oh, you were tapping the CONTROL BOX!  I totally missed that.

One problem I have had is with those darned screw terminals.   It is really
easy to get the wires shorted--I put all of my wires in eye terminals, but
I had a strand of wire sticking out in one case, and in another the angle
of the terminal moved around and touched another.   I finally bent them so
the wires all feed in at 90 degrees to the screw/loop.  Maybe a bit
obvious, but...

73,

Burns WB1FJ

On Sat, Oct 3, 2020 at 9:04 PM John Brier via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
wrote:

> Thanks Jim.
>
> So, I did that a dozen times for the azimuth side and it didn't make much
> of a difference. It did start reading (instead of staying at around 0),
> going to about 180, but never much beyond that that. And eventually it
> seemed to get stuck again.
>
> However, when I started doing the same for the elevation rotator I noticed
> that the cable jacket was falling out of the connector. The rubber and the
> connector wasn't compressing the jacket so there was presumably stress on
> the wires. When I pushed the cable in the connector the meter started
> reading right.
>
> There is a similar issue on the connector on the cable I am using for
> azimuth but pushing it in towards the connector or wiggling it doesn't seem
> to help.
>
> I think I am going to redo these cables. They came with the rotator and
> there is also a disconnect a few feet from the rotator connectors. Not sure
> what for. The connector there is wrapped in electrical tape so I am not
> sure what state it is in.
>
> One question: If the issue is in the rotator or a connection issue at the
> rotator, why would tapping the control box affect the issue?
>
> The only thing I can think of is there could be another issue in the box
> (connection or otherwise).
>
>
> 73,  John Brier KG4AKV
>
> On Sat, Oct 3, 2020, 18:12 Jim Walls via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
> wrote:
>
> >
> > <snip>
> >
> > Sounds like the position pots in the rotor (not the controller) are
> > dirty.  That does make some sense with it not being used for several
> > years.  Step one (the easy way) is to use the manual control levers on
> > the controller and repeatedly move the rotors from end to end while
> > watching the needles.  If you are a bit lucky, after a few passes back
> > and forth, the needles will start responding correctly. Keep trying at
> > least a dozen full passes back and forth before giving up on this
> > method.  The next method requires disassembly of the rotor - now you
> > know why I suggest giving the first method lots of tries before giving
> > up on it.  If you have to resort to the second method, I will let
> > someone who has done that more recently than I (about 20 years) give
> > instructions.
> >
> > --
> > 73
> > -------------------------------------
> > Jim Walls - K6CCC
> > jim at k6ccc.org
> > Ofc:  818-548-4804
> > http://members.dslextreme.com/users/k6ccc/
> > AMSAT Member 32537 - WSWSS Member 395
> >
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> _______________________________________________
> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
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