Author Topic: Could it be a bad motor?  (Read 3093 times)

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Offline ceecrb1Topic starter

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Could it be a bad motor?
« on: November 05, 2012, 09:17:50 pm »
Ok, got a bit of a mystery at work going on... normally I can work these things out but this ones getting silly..
I repair robotic lights for events/concerts etc..
In this fixture, there is one effect wheel, which is moved via a stepper motor and uses a hal sensor at bootup to locate itself to its "zero" location..
The problem is that it doesnt seem to locate itself at boot...
So.. hal sensor changed, wiring checked, motherboard replaced.. scoped the 5v rail and it was  a bit messy so swapped the psu board.. still nothing...
I've traced the hal sensors signal as far as I can on the main board before it dissapears into a programmable IC and everything is fine.. but like I said, I changed the motherboard and that is irrelevant now.. But the main thing is that I have seen on the scope, the hall sensor reacting as it should through the entire wiring loom and through its isolator etc etc.
When I operate the fixture it works PERFECTLY, just not centered properly.... so technically the motor is working as it should.

Just looking for daft ideas as where else to look because today I pretty much exhausted the ones I can think of!!

42!
 

Offline David_AVD

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Re: Could it be a bad motor?
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2012, 09:24:24 pm »
Intermittent wiring loom perhaps?  Breaks in the wiring are pretty common in moving head fixtures.
 

Offline SeanB

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Re: Could it be a bad motor?
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2012, 09:35:35 pm »
Changed the magnet? Put it in back to front.
 

Offline ceecrb1Topic starter

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Re: Could it be a bad motor?
« Reply #3 on: November 05, 2012, 09:41:15 pm »
The magnet is eppoxied into its effect wheel...

And I traced the signal through the motheboard by turning the wheel so magnet was over and away from the hal sensor.. its a normally 5v, 0v with magnet .... and its operating perfectly...




You can see why Its got me scratching my head!! technically the entire system "works" and what I cant proove I've swapped out!
 

Offline ceecrb1Topic starter

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Re: Could it be a bad motor?
« Reply #4 on: November 05, 2012, 09:43:48 pm »
Intermittent wiring loom perhaps?  Breaks in the wiring are pretty common in moving head fixtures.

mmm possibly!!  I will admit I always test it with the lens straight up... yet it resets/self tests with the lens down towards its base!!
 

Offline David_AVD

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Re: Could it be a bad motor?
« Reply #5 on: November 05, 2012, 10:38:02 pm »
We've replaced partial and whole wiring looms in various moving heads over the years.  A lot of the time, you'll never see the break occur with metering.
 

Offline ceecrb1Topic starter

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Re: Could it be a bad motor?
« Reply #6 on: November 05, 2012, 10:53:19 pm »
Yeah I've done it a fair few times too!
will work out some way to bodge some new wires up to it  without passing trhough the head for a test in the morning. bed time now I think!!

Thanks for the ideas guys!! Just needed a little prod to get some momentum back into it!

 


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