Well, I suppose I never should’ve said that this year’s electronics were the best set yet, because as we were trying to (finally) get a driving robot today, I turned on the power only to notice that our Spikes and one of the Victors weren’t lighting up. Upon further inspection, we found that the connections leading to the ATC fuse panel (the big one, not the small one) were fine, as they all worked fine on the small one, but that the fuse panel itself seems to have been blown. Does anyone know how this might have happened?
While we were transferring the board today to a workshop less afflicted by the Chicago snow, it’s possible that the panel could have gotten snow in it, although we did wait about two hours before actually turning any power on. It’s also possible that some sawdust or small metal shavings may have gotten in the panel, although I’m told that this has never been an issue before. We’ve ordered a new one from IFI just in case, but if anyone knows how to fix it, that would be great! We’re currently not supplying power to two of our Spikes so that we can keep using the small breaker.
hmm…I don’t really see how you could destroy something like that. It’s basically just metal and plastic. I would assume that something else is wrong, or that you received a factory defective panel.
I’m pretty sure that the part isn’t factory defective - it worked perfectly over the previous week. We replaced one of the circuit breakers with a spare breaker from last year - could dusty breakers have damaged it?
No magic smoke? Fan working fine, assuming they’re there, and assuming that the fuses are in? If they are, did you check if the fuses were blown? Although Spikes come with their own fuses… If dust had some metal powder in it, or if it clogged up some of the inner workings?
Well, if you got enough sawdust inside, i suppose you could plug the sockets… You could put a shop vac to the sockets and see if anything comes out. If you had really fried it, i think you would have found out rather quickly.
Try checking the continuity between the breaker sockets and spade connector outputs with a multimeter.
Sounds like time for a quick diagnostic. If you have done this already, my apologies for providing instructions that are obvious, however reporting the results here could help analyze the problem.
With the fuse panel hooked up and in the circuit, with the main breaker turned on (robot ready to go, but the OI not powered up), connect the ground lead of the voltmeter to the negative terminal of your battery.
Touch the positive lead to the positive terminal of your battery. What does it read? (should be about 12, give or take a volt)
Touch the positive lead to a metal connection on the positive side of the terminal block. It should read the same voltage as the battery.
Touch the positive lead to the positive terminal on the fuse panel. It should read the same voltage as the battery.
Now touch the positive lead to the output from the fuse panel where you connect your spikes/relays. (Make sure a breaker is inserted.) If you had the correct voltage in step 3, but not here, then the problem may lie in either the fuse panel itself, the breaker, or the connection of the breaker to the fuse panel. Try it with a different breaker. Try inserting the multimeter lead into the inside slot for the breaker. If that gives you a voltage, then the fuse panel itself is fine.
Connect the positive lead of the multimeter to the positive terminal on the battery. Touch the negative lead of the multimeter to the ground terminals on the fuse panel. You should read the same voltage as in the other tests.
Once again, my apologies if you have already gone through and done a test like this, however the chances of having blown a fuse panel are… while not zero… close to it.
Karen,
I have never heard of the fuse panel going bad. If you have not found the problem, please have Herb email me or call me at WTTW. I can come this afternoon on the way home from work (be there at about 2:30). Let me know. I am betting on a bad crimp on the power feeding the panel or the wire is not fully inserted into the Rockwell block. Let me know.