This is topic Strong SPA-7 Failer in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 04-06-2001, 01:40 AM:
 
Help!

Tonight in auditorium #1 our Strong SPA7 automation messed up. The motor switch and the automation motor start don't work anymore. The rest of the automation works as advertised. I have checked the power at the bus and all the fuses and they are fine. So tomorrow I can rig up a switch and run the shows.

The console is a Super Highlight.

But do you have a clue as to what went wrong? What should I check next?

Ian


 


Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 04-06-2001, 02:56 AM:
 
Hello Ian.

I looked at the manual on that critter, and it gives no real clue about what could be wrong. The manual is a POC.

I never worked on the model console you have, so here is only a feeble guess:

If that console has a termination board that is accessed through the rear door, there might be a 3AG fuse on the upper right side of that board. It is probably blown. I think it is a 10 amp SB fuse. Replace the fuse, but don't jumper it, not even for testing. You'll burn up the traces on that board if something caused that fuse to blow.



 


Posted by Roger Frazee (Member # 640) on 04-06-2001, 04:04 AM:
 
Since neither the manual switch nor the automation relay will start the motor, my guess is that you have a burned trace on the circuit board.


 


Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 04-06-2001, 12:01 PM:
 
OK just so you guys don’t think I am a complete idiot, I checked all the fuses with my continuity checker.

I am rigging up a temporary manual motor switch so I can run my shows. My suspicion is that it is a broken trace or a bad Molex connector. I don’t know how to find it. I know I am supposed to trace the electrical path with my mutimeter. But the way the board is installed in the console; it makes it really hard to get at.

 


Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 04-06-2001, 02:12 PM:
 
Hi, Ian.

If that Bodine motor is one that requires a high start-up current, Roger stands a chance of being absolutely correct.

Another possibility is a broken solder connection on one of the traces itself, maybe in the small fuse holder, or the motor feed connection on the barrier strip.

Did you find that small fuse? A lot of people don't know it even exists.



 


Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 04-06-2001, 05:20 PM:
 
Ian,
Its possible that the motor is also bad. I have had several Jethro Bodine failures that opened up the PC trace. These motors as any other kind will draw a huge amount of current and literally vaporize the trace before the breaker can respond. If your motor is bad replace it with a Leeson from Strong. These are far better motors than Bodine.
Mark @ GTS
 
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 04-06-2001, 08:19 PM:
 
Hi, Mark.

I think he just popped the fuse I was talking about. He said he read 115 volts across the fuse, which indicated it is open. Hopefully, he didn't fry the trace. He had some other problems which developed, also.

Ian hasn't gotten back to me yet, but I presume he is running manually.


 


Posted by Rick Long (Member # 213) on 04-08-2001, 01:40 AM:
 
Gotta agree with Paul about the manuals on the SPA-7.

While doing a service call, about a year back, the manager complained that the SPA-7 did not start up the lamphouse on auto, but did on manual.

I checked everything (or so I thought); no burned traces, all wires where they should be, no cold solder joints, but continuity checks showed that the terminals which should short to start the lamp, didn't. I rang the lines back to the base of the relay. Everything was as it should be.

On the start cycle, I could see the relay activating.

It was only three or four cigarettes later, that I noticed that this square relay (one of the P&B KUP-type as I recall) had only two poles and not three!

Replacing it with the proper type restored everything to normal.


 


Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 04-08-2001, 02:05 PM:
 
Problem Solved

Paul was right. How did I ever buy an electrical meter that was incapable of checking a fuse?!

There was nothing wrong with the automation.

We are back in happy, happy automation land.
 


Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 04-08-2001, 03:44 PM:
 
Ian, since you have the Bodine motors, I would strongly recommend steps be taken to use a relay to take the strain off the traces of the termination board traces.

What really surprises me is termination board traces can stand up to a Leland or Robbins & Myers motors, as well as your high-draw startup current in the Bodines.

I don't know wht the start-up draw is in the Bodines, but the Lelands and R&M's draw about 25 AMPS. A starter switch sticking (or for that matter, a starter switch not engaging) might fry a trace, especially if someone installed a fuse other than what the manufacturer has cited.

Furthermore, if you hammer it enough, something is going to go *Poof*~ along with the fuse. A multi-hundred dollar board will protect a 25-cent fuse by blowing first!



 


Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 04-08-2001, 05:42 PM:
 
The traces on the terminal board are 2 ounce copper and 1/8" wide and on each side according to my table they are rated for 30 amps
 
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 04-08-2001, 07:43 PM:
 
Thanks for the info, Gordon. It is very useful, and I'll add that to my feeble memory bank.


 






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