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more on that electrical problem with a brent wheel

updated sun 22 may 05

 

Maureen Mecozzi on sat 21 may 05


Dear Craig Clark, Taylor in Rockport TX, Michael Wendt & Cynthia Bracker,

Many, many thanks for your very prompt responses and helpful advice!!

I talked to Don Sigler & Bob Randolph at Brent -- nice guys, they
suggested I change the fuse. I did -- it didn't work.

I checked the socket -- it seems to be OK. Other large electrical devices,
like a washing machine, work just fine and don't trip the breaker when
plugged into the socket I usually use just for the wheel.

Opened the foot pedal -- can't really tell if something is wrong. Doesn't
appear to be any water damage. I haven't got a voltmeter/ohmmeter (and if
I did I wouldn't know what to do with it, I'm ashamed to say) to test any
further...

So the next step is to find an electrician who can help me find out where
that short is lurking in the plug, cord, foot pedal, control box, or
motor.

Unfortunately it won't happen this weekend...I live in Singapore and
Monday is Buddha's birthday (the holiday is called Vesak Day); everybody's
celebrating a three-day weekend here.

Again, your guidance was most welcome and I'll use what you told me to
work with the electrician. Communication can be challenging here at times -
- the country has four national languages (Chinese, Malay, Tamil and
English) but you never know what you're going to hear. Usually it's a
combination of all four!

Best to you all,

Maureen

P.S. I forgot to ask the Brent guys: Do new wheels usually come with
manuals? I bought this wheel secondhand and the only original
documentation the previous owner had was a single page about making speed
adjustments on the foot pedal.

I looked around the Brent website and didn't see any docs or schematics.
It would be nice to have a manual on hand before I or someone else begin
dissasembling the thing...

As Aldo Leopold said: "The first rule of tinkering is to save all the
parts."

Dean Poole on sat 21 may 05


A basic rule of trouble shooting electrical is to divide and concur.
Try disconnecting the motor and the foot pedal one at a time from the
electronic motor controller this will probably help you isolate the fault
without paying someone else. If the breaker still trips after all the
peripherals are disconnected the fault should be there. As a side note I
agree it=92s probably not the motor winding but it could be the brushes arci=
ng
fortunately these are easily removed and cleaned. They are behind plastic
screws at the bottom of the motor about the size of a nickel open them with
a coin there is a spring and the motor brush in there they are tedious to
get back in but worth checking. The most likely candidate for a short is
probably the motor controller.