Re: [electricboats] Motor not powering up

It deserves noting that you should check the part# carefully on your contactors to be sure what voltage the coil is supposed to be energized with.  A 24v coil powered with a 12v source might operate fine for some time then start failing to pull in, or maybe pull in without good contact across the contacts.

 

This would particularly be a problem if your contactor has a built-in "economizer" which drop the effective coil voltage way down to reduce stress and power consumption.  In that case, it might drop the coil voltage by 75%, which would be fine if powered with the correct voltage, but iffy if the applied voltage were half that.

 

Also, the source (e.g. controller?) might be doing economizing, so you need to know whether it is or not---I have a brush motor controller myself so don't have the controller involved in contactor coil drive.

 

-MT

 

From: electricboats@groups.io [mailto:electricboats@groups.io] On Behalf Of Bob Jennings
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2020 8:46 AM
To: electricboats@groups.io
Subject: Re: [electricboats] Motor not powering up

 

Larry, won't be at my boat till next week.

Matthew brought up a good point. If you can't hear the contactor clicking/pulling in when you turn the key, it's busted.  

The contactor on my boat is a Tyco. Should be able to find a replacement easy enough.

 

 

On Mon, Sep 14, 2020, 11:35 AM <jack21322@gmail.com> wrote:

Just so you know, I have the 48v thunderstruck kit and have had the same contactor problem- proper voltage on one pole and significantly reduced voltage on the other. Ended up replacing the contactor and she worked fine. My connections on the contactor were kinda loose when I went to diagnose it at first with the multi meter, but seems yours were tight. 

 

I think the contactor they provide with the kit could be low quality now that I read you are having the same problem. If you end up replacing it with a different kind let me know because I'm thinking of getting a spare contactor the keep on board in case it happens again underway or in a foreign country.

 

Best,

-Jack

 

 

 

On Sun, Sep 13, 2020 at 11:51 AM Larry Brown <elcapitanbrown@gmail.com> wrote:

Reading up it seems I could leave the throttle in (off position) run a screwdriver across the Line and Terminal contacts and should see the clearview showing the correct voltage to confirm the contactor is not fully engaged?  I'm unsure as to why it isn't simply 53V or 0V on the Terminal side to the controller.  Seems it would act like a physical switch and either be on or off...  But bridging the two with no load seems like it shouldn't hurt.

 

Larry

 

On Sun, Sep 13, 2020 at 2:13 PM Larry Brown via groups.io <elcapitanbrown=gmail.com@groups.io> wrote:

I went down to the boat yesterday to clean the bottom and figured I'd run the motor a little to keep that warm and fuzzy feeling that I'm ready to go when I need to and no warmth or fuzz to be had.  Turning the key on to activate the Sevcon caused the sevcon green light to illuminate and the Clearview screen to come on.  However, the clearview shows 00 for voltage.  My battery monitor clearly shows the voltage at 54V (48V system).  When I check the lead going into the contactor to ground I get 53V but on the lead coming out of the contactor going to the controller I'm readying approximate 10V.  I suspect this is the culprit?  Or is there a reason the lead between the contactor and the controller would read low?  

 

Looking at the contactor it looks like it's a sealed/waterproof unit (From the Thunderstruck kit, or at least water resistent).  All wires nuts are tight on their wire leads from both incoming wire from the battery bank and outgoing wire to the controller and the two that run to the key switch.  It's in a dry spot and I've run the motor maybe a dozen times in the 2 years I've had the equipment.  (my project was on hold).  There is no apparent corrosion externally whatsoever so I'm not sure what could have caused it to fail.  We are not far away from the lightning capital of the country (Lakeland Fla) but I don't see any charred marks on anything, the solar charge controller is working fine.  Are contactors flaky parts or parts that I should always have a spare available for?  I really thought having such a simple system that's relatively new that was working as advertised would be doing so for quite a while.  Glad I found out at the dock when I didn't need to move the vessel :-P

 

Thanks in advance for anything you guys can offer as advice.

 

 

Larry

 

--

Larry Brown

S/V Trident

Palm Harbor, FL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_/)~~~~~~~~

    ~     ~          ~~           ~

~           ~~_/)    ~      ~ ~        ~

     ~                  _/)          ~

 

--

Larry Brown

S/V Trident

Palm Harbor, FL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_/)~~~~~~~~

    ~     ~          ~~           ~

~           ~~_/)    ~      ~ ~        ~

     ~                  _/)          ~