im having same issues what readings should i have on card, this ev100 has no y connector

im having same issues what readings should i have on card, this ev100 has no y connector

it's always those little things that get you

the first things to check are battery, all related cables and connections. I guess sometimes something like that could be missed or over looked if the tech is inexperienced. The first guy sounds like he was, 2nd guy wasn't. I definitely would contest that bill though, why pay for something you never got :o/

Quick follow up... turns out one of the cables going to the field windings was pretty frayed, which was tripping out the EV100.

I had two different techs come in to look at it, the first screwed around for almost an hour and told me that my brushes were worn unevenly. He never came back to put in the new brushes, but did send me a bill for 2.5 hours labor - AND $40 for the new brushes. Yet my lift still didn't work.

The second guy came in, took about ten minutes to look over the truck, found the bad wire, replaced it, and left. No charge - he just told me now I knew who to call if I ever have any more problems. That was Dunrite Industrial Repairs out of Morrisville PA. Nice guy and clearly knows his stuff. The truck's worked perfectly since.

Sometimes it shuts down while moving, sometimes I'll go to change directions in the middle of moving something and suddenly neither direction will operate.

Doesn't seem to matter if I shut it off or not... it usually stays dead for ten, fifteen minutes and the operates as normal for a while again. Raise/lower, tilt and steering are unaffected, just fwd/rev.

To clarify what is happening, you are driving along when this happens and it just shuts down? Did you try turning the key off and then back on to see if it goes again? The negative feed to the F and R contactor coils can be switched off by a pulse monitor trip (PMT) that will shut the machine down if it senses a problem with the SCR rectifiers. Turning the key off and on resets it.

Truck went out again, this time I stuck a meter on it and the six terminals behaved as before, then I checked for voltage across the coil of the contactors... nothing.

Possibly a problem with the EV100? Are they repairable, or only replaced as a unit?

the whole point in testing those terminals on the control card is to verify you are getting a signal out of the card
from your tests you are getting this so you can rule out the control card as being the problem

now i would check the wiring from the card to the contactors

the problem could be something as simple as worn contacts on the directional contactors.
The contactors work in both pulled in state and relaxed state , there are contacts that have to be made in either state depending on the direction you are in.
check the tips for wear/burns etc
check the contactor wear parts on the armature of the contactor and make sure they are not worn out causing the contactor to hang up and not engage.

OK, the truck isn't misbehaving right now (of course) but I put a meter on it to get a baseline anyway...

Main switch ON, DeadMan Switch ON:
1-2 : 20v
1-3 : 20v
4-5 : 24v
4-6 : 24v

Main Switch ON, DMS ON, Throttle FWD:
1-2 : 20v
1-3 : 20v
4-5 : 1.5v
4-6 : 24v

Main Switch ON, DMS ON, Throttle REV:
1-2 : 20v
1-3 : 20v
4-5 : 24v
4-6 : 1.5v

So yeah, clearly the bottom row is the directional switches.

For what its worth, I also checked for continuity between the back plane and each of the six terminals. With common to the back plane, and the main switch OFF, I got continuity to all six screws.

With tha main switch ON, I got continuity to terminals 1,2,3,5,6, but not 4.

If I switched to put positive on the back plane and common to the terminals, I got the exact opposite reading. So is there some diode action going on there?

Next time the truck dies out on me I'll check the terminals again and let you guys know what I find. In the mean time, do all these readings sound right?

THANKS AGAIN!

the 'other end' of the wires is on the the six screws terminal strip of the ev100 card.
Battery powered forklifts do not use a frame "ground", and have wires from battery positive back to battery negative in every circuit, in fact one of the "first tests" PRIOR to ANY troubleshooting is to check to insure you do NOT have a 'short to frame' of less than 100k Ohms from any of the power cables.

Yep, it's a little stand up.

I checked both the deadman and brake switches, both are opening and closing correctly. I did NOT check the wiring to / from the switches, as I don't have a schematic for the truck and I don't know where the other end of the wires are. I can say that when the main switch is in and the deadman pedal is down, the steering pump comes on reliably, and I don't hear it dropping out momentarily like I expect it would if I had a bad connection or intermittent ground.

That said, I will check the terminals on the EV100 and let you guys know what I see.

THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!

this is a stand up end control docker.
have you checked the service brake microswitch? (brake pedal on right side nobody ever uses) I have had problems with it before and symptoms are the same as you describe as well as the deadman switch as mentioned above.

there are wires #6 and #8 on the control card that control fwd/rev signals, (the same row of 6 terminals/wires edward is speaking of), test there for directional output signal to the directional contactors. (since this seems to be intermittant you may not see it all the time)
You also need to insure the seat switch is working correctly and does not have any break in signal, check the wires and even the switch in the seat itself and make sure it is not loosing connection.

And lastly the directional contactors are still suspect, they are known to cause these exact symptoms, i've seen them where they look perfectly normal but the insulators and other moving parts would be worn in such a way that they would not allow the contacts to connect correctly causing incomplete connection in the drive circuit keeping the motor from running.

the six screws with wires on them on the ev100 card are inputs to the card that have to be 'made' in a correct order. tell us what the voltage is, starting with the left-top screw as 1, and go across to 3, then start as 4 the left bottom row (the last 2 are inputs from the directional switches, so let us know what direction is selected). we can then shorten the list of what is "dropping the ball", so to speak.
as far as what is left and right on the card, depending on how the card is mounted, the 2 smaller plug in connectors are on the left (we call them A&B plugs) and the 2 larger on the right (we call them Y&Z)

If you're not getting the F and R contactors to click in at all, then also check the floorplate switch and brake switch.

I should add that this morning it ran for half an hour with no issues at all.

I checked the connector at the hand control and I get a steady sweep of 5.xK ohms to about 125 ohms in either direction from the throttle pot and the fwd and rev switches both switch on/off properly.

Is there anything in the circuit between the fwd/rev switches in the hand throttle and the contactors that could be dropping the ball?

Thanks for your guidance with this...

No display to give any error codes... this truck doesn't even have a battery meter on the panel!

OK, with the troubleshooting... Trying to move fwd or rev, the contactors aren't pulling in at all, so I manually pushed them in and still nothing...

If I manually push in either the fwd or rev contactor, and simultaneously push in the contactor below it, the drive wheel moves correctly. Checking for voltage at all three coils, I get 0vdc off any of the three contactors when I twist the throttle either fwd or rev. So it seems like they're not getting a signal to pull in?




Thanks again for your suggestions!

(Edited to correct symptoms info)

Rob,
I sent a response to your email
It is a GE EV100 with GE contactors
You can still test the same way, or even take the steps mrfixit says to test the drive motor overall operation.
If it does not run still there may be some other problem.
Watch the display while trying to operate it and see if it shows any errors.

That model came with either a GE EV1 or EV100 control with GE contactors. A quick way to test the motor is jack the drive wheels off the ground and manually push either the forward or reverse contactor in along with the 1A/high speed contactor and the motor should run full speed. Sounds like you have a problem with the pot or the wiring to it.

Thanks for the responses guys!

The model / serial numbers are: ESC030ABN 24 SV 083 and N539187.

Armature looks pretty good for a motor it's age, I've seen a lot worse anyway. Brushes seem to move free and spring back well enough. All four brushes are about 5/8 to 3/4 inch long.

Swoop: I sent you a PM with pic of contactor... I don't see a lebel indicating a manufacturer on the contactors themselves, though the SCR and the whole panel have General Electric labels. How can I identify them?

I appreciate your help!