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Link555 21 January 2021

This baby came in for a little inspection this week. The owner was worried that it was a ticking time bomb, as the start sequence would randomly take longer some days and not others. He mentioned, when cold, the unit could take 7-to 15 relay clicks to start. When warm and operating normally he would hear 3-5 relay clicks.

I was able to experiences this extended start up the first time I turned it on, I counted 7 clicks, but it did start. I turned it off and back on, and it took three clicks to boot.

I took it apart, and have to say it is a pretty well thought out design. Clearly significant thought went into the manufacturability and repair of the unit. Someone had already been inside, as I found a broken screw and several stripped machine screws.

Inside this is what I saw:

Lots of ribbons and tight interconnection wiring. The clicks were coming from two relay control boards.
 
I could not tell exactly what relays were clicking in by ear, but certainly the wiring was tight.

I removed the ribbons one by one and inspected the pins, no really signs of oxidation or corrosion. I reseated them a few times. I restarted the unit cold and no real change, it still started slow.

I then removed the cable interconnects and inspected the connectors, nothing clearly visible. I reseated the connectors a few times. And retried the unit. 4 clicks to start...hum maybe it was warm. I let it cool down a bit. My garage is not heated so 15 mins later I tried it, 4 clicks again. Could that be all it was?

I am not sure if that is truly all it was, but I put it back together. And will try again today...

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Boswell Fri, 01/22/2021 - 07:25

That all looks reasonably OK.

Can you reproduce the condition that had the irregular number of start-up clicks? Maybe it simply did require re-seating of connectors, although that wouldn't be the first time that going though a re-seating process has cured mysterious irregular and intermittent problems.

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