A Fonzie Moment
I had a repair I did at the lab that I wanted to share. I'm working on a temperature/humidity control system for the test hut, and it was showing some erratic behavior. One of the control relays worked fine, but the other one seemed to run the equipment even when the indicator light was off. Hmm. I took the controller apart, to see if it was miswired. Nope. Checked the electrical receptacles... no problem there. Checked continuity at the controller itself; hmm... odd... it shows Normally Open as closed, with the indicator light off. And Normally Closed is open. WTF? And when I energize the relay, it's still the same. Waitasec.
[Grabs a screwdriver by the shaft]
THWACK!!
[Power it up, and the relay is working fine.]
"Eyyyyyyyy!"
(In case you aren't familiar with electromechanical relays, it means that it got stuck in the "on" position. Percussive maintenance can solve this issue.)
posted by Bats @ 10:09 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
The AN/PRC-77 radio has relays inside. (This is the one you see in Vietnam movies all the time, the trusty radioman trotting along beside the platoon commander. It's also the one you would have seen on my back for a year or so as our platoon signaller, in 1997. Go Canadian Forces modern kit!) Drop-testing would serve to unstick those relays when one got stuck on send. Don't think the testing worked very well outside though, since we tended to be on soft ground.
Geez... you had to hump the prick-77? Who did you piss off? :)
Guess I didn't need the explanation then. :)
Nobody in particular, just our platoon warrant was very keen on Doing Things Right, which meant an assigned platoon communicator dude in the weapons detachment. I was a corporal fresh off my comms course, and I don't think he trusted the other person who matched those qualifications as much as he did me, so I got it.
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