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Nautel ND10 bad thermal safety sensor?

S

spinjector

Hi all,

I'm looking for some repair advice on a No-tel Ampfet ND10. It's got this thermal safety box inside the control panel that's been giving me fits lately. There's a little red LED and a reset button. Apparently it has a temperature sensor in the RF filter stage and if this overheats it cuts the interlock.

Well lately it's been erroneously firing off at night when the pattern change switches to that transmitter. And now...it's stuck on permanently.

I've made the preliminary diagnosis that the temp sensor is bad, because I turned off the main power to the Tx all night, and when I came back and turned the power on, it still indicated an overheat condition and would not let me reset the alarm. Now I know it's not possible for it to be overheating because the power was off all night - the Tx was completely cold.

So I disconnected the sensor from the terminal strip on the little box, and bingo - I could reset the error and the Tx came on as it's supposed to.

So...anyone else ever have this happen?
Is my diagnosis correct - that the sensor is bad?
Is this a P.I.T.A repair job, or just a thermistor-in-a-bolt kind of thing?

Thanks.
 
Good Day again
Says you are online. Could you let me know more about ND10 please? There are several versions of ND10 and without knowing more details i can not advise properly.

Steve
 
Stephen,

Ther serial number on the main part of the transmitter is H481.

It's currently installed at 980 AM in DC. The call letters you have on file could be any of the following: WRC, WWRC, WTEM, or WTNT, or another that I'm not familiar with.

Thanks.

PS - Hmmmmm, I must be getting old because I'm not thinking in reverse immediately any more... I suppose it's just as possible that the sensor module is bad, rather than the sensor... =-)
 
Oh... I wrote this down on a cryptic sticky note, I think it's either the serial number or model for the the control panel or the sensor module: NAX069/01
 
Nautel.... Simply the best! Not only do they have great tech support, but they still support older stuff. That's something the bean-counters should take notice of. Stuff can be 'so old' that it is depreciated off the books and yet Nautel will still have parts and help you keep it running. That's definately a plus!
 
The way the sensor probe works, it supplies a voltage to the sensor (thermistor). If temperature is too high then resistance will decreaes causing a drop in voltage which inturn removes 24 volts to interlock circuit shutting transmitter down. If the thermistoris bad, you can measure it. If low value then it is bad. It is located at the very top of filter and solder across two posts with one wire attached to one side. The other thing you can do is measure the voltage on the NAX69 probe where it connects. Should be 24 volts normal. I hope this information is helpful.

Steve
 
OKCRadioGuy said:
Nautel.... Simply the best! Not only do they have great tech support, but they still support older stuff. That's something the bean-counters should take notice of. Stuff can be 'so old' that it is depreciated off the books and yet Nautel will still have parts and help you keep it running. That's definately a plus!
Click to expand...

Which is why it's better to call them than kvetch about it in a forum like this.
 
The last time I called about this unit the tech said they don't support it any more, so I figured all you knuckleheads were the only help I'd get unle$$ I called in our tran$mitter guy. =-)
 
spinjector said:
The last time I called about this unit the tech said they don't support it any more, so I figured all you knuckleheads were the only help I'd get unle$$ I called in our tran$mitter guy. =-)
Click to expand...

Interesting. I take care of an ND10 -- the OLDER model with the meters on the PA cubes -- and I call Nautel regularly for help. There's never been a mention of support being discontinued.

Also, Stephen is one of the better tech support people at Nautel. I've spoken with him many times and he's always gone out of his way to help.
 
First, I have an ND5 and a couple of ND1s and I don't have a problem getting support....not that I use it very often. I had a vintage 1983 Ampfet 1 in Scottsburg Kentucky I maintained and didn't have problem getting support, either.

And second, call your transmitter guy on this before you blow up the transmitter and cost an additional grand or two for repairs. I can tell from your previous posts that you really don't know what you are doing here.
 
Well that's really good to know. I think what happened is that when the guy said they don't support it any more, I was thinking in terms of software tech support. I worked in a tech support call center for five years, and when support for a product was discontinued, that meant it was DONE - no crying, no yelling, no screaming, one moment please while I transfer you to Mr. Click. =-)
 
Bengalsfan said:
I highly reccomend Nautel to my clients because of their support.
Click to expand...
I do the same for Telos. Outstanding support. They've even sent me free parts on occasion for my Zephyrs when a component died and it was something I could solder in myself.
 
Hi all, I just wanted to follow up on this.

I went out to check the things Stephen suggested, and I found the problem...rather easily. There was a big pile of squirrel poop across the thermistor connections.

Last summer we found a family of squirrels had taken up residence in the transmitter building, had kids, and they all made a horrible mess. We've gone over the outside of the building about three times trying to find out how they got in, but we've never found out how. An animal control officer was able to get them out, but oh hell what a mess we had to clean up.
 
Hello spinjector,
I'm happy to see your issue is resolved and would love to follow-up with you for a story in Nautel's newsletter... can you PM me with your direct contact info so I can be in touch?
Many thanks!
Fiona Ferguson
Marketing
Nautel
 
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