PANZER IV BUILD no 012

[phil fitzpatrick]

Hi Nick
Sorry I am a bit slow with some help,Took us 2 week ends choping my big dead tree
down,which was 3 big trees coming out of a wacking great stump.
Looked at your wires for the smoker and something is wrong beside your miss ing switch.
Quicker and safer to send it back to Gill for a replacement.
The Blue from the fan should go to aconnector with 2 black wires not a red.
And those 2 blacks one goes to the power lead and the other is the black to the element.
the red to the element is one that goes to the switch,
The other red to the switch(note the manual is right)goes to a connector which is linked
to the power suplly lead and then goes out with a single read to the relay.
Hope this helps.
PS if you are desperate I have a spare set that I can post you and you can replace it
with the one you get back from Gill
Cheers
Phil

[Nick Farrugia]

HI Phil thanks for your reply
I thought it was a bit messed up it was only when i started to conect things up that i noticed the switch was missing and then i started to look at the rest of the wires and it didnt add up (red to black oh no no no ) thanks for the offer of your harness ,i will see what mark has to say he might be able to sort it, or just change it over for me i,m not to desperate YET ,Thanks again phil youve been a great help .
all the best ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,nick

[phil fitzpatrick]

Hi Nick,
Hope the pics are clear enough.
You will see that the Blue and Yellow from the motor switch the relay and the Fan
runs.
If your element does not heat up this is switched by the switch which breaks the Red
from the power supply,so the Element is always hot if the Switch is on,even if stationary
and the Fan is not been driven.
There is a 5 amp fuse to check if there is no power at that switch.
Let me know how you get on.
Cheers
Phil

[Nick Farrugia]

HI Phil
thanks for the pics unfortunatly every thing seems in the right place , i have checked the fuse in the power supply box and thats ok is there a fuse in the speed control box as well , i dont think its going to be in there because the tracks run great and the engine sounds are ok as well

[phil fitzpatrick]

Hi Nick,
If your 5 amp fuse in the power supply is Ok and all the lights are on,and your Fan
runs,it can only be the connections to the switch and the element,or the element itself.
Its a shame you cant find your test meter.
Did you say you had to fit your own switch into the system because it was missing?
If the connections are the same as in the pic's.
You can by pass the switch by connecting a temporary cable across the 2 switch terminals.
If the Element starts to get warm its the switch if it doesnt its the element.
If you had a spare Element you could try that aswell.
Keep trying and it will burn your fingers next time you touch it
Cheers
Phil
PS remember what I said if you are stuck.

[Nick Farrugia]

HI Phil
the fuse is ok all lights are on, the fan works but not when its conected up to the tank only when i use a spare 12 volt batterie . I am thinking that there is a fault in the power supply unit itself, i would know for sure if i could find my meter ,but no luck on that front eather .the whole smoke unit is dead no life or movement .There must be power going through the yellow and blue wires because the drive motors work just fine so the only thing i can think of is there is a fault in the power supply box on the 5 amp conection or the relay is faulty that is on the wireing harness .I Will keep looking for my meter it,s here somewhere ,thanks for your time if i have no luck with it i will contact Gill or mark to see what can be done ,thanks again phil all the best ,,,,,nick
p,s,
thanks for the offer phil , but i have a feeling that it might be something else ,,dam meter i will keep you informed of the progress or lack of it best wishes ,,,,,,,,nick

[Adrian Harris]

Looks to me me as though there is a bridge rectifier connected to the yellow/blue leads from the motor and the red/black leads to the relay.

The yellow/blue leads from the motor should go to the terminals on the bridge rectifier with the squiggly line ~

The red/black leads to the relay should go to the + and - terminals.

If these are wrong, the relay may be being energised the wrong way every time power is applied to the motor and hence is never switching on.

You'll know for certain as soon as you find your meter.

That doesn't explain why your element doesn't work though. Do be careful with the element as:

1) they're ceramic and designed for a life protected within a soldering iron.
2) if it's in free air, it'll reach a couple of hundred degrees within a few seconds.

Adrian.

[phil fitzpatrick]

Hi Nick
I just checked the set I photographed for you and its connected like Adrian said.
The rectangular black box is the relay.
A little question,I had forgot in your PM you said you tried a 12V battery and the
Fan worked,although the F an is 24V.
I wonder if the Element would behave the same or want the full 24V.
Try it on 24V if you can

[Adrian Harris]

> I wonder if the Element would behave the same or want the full 24V.

I would expect the element to just be resistive, so would still get hot with 12V but not to the ultimate temperature. Certainly worth a try.

Adrian.

[Nick Farrugia]

HI Phil and Adrian
I had to buy a new meter today ,still carnt find my original one ,still bought it from maplin,s twent pounds for a small ish pocket size one its ok.) Right, checked the heating element ,it was ok ,fan ok , power from the power supply ok , power to the solinoide and bridgerectifier (thanks Adrian i was wondering what it was )nothing not a thing it turns out it was a faulty conector from the power supply to the the smoker harness ,now as conectors go these are the most simple of conectors you can get and yet some how it just was,nt working ,or not conecting properly any way problem solved fan working element working ,happyness reterned to the tank building program . Thanks guy,s for your input and time it is appreciatd ,i just wouldnt have thought that a simple plug could have failed to work but thats the way it goes sometimes thats why i needed my meter its much easier tracing faults with one than without . All the best to you both and thanks again for your help . ,,,,,,,,,,,,,nick

[phil fitzpatrick]

Well done Nick
Its a good day for fixing stuff,Duncans fixed his charger aswell.
Cheers
Phil

[Nick Farrugia]

HI to all
At last a vidio of my smoker, all be it a very short clip it is now working very well . I am not getting the effect that im looking for just yet ,but it is working fine more vidio,s to come of all the other bits ,hope you like it . All the best ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,nick
just click on the picture

[michael hilton]

Well done Nick.....that 'smoker' looks excellent. I particularly like the 'second' startup......spot on, best wishes. Mick

[phil fitzpatrick]

Hi Nick
Well done you got it sorted,sounds as good as it looks
Cheers
Phil

[John Fitzsimons]

smoker looks great