FAAC JA574 - Gates not working Help Please?

KevH

Hi Guys,
I wonder if anyone can help me..... I've a FAAC JA574 Genius Control Panel for my Electric Gates, The PCB is marked 7PCB452/455.
The gates wouldn't open the other day, they just remain in the closed position, neither the Fob, Keypad or bypass button open the gates...

The power is fine, fuses are fine, the "Stop" LED in the panel is on and the "DL10" LED is on.... I noticed that the photocells which are set up as single closing weren't lit as they should be.
I found the 24v positive supply is fine but the negitive seems to be dodgy....on terminal 19, I would be expecting a negitive (0v) but am getting 22v, I linked the cable to a negative and the photocells lit up and you can hear them switching as expected but still the gates are not opening.

I was getting some other dodgy readings like terminals 13-18 = 4v , 12-19 = 22v, no loose connections evident......I'm thinking it may be the PCB ...... any ideas guys...?

There's a picture of the control panel pcb here:
http://www.nal.ie/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_details&gid=119&Itemid=99

grousedogtom

Hi, I use facc quite regularly, did you get sorted?

KevH

grousedogtom wrote: »

Hi, I use facc quite regularly, did you get sorted?

Yeah, turned out it was the PCB.....although......I now have a new problem....!!!!

One of the underground motors is tripping the Power Supply RCD....turns out the cable is dodgy (still tripping when disconnected)....which I'll sort, but my question is....

What's the best way of checking the capacitors and how are they used?....Closing?

grousedogtom

KevH wrote: »

Yeah, turned out it was the PCB.....although......I now have a new problem....!!!!

One of the underground motors is tripping the Power Supply RCD....turns out the cable is dodgy (still tripping when disconnected)....which I'll sort, but my question is....

What's the best way of checking the capacitors and how are they used?....Closing?

I use a multimeter that has a feature for measuring capacitance on it, not sure what you mean by how are they used? The capacitor starts /runs the motor

KevH

Yeah, I looked online....don't have one that measures capacitance......
I thought the motors were powered by a 230v supply (Com-Open/Close) ? How does the capacitor figure in this ?

grousedogtom

KevH wrote: »

Yeah, I looked online....don't have one that measures capacitance......
I thought the motors were powered by a 230v supply (Com-Open/Close) ? How does the capacitor figure in this ?

With 230 volt motors you'll always have a capacitor connected between the open and close connections, where as no capacitor would be used on a 24 volt system

KevH

So, when it receives the power to "open" it's charging the capacitor for powering the "close" cycle...? Am I right in thinking?
Just trying to figure out what is likely to happen if I have a problem with a capacitor...?

grousedogtom

If the capacitor fails the motor will not run open or close , probably just make a humming noise like it's trying to start

KevH

So, it must boost/top-up the voltage to run then eh?

stoneill

The capicitor on a 230v system provide either a lagging or leading phase shift between voltage and current AC sine wave providing a direction for the motor to turn. Without it voltage and current are in phase and the motor doesn't know which way to turn.

KevH

Cool, I get it.....turned out it was the capacitor after all.... (there might still be an issue with an underground cable though....but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it).

I did have a capacitance setting on my multimeter after all.....!!!!

The 12.5uF capacitor was only reading 11.2uF when checked, so all sorted when I changed the capacitor (for the time being anyway).....