Whelen again.. sigh

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

So I am trying to figure out why a Whelen deputy will rotate, but not light the lamp. I would assume that something silly is going on, bulb tests good, and a quick test with a multimeter shows continuity. My first guess was bad ground with bulb hanging upside down but meter rules that out.

I'll try and mess with it this afternoon,

 

[JohnMarcson]

The socket and bulb "mating" together can be problematic. I have one that needed the contact cleaned and the contact at the base of the socket was pressed in so that a connection wasn't occurring. I have old bulb bases that I can meter inside of while seated for a few different sockets because of crap like this.

 

[dmathieu]

Make sure correct bulb. Some Deputys used single contact, some double contact.
Check the solder connection under base.

 

[JohnMarcson]

Make sure correct bulb. Some Deputys used single contact, some double contact.
Check the solder connection under base.

Good point. Compare bulb to socket to be sure

 

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

single contact, current bulb is an 1195.
I am not seeing the problem, meter show continuity.

 

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

single contact, current bulb is an 1195.
I am not seeing the problem, meter show continuity.

update, I can get the bulb to light, or the motor 2 spin. but not both. gonna tear into the wiring and see what is up.

 

[JohnMarcson]

update, I can get the bulb to light, or the motor 2 spin. but not both. gonna tear into the wiring and see what is up.

The bulb is likely grounding via the frame/housing when it is supposed to ground via a socket contact or vise versa. The motor is probably wired opposite. Either way you probably have one frame ground and one isolated ground. Something about inserting the bulb makes the motor not work. See how the motor grounds and then see how the socket grounds. The other option is because the bulb doesn't care about polarity it would only care if you powered the ground and grounded the power when the motor was hooked up. By itself the bulb will light no matter what you ground or power, but if that isn't the same as the motor it they both won't work. You are going to have to start from the beginning and isolate each and making sure you aren't powering the frame instead of grounding it by accident (the bulb wouldn't care).

Can you post a pic of it opened up and the socket?

 

[dmathieu]

Throw up some pics of the socket assy and wiring, and of the wiring under the base. There is very little to these that can go wrong. Pos feed, bulb pos, and motor pos should all be soldered together on their own stud. All grounds should be together at base contact.

 

[JohnMarcson]

Throw up some pics of the socket assy and wiring, and of the wiring under the base. There is very little to these that can go wrong. Pos feed, bulb pos, and motor pos should all be soldered together on their own stud. All grounds should be together at base contact.

Yeah, I think his bulb is grounding something or making something hot that the motor doesn't like, but I would like to see a pic too.

 

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

I had to unmount the light from its display base. I found the problem, now i just need to find a creative way to get it back together. About a zillion wires in this box that do absolutely nothing and they are getting ripped out. I'll get some "upskirt" images in shortly.

 

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

So this is the now very cleaned up with ALL BS wiring out of the way. White is pos for the lamp, red is pos for the drive motor. With black being ground.. for the drive motor. The weird part is that there is a terminal post floating around. White, red, and black from the motor all connect, but the lamp does not have path to ground hence why it didn't work.

I'll probably just secure the terminal to the skirt somehow to complete path to ground and that "should" work.

 

[dmathieu]

The unused end of the terminal block should be unser one of the motor retaining nuts to ground it.
2 blacks to the other end of that block for ground.
Red. red, and white to the terminal they seem to be soldered to.
The other ends of red and black are for your pos and neg connections.
Done.

 

[JohnMarcson]

Like dmathieu said, the open hole on that terminal block grounds the bulb when it is attached to the motor housing.

 

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

so to pull the cage off the skirt, do I need to just loosed the brass nut on the bottom?

I can't determine what the size or thread pitch is on the screw that is missing a nut on the bottom.

 

[dmathieu]

Send it to me, I'll fix it.