Lightning, Aux1 relay

[kitestrings]

Hi Folks,

We had a rather nasty thunder & lightning storm on Saturday.  I'd fallen asleep watching a soccer game, and awoke to what sounded like a cannon blast in the yard.  Later that night we notice one of our two (CL250's on wind) Classics doing some odd, repetitive blinks and screen displays.  Sunday morning after checking for any obvious damage inside & out I tried first a VMM, with no effect, then a jumpered hardware reboot.  I tried it twice - likely I was too slow on the first - then I noticed that when it was jumpered, that the screen appeared to be in a typical initial start screen/mode, but no LEDs blinking as expected.  The ethernet LED also blinked while jumpered.  I removed the ethernet connection and tried it one more time and voila, we're back up and running!

Everything looks to be functionally working now with one exception: the Aux1 relay which we've been using as a dry-contact to control a furling actuator is no longer audibly clicking when toggled on/off.  I'm guessing this relay is hung closed, and may have been the entry point of whatever transient spike we incurred.  The relay LED operates, but the relay does not appear to (I will have to confirm with a meter).

We have another, unused Aux1 relay on the second unit, but I was wondering if the relay could be replaced by perhaps just sending in/swapping the board it is on (control?/power?/other?) as apposed to removing, shipping the whole unit?

CL00415, CL00418, purchased 03/29/11; factory update 11/04/13, Rev 1408

Thanks for any advice.  ~ks

[Vic]

Hi ks,

The Aux relays and terminals ARE on the Power board  --  the one under the Control board,   FWIW,   Good Luck, Vic

[ClassicCrazy]

Open a ticket with Midnite and the techs will know the answer .

Larry

[WizBandit]

Switch AUX1 over to 12V out, turn it manual ON and see if you have 12-15V there at the terminals.  If so, use an external 12V auto relay in place of the internal unit.  If the 12V on AUX1 is out, then it will need to be repaired.

[kitestrings]

Thanks for all the suggestions.  I've opened a ticket on the support/email.  I'm sure they'll get me pointed in the right direction.  Thought by now at least one other user would have smoked a relay here  .

I will try moving the jumpers to see if there is a 12V output as WizB suggested.

Vic, I was looking at the photo someone posted here (below), but I can't see where the terminals for Aux 1& 2 or the jumpers are.  Is this the board you mean:

http://midniteftp.com/forum/index.php?topic=3559.msg34018#msg34018

~ks

[Vic]

Hi ks,

Sorry, got busy and forgot to reply to your question ...

On the Classics here,  the Aux connections and,   one relay are on the Power Board.

The image that you Linked to shows the bottom of that board,   and we see the top of the board when it is mounted in the Classic ...

But,  am sure that K1 on the bottom of the board is for Aux 1 (IIRC) ...

You have contacted MN Tech,   so they will guide you as to the best approach for you,  in your situation.

Good Luck!   Lightning can be a real pain ...   hope that this one thing is the only loss that you have suffered from the event.
Vic

[kitestrings]

Ok, so I got home early enough today to get a closer look at things.  Wizb had responded:

Most likely, one of two things has happened, the relay contacts are welded together or the little transistor that puts the 12V out to the coil (the neg I think) has shorted and the relay is ON all the time. Pull the AUX1 jumpers and listen for the relay to click (on the RELAY PINS) if it clicks, then put the jumpers for 12V out of AUX1 and go to manual OFF, if you still have 12-15v then it is shorted.

Our controllers were just old enough that they were configured with the Aux1 relays in a NC position.  When you turn Aux1 ON it opens when in the dry-contact mode.  I think Ryan explained this here: http://midniteftp.com/forum/index.php?topic=255.msg1455#msg1455

Anyhow, first in dry-contact mode I checked with a volt meter and found that I had my (externally sourced) 12V+ signal on both sides of the relay, so the relay was closed and did not change when Aux1 was turned ON.  When I went to move the jumpers I notice that one was missing.  This should have been a clue.  It appears that when I removed the Ethernet wire, just after the storm, I must of knocked it off while depressing the release with a small screw driver.  I hadn't realized this at the time...but it now explains why it booted up after I removed the Ethernet.

When I replaced the jumper (both on right) and powered up, everything was fine until I turn Aux1 ON, then it went into the alternating MS logo, black-block screen, blinky-blinky-clicking mode that I'd originally seen.  Definitely it did not like something.

I put two jumpers on the left-hand side as suggested and found that there was no audible click, and that I had ~14V on the (isolated) Aux1 terminals regardless of the ON/OFF state.

I since have moved the wires to the other controller (Classic B), which had an unused Aux1, configured it for dry-contact and same settings, and we are back in normal operating mode.

Now I just need to see if it is worth getting Classic A fixed.  ~ks

[kitestrings]

Thanks Vic.  Yes, we were very lucky.  This appears to be the only damage.  The turbine was not affected, and I always worry about that...there's something about having an 85' ground rod in the yard during a storm that's unnerving.

And, I probably shouldn't put off getting those MS arrestors that I keep saying would be good to get installed here.