Got a call from the ranch last week stating one of my feeders isnt working. I use All Season units on all of mine and the controller unit had gone bad. You could hear the contacts click on and off but nothing would happen. If you hooked the battery straight to the motor it would throw. So they put a moultrie timer in and it was working fine. Then today they call again and said that not the moultrie timer is doing the same thing. Motor and battery are good but the timer isnt allowing anything through. Any ideas? I hate to just keep buying timers if the problem is somewhere else.
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Battery voltage may be 10 or 11 volts. This would still spin the motor when wired direct. Not the same rpm's as 12.5-13.0 volts but it will still spin the motor. Most timer circuits won't pull the contact in and maintain it below 11 volts or so. If you have a solar panel charging the battery, it might work in the afternoon (charging all day) but not in the morning due to the weakness of the battery. -
So if this is what the problem is, then the only way to check and verify would be to charge the battery up and hook it up and see what happens, or is there another way?Comment
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David H is correct. if you do need to change timers, i use the-timer and have great succes with it. you can look at their website www.the-timer.com and get a dealer near you.
cya when your fire gets hot,
Bob G.Comment
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My guess is that the battery is on it's last leg. If you wired it direct to the motor and put a volt meter on it, you would see the voltage falling off significantly. The clicking you referred to is the relay/contact on the timer pulling in, but when the motor load is energized the voltage on the battery drops so low (<11 volts) that the relay kicks back out before starting the motor.Comment
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Since you use nothing but All Season timers then obviously it would cost too much to change but if you ever have to replace a mechanism I love the On-Time feeders mainly because their customer service is awesome. I have an On-Time analog timer that had the clock go out, this mechanism was atleast 9 years old, all I did was call On-Time and 9.00 (shipping) later I had a new clock.Comment
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I'm assuming you have a solar panel keeping (or attempting to keep) the battery charged. If you don't have a solar panel, then replacing the battery or charging it up (assuming it is rechargeable) would be the thing to do.Comment
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is the timer the same one that uses the same harness at HCR?Originally posted by Bob G View PostComment
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I will call them and get them to try charging the battery all the way up and see what that does. Thanks guys. I guess if the battery charges up good and it still doesnt work it is time for a new timer?Comment
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Crittergitter,
yes it is. why?Comment
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because i really like HCR. in fact that is all i use.Originally posted by hillcountryhunter View Post
i like to keep a extra unit around in case somthing happens. i heard good things about THE TIMER. THE TIMER is a little cheaper than HCR and i thought about trying one since it uses the same connector.Comment
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