A few days ago when we had already had some freezing rain I lowered my
HDX-555 a little, then raised it, then lowered it a little again.
Today, now that the weather is a little milder, I decided to wind it all
the way up again. It went up several feet, then the GFCI outlet tripped.
I reset the GFCI and got the tower up a few more feet, then the breaker
tripped again. From that point on, the GFCI tripped as soon as I flipped
the "up" switch.
I couldn't see any moisture in the control box or in the junction box on
the side of the motor, so I am guessing that snow that had accumulated
on top of the motor had melted and run into the motor itself. The heat
generated by the motor probably accelerated the process, explaining why
it ran much longer the first two times.
I tried a heat gun, but perhaps not for long enough. I ended up by
plugging the tower power connector into the generator.
If this is a common problem, people could find themselves unable to
lower the tower in bad weather when they really need to do so.
73 and Happy New Year
Alan NV8A
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