Radio Interference on Drive Cabinet

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Alfont1120

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Location
Dighton, MA
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Electrical Project Manager/Journeyman Electrician
We have an electrical cabinet on a machine that has a servo controller and 2 old drives in it. Radio Interference from walkie talkies and whatever else is nearby is causing the controller to go haywire and delete its programming (we presume because the power supply voltage is fluctuating with the interference and the controller manufacturer says a change in voltage would cause that). Any suggestions on how to remedy this problem?
 
Alfont1120 said:
We have an electrical cabinet on a machine that has a servo controller and 2 old drives in it. Radio Interference from walkie talkies and whatever else is nearby is causing the controller to go haywire and delete its programming (we presume because the power supply voltage is fluctuating with the interference and the controller manufacturer says a change in voltage would cause that). Any suggestions on how to remedy this problem?
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Not to be a SA, but find what is causing the voltage change would be the first order. Set up some recording meters and cycle the suspected offenders. Make the supply more robust. Buy new equipment.
 
ptonsparky said:
Not to be a SA, but find what is causing the voltage change would be the first order. Set up some recording meters and cycle the suspected offenders. Make the supply more robust. Buy new equipment.
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Well, when the cabinet door is open the walkie talkies will cause the voltage change, but not when the door is shut. So there is something else "floating" around which we have not been able to identify. A building down the road put up a radio tower sometime last year so they could radio their guys, so maybe that has something to do with it. Unfortunately, we got a quote on a new cabinet (ours is very outdated) and they said between 15-20k, and i'm having a hard time getting that approved so I need to come up with a new solution....
 
Alfont1120 said:
Well, when the cabinet door is open the walkie talkies will cause the voltage change, but not when the door is shut. So there is something else "floating" around which we have not been able to identify. A building down the road put up a radio tower sometime last year so they could radio their guys, so maybe that has something to do with it. Unfortunately, we got a quote on a new cabinet (ours is very outdated) and they said between 15-20k, and i'm having a hard time getting that approved so I need to come up with a new solution....
Click to expand...
That solution is probably less cost then building an underground bunker to run the equipment in.;)
 
It's been a problem for the past 6 months. I just noticed yesterday that the transformer stepping it down from 480 to 240 wasn't properly grounded so I fixed that and am going to monitor the cabinet to see if the problem has disappeared. Thanks guys
 
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