Woodward handheld programmer

jolio ST

Member
Join Date
Oct 2004
Location
central CDC
Posts
292
I would like to first start off by wishing everyone interacting @ PLCS.net Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Now here's my situation. There will be a comissioning job soon for my colleague. The project will be at Nigeria and it involves 2 units of Kohler 1600 series engines. On every set of engine there is a ProAct 2 speed controller, programmable with a woodward 9907-205 handheld device. But the problem now is that, the device has broken down. I am not able to get a new one in time, and getting a new piece could cost a lot. I was wondering if anyone has the a brief knowhow on troubleshooting this device. I has opened up the casing and looked through and everything seemed fine.
Anyone able to help out with this? I appriciate all efforts. Thank you!

regards
Sherine T.
 
Thank you very much Mickey. But it's not the problme with the Proact. I have the problem with the Hand-held device that isn't responding. I hope to receive some guidelines as to how to troubleshoot the hand-held.

regards
Sherine T.
 
If you need to make changes to the settings in the Proact, you will need the hand held controller.
 
I believe that is Julio's problem, he has the HANDHELD but it will not work and needs help troubleshooting it.

For whatever reason he can not get a replacement in time and possibly does not have the budget for a new one.
 
I believe that is Julio's problem, he has the HANDHELD but it will not work and needs help troubleshooting it.
Agreed, but the hanheld will be required if settings are to be changed. I know of no way to trouble shoot the handheld - except send it back to Woodward. It is possible that there may be some smart electronics person out there that may be able to help but unlikely.

The only other thing I can suggest is to have a look at the cable connections in case one of theme has come away or shorted.

The last time I had one of these fail, it had to go back to Woodward. Have not used a Proact for years by the way. Thought they had died a slow death.
 
Just another thought, Woodward may be prepared to loan or hire a handheld for a short time to help you out. They have done that in Ozz for me before.

Another option would be to engage Woodward to tune the Proact - they will normally do it much quicker than an inexperienced operator. I normally engage them because they are tuning these things all the time and are therefore much better at it than I.
 
Thanks guys for the advise. I made contact with the local Woodward representative and I am very sure they are not reliable in any sense. He told me the hand-held cannot be repaired once it's broken (in any way it is broken). So he suggested purchasing one, and they have to make an order all the way from the States (it will take maybe 12 weeks or more). I do not have 12 weeks of waiting time. There is no hire service for the handheld here. I may think about engaging the services of the woodward rep, but I'm definatly not going engage the local ones; Maybe one from Down-Under!

Thanks again!

regards
Sherine T.
P.S. I'm sure my nick sounds very male but I'm lass.:p
 
P.S. I'm sure my nick sounds very male but I'm lass.
That sounds very Scottish.

Maybe our local down under Woodward office is not as bad as we first thought.

Good luck Sherine.
 
Sherine,

Wish I had the device in hand, could probably fix it - but.

Check your cables very carefully, wiggle them as you try to communicate

You said you looked inside the case. Did anything look or smell burned?

Lightly jiggle and push on any wires and all the connectors inside (with power off and disconnected) I disconnect and reconnect all plug type connectors - corrosion problems.

I've never seen one BUT I'll bet there is an EPROM that is socketed, I would slightly lever up one end and rock the chip from end to end back into it's socket. Same goes for all other socketed devices. Don't lift an end more than a millimeter so the pins don't pop out.

And finally, since the device is 'un-repairable' and you have nothing to lose. I would give it a strong tap from all XYZ directions. Checking function between hits. It has worked for me in the past.

Good luck,
Rod (The CNC Dude) Only 15 years of field service
 
One of the most important things is put in new batteries if it uses them.

Sherine, my apologies, I knew you were "she" not "he" and still used the wrong term.
 
Sherine,

Is the system using an integrated speed control? Did the handheld ever work? The newer integrated controllers can use either the hand held or Watch Windows software, and the comm port con be reconfigured for each one.

The handhelds are fairly robust, but never been able to have one repaired when they failed. They are not as available as they have been in the past because all of the newer controllers use Watch Window (a free version for doing setup is available at Woodward's website).

There are two types of cables that can be used with Watch Window, either a straight serial cable, or a special cable with an RS422 to RS 232 convertor, depends on how the comm port gets set up.

You might contact Kohler to see what they used for original setup, if they used Watch Window then the handheld will not work until the port is reconfigured.
 
WOODWARD.jpg


I opened the casing, and I do not see any burnt out chips/components. My biggest guess is that static distroyed some crucial ICs so it's almost like brain-dead. My other guess is the flim-like cable is broken somewhere (though I can't see any obvious signs of it).

I told my boss about contacting the woodward on the aussia but I got no response. So I'm left to wait out and see what will happen.

Regards
Sherine T.
 
Am D rock
Plz can anyone advice me on how to get an affordable ProAct Handheld Programmer
Or is there any other programmer that can be used in place of this Programmer
 

Similar Topics

Hi Guys Does anyone know how to establish comms between RedLion DSPSX and Woodward 723 governar. The Aim is to Get all the Woodward status to...
Replies
2
Views
1,475
i have steam turbine control valve (moog) and woodward spc i want to caliberate spc according to my valve can anyone help me.
Replies
0
Views
1,873
Dear all, I have a generator / mains setup which is configured using the Woodward EasyGen3000-3500 and Woodward LS5 controllers. When running in...
Replies
3
Views
4,014
Hi All, I am working on a project using Woodward Easygen 3200 and a PLC for remote control. I have figured out how to run the generator remotely...
Replies
0
Views
2,472
i have a problem as there is "reverse KVAR" alarm apears at display what can i do and what the reason of this case?
Replies
4
Views
2,014
Back
Top Bottom