Last week I discovered that my Channel Master 3-wire rotor would no longer turn. Since I’ve had this rotor in use for the past 8 years and because it was rebuilt when I bought it, I assumed that it had died and a new rotor is what I needed.
I checked around to see if there were any other ‘old stock’ CM rotors around (with the metal gears) for sale and found that Rich Wertman in NY had plenty of them, so I bought one from him.
A few days later the rotor arrived in the mail and a couple of days later I went into the backyard, removed the old rotor and installed the new rotor with the cable I had been using. Then I went inside to check the rotor operation and found that the new rotor wouldn’t turn either!
Something was definitely wrong here. I brought the old rotor and controller down into the basement, cut a 5 foot piece of 3-wire cable I had laying around and hooked up the rotor to the controller. I plugged in the controller and turned the knob. The rotator turned...both ways.
So I took an ohmmeter and check both ends of the three wires in the cable. Two of them had continuity. One did not. My rotator was fine; the cable wasn’t.
I ordered new rotor cable a few days ago and replaced the old crappy cable with the new stuff. My CM 3-wire rotor is working now, and I have another running rotor now as a backup. But I could have saved myself $200 by checking the rotor cable first. Live and learn.
I checked around to see if there were any other ‘old stock’ CM rotors around (with the metal gears) for sale and found that Rich Wertman in NY had plenty of them, so I bought one from him.
A few days later the rotor arrived in the mail and a couple of days later I went into the backyard, removed the old rotor and installed the new rotor with the cable I had been using. Then I went inside to check the rotor operation and found that the new rotor wouldn’t turn either!
Something was definitely wrong here. I brought the old rotor and controller down into the basement, cut a 5 foot piece of 3-wire cable I had laying around and hooked up the rotor to the controller. I plugged in the controller and turned the knob. The rotator turned...both ways.
So I took an ohmmeter and check both ends of the three wires in the cable. Two of them had continuity. One did not. My rotator was fine; the cable wasn’t.
I ordered new rotor cable a few days ago and replaced the old crappy cable with the new stuff. My CM 3-wire rotor is working now, and I have another running rotor now as a backup. But I could have saved myself $200 by checking the rotor cable first. Live and learn.
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