Senile Texas Aggie - comic relief for the rest of you

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Ah..Lake Wobegone..
""the little town that time forgot and the decades cannot improve, but all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."

(unlike the girls from the neighboring county that had so many piercings they looked like they had fallen face first into an open fishing tackle box)

Is that where the fictional town of Millett (or maybe Mullett) was? I can remember a couple of his shows where he talked about that town. I miss that show.

Check out the CeraVe cream.

I will do that. Thanks for the tip.

Besides rolling things around on the pallets you can move them with pallet forks on the tractor.

The problem with using the pallet forks is that I cannot easily get to where I want to store the chipper, which is just to the side of the north door. Without the wheels on the pallet, I would have a hard time positioning the pallet to where I could get to the chipper with either the pallet forks or the 3 point hitch. It looks like the wheels on the pallet will solve the problem.

You need a nice soft gel pillow on that tractor seat

I may try that. I know that swiveling in the seat caused my underwear to dig into the skin, and since the skin was already drenched in sweat, it would tear at the skin. Now I am putting some of my psoriasis medicine on it and using a bandage that I hope will provide some padding.

When I suggested that I would be a fat donor if it would help he suggested I should go on a diet instead!

What did he say after you decked him? I'll bet that the only places you are fat, Miss @Ridgetop, is where it counts.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Bruce]

It looks like the wheels on the pallet will solve the problem.

Maybe you can use the tractor to shove it most of the way to where you want it.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

@Baymule , @Devonviolet , @greybeard , @goatgurl , and @Senile_Texas_Aggie ......and all that are in the area ahead of this front....stay Safe!!....keep us posted.....

Just checked with @goatgurl she is ok, headed to work. She said she'll check in when she gets home. She said the flooding is terrible, the worst in many many years.

We are OK here. Got quite a bit of rain, but no flooding, not much wind to speak of. I am a bit surprised that Miss @goatgurl is having flooding issues. I thought that she was high up enough to not be at risk. Maybe she is talking about the folks around Fort Smith, about 15 miles north of her and about 30 miles WNW of us. Those poor folks are dealing with the Arkansas river flooding being the worst on record. All of the rain that has fallen in southern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma drained into the Arkansas river and ended up at Fort Smith. But we are OK here near Booneville. The watershed for the nearest river, Petit Jean, is the Ouachita mountains, and while it has risen quite a bit, it is not over its banks.

Yesterday I went to cut the overhanging limbs along the woods next to the driveway. While I was there I decided to open the gate so FedEx could deliver the replacement tank for the wood chipper. When trying to open the gate, it didn't respond to the remote control. I looked at the controller board and the battery indicator light was on. So I checked the voltage on the battery and it was 13.5 volts, so the battery was OK. When I checked the controller again, the indicator light had gone off. When I hit the remote control to open the gate again, the receiver light flashed and the battery indicator light came back on. Then I noticed that wires that go to the opener nearest the controller had been pulled out of the circuit board and the wire outside the box on the ground had some insulation removed from the wires. I had mowed the previous day near that side of the gate so I figured that I had caught the wire with the mower. I hooked up the wire again and tried opening the gate and it still would not open.

Here is where I need some adult supervision on how to diagnose the problem. The cable from the controller board to the west side gate opener contains 4 wires: red, black, grey, and white. My guesses as to their function are these:
+ the black wire is ground (-12V)
+ the red wire is +12V to power the mower
+ the grey and white wires are to detect the position of the motor so the controller board can stop the motor from opening or closing any more.

But the above guesses could very well be wrong. Any ideas as to what their functions really are?

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Another clue as to what is wrong or not wrong with the gate opener: I disconnected the 4 wires to the west opener from the controller board and jumpered from the red wire from the west opener to the red (+12V) and from the black wire from the opener to the black (-12V). The gate started opening. I then reversed the wires, connecting the red to black and black to red. The gate started closing. So the controller reverses the polarity to the motor to open or close the gate. I did not test any of the other wires. I have looked on the internet for a schematic for Ghost Controls model TDS2XP (the controller box had CBA3BA on the inside) but have not been able to find a schematic using either of those 2 designators. Where do you folks get your schematics when you need one? Is there something akin to Schematics R Us somewhere?

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[CntryBoy777]

This schematic is from pg 48 of the owner's manual....ya can download it from TSC....pdf....I just googled schenatic for Ghost control model TDS2XP......and it was one of the first options that popped up.....

 

[Ridgetop]

SOS TO GREYBEARD!!! That man knows everything, and can explain it in detail so precise you can actually understand it!

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

SOS TO GREYBEARD!!! That man knows everything, and can explain it in detail so precise you can actually understand it!

Miss @Ridgetop, you are right -- Mr. @greybeard does seem to know everything! A lot of folks on here know a lot more than I do. That is why I have posted about this, hoping they might know what the problem is.

Mr. @CntryBoy777,

Thank you, but is not what I need. I already had that diagram. It is an installation diagram. The diagram I am searching for is a schematic which shows what the green (what I initially misremembered as gray) and white wires are for. Here is an example of a schematic. It is page 1 of the 2 page schematic of my tractor's electrical system:



I did a bit more testing of the gate and tried the jog open and jog close for both sides of the gate. None of them worked. Since I had damaged only the west gate's opener wiring, the other gate should have opened and closed. But even my earlier testing showed that at least the red and black wires going to the west gate were not broken, as my direct jumpering from 12V input to them caused the gate to open and close. I did more reading at Ghost Controls web site and saw mention of fuses on the controller, which I failed to notice before. But a continuity test of the fuses showed they were fine. So I fear that I have fried the controller board.

On a different topic, I finally remembered to get some "AFTER" pictures of along the edge of the woods next to the driveway.

Here are the before pictures, taken on 2018 Nov 05.
Near front gate, looking SSE:
Farther south, looking S:
Half way down driveway, looking S:
At the bridge over the creek, looking SE:

After pictures in my next post.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

After pictures.

At the gate, looking east:

At the gate, looking southeast:
About a 1/4 way down from the gate, looking south southeast:
About a 1/3 of the way down, looking south:

About 1/2 way down, looking south southeast:

At the bridge over the creek, looking southeast:

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[greybeard]

You are correct regarding schematics.
There are significant differences in installation guides, wiring diagrams, and wiring schematics.
Gate installers are generally not terribly adept at the inner workings of an actuator or controller and assume the new controller has been tested at the factory and will work if the correct colored wires are connected to the correct terminal in accordance to the installation guide. Same with end users if they just buy the gate opener kit. Plug and play, as they say. The installation guide will show nothing regarding components, what they are or how they work.
A wiring diagram will show wires, connections, and blocks of labeled components but won't show what device is inside each component, how the circuits are completed or show the integrated circuitry within the components

A wiring schematic will show everything, including the values of each resister, diode, capacitor etc and they are often difficult to find, as 'how the thing works' is often propitiatory information to that specific manufacturer to the levels often only assigned national security secrets..

I'll have to re-read your previous posts and see what I can find, but IC is not one of my better skills. I was quite good at one time, when components were large and physical, but microprocessors are now a big part of just about everything and they are "above my schoolin" Most gate components are sealed units and the 'repair guy' will just replace the whole board or controller..no one changes components inside electronics any more. I suspect they will incorporate diode bridges inside the controller to reverse current but there will also be at least one torque limiter.
A schematic should tho,, show you how to determine if the controller is in fact receiving the right signals for it to open/close/and stop.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Mr. @greybeard,

Thanks. I decided to contact Ghost Controls to see if I can get a controller board for my gate opener. I have yet to hear back from them.

Now I'd like some recommendations from you folks. The first thing I would like to find is a better chain for my pole saw. Oregon R34 chain fits the pole saw (8"), but that chain is not that durable. About 3 days' use and the chain gets dull and stretches out so as not to fit snugly on the guide bar. I wish I could find a chain as hard as the chain that fits my Stihl. That chain lasts and lasts. I have looked online but haven't found a chain in that size that I think would be better.

The second thing I would like to find is a good pair of work boots (waterproof) to replace my current work boots (Muck brand). My wife bought them about this time last year and they were over $100. I hoped that they would last, but early this spring I discovered that they had a small leak in the left boot. Now, the outside cover is starting to come off the inner fabric on the left boot. I had thought that $100 boots would last longer than that. Any recommendations?

No other news here. I hope all of you have a wonderful day.

Senile Texas Aggie