Category: Potain MDT 389

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Crane will not hoist

Crane will not hoist up or down.  No fault on CCS, but drive shows “E OC” which means motor overcurrent.

Manually release brake, and fault changes to “E 68″ brake switch malfunction.  This indicates that the drive is seeing an over current fault, and the brake is typically not the culprit.  Verify brake is being released by drive, and verify brake disk adjustment.  With brake manually released, the drum spins freely.

Found contactor K466M (motor heating) was stuck in the activated position.  Could not release the contactor coil (contacts may be welded)  Switched off Q407F, and crane hoists normally.

As drive would send voltage to motor to work, but motor was requiring more voltage than the drive was sending to rotate because it was heating the motor additionally.  Drive would stop due to this ‘over current” sitauation.

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Crane load indication accuracy

1917.46(a)(1)(ii)

The accuracy of the load indicating device, weight-moment device, or overload protection device shall be such that any indicated load (or limit), including the sum of actual weight hoisted and additional equipment or “add ons” such as slings, sensors, blocks, etc., is within the range between 95 percent (5 percent underload) and 110 percent (10 percent overload) of the actual true total load. Such accuracy shall be required over the range of daily operating variables reasonably anticipated under the conditions of use.

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Windshield washer check valves

While filling the washer bottle, all the fluid would leak out.

On the output side of each washer pump is a check valve. 

to access the valves the A/C unit must be removed.
found that the check valves were broken and cracked, presumably from freezing. Replaced the valves ( toyota part # 85321-26020) and washer bottle stays filled.

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GR Plug – MDT 389

The GR plug is for the auto greaser option. The auto greaser does not have GR marked on the plug. If the GR plug is not plugged in the slew ring will not be automatically lubricated.

 

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Crane Topsite Shunt Code

Shunt code for Topsite shunt when activated is 8528
This code can be any code you choose, in an attempt to standardize the shunt code please make it 8528 at the time of setup.

Currently the shunt code for the MDT389 SN: 627012 is 1025

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Popping from tower head area MDT389

There are 4 pins that connect the tower head to the turntable. Near these pins there are 4 bolts that apply torsional pressure against the pins. The Operator Manual says to tighten the bolts then back them off 1/4 turn and set the jam nut. Blake Smith from Potain recommends these bolt be tightened and not backed off. Throughout operation of the crane occasionally re-tighten these bolts. The pin connections will pop as has they “seat in” during operation and will eventually quiet. This is a common issue with new 389 cranes.

Directions from Operator Manual

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Crane shuts off, but immediately restarts

Crane would shut off intermittently.  Red circle would display in the bottom right, but turn back to green circle right away.  There were no active faults, but fault history showed  Emergency stop chain : Incoherent state.

The emergency stop switch has NO and NC contacts.  The fault means 1 set of contacts are acted on, but the other contacts are in “normal” state.  (For example NC contacts are closed, but NO contacts are also closed).

The only e-stop that will register this fault would be the one on the armrest (per JP).  Could be the e-stop or the joystick itself.  The joysticks are the same, so swap to test.

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E68 Error on CCS and KEB Drive

Hoist suddenly stops, and often will not restart until several attempts later.  E68 code is displayed on CCS messages.  It means that the KEB hoist drive releases the brake, and looks for the microswitch contact within 600ms (.6 seconds).  If it does not, it will fault.  Follow the steps below.

E68

Hoist Brake Microswitch Adjustment

Also with this situation, the operator claimed the load would drop slightly.  Was able to verify during startup, K405A (validated drive contactor) would close and K409M would energize allowing the brake to release, then the drive would shut down.  Could recreate and U400X #29 was supplying +24VDC at startup to energize K409M.  This comes directly from the drive, replace hoist frequency drive

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Crane Starts but will not Swing

Crane starts, but will not swing.  the Green Square is flashing on bottom right of LMI.  Swing drive has 3 fault codes, AFE1 AFE2 and FBA A Missing.

For AFE! and AFE2 see link.

https://service.rockymtncranes.com/2022/09/07/afe1-and-or-afeb-faults-on-start-up/

Replace the memory stick, and had to force the K600M to stay active for complete download of the memory stick to the drive, and then restart crane.  Crane swings and weathervanes properly.

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Hoist motor operates slow MDT 389 (Degraded Mode)

Operator gave hoist up command, Brake release felt sudden and hard, Followed by a very slow hoisting up or down. Some cases the crane would kick the operator out shortly after the hoist function was given. When the crane faulted E.65 was displayed on the KEB hoist drive.

New Encoder was ordered

Hoist drive was placed in to Degraded Mode

Replaced hoist Encoder,

Took hoist drive out of degraded mode and normal operation resumed.