Anybody good with the EMS system?? I got a 2001 pro 126 that is giving me some trouble. I run the outriggers out, install the snap pin and try to run the machine. The boom will go about 5 degrees over horizontal and quit. After about 5 seconds the light trips and stays constant on. Also the indicator horn stays on. I tried to push the reset and wait but it just trips again. I also tried to flip the battery switch to reset the computer and its the same thing after a few minutes. This is all with the boom fully retracted and stowed. Any ideas.... please dont say replace the system!:bash:bash:bash
barklee, that's one machine I have no fondness for. Most finicky and temperamental electronic controlled machine I've worked on, I'm convinced they are female. They use two control ECU's, there is always a chance one is bad, but the first thing you need to do is calibrate the system. If you're going to retain this machine in your fleet, you need to get the calibration harness from Snorkel, you can't really do the calibration process without it. Sometimes calibration is all it needs. Other times, the fault is caused by faulty boom length potentiometer, angle sensors, or wiring harness problems. These machines are a trick to keep operating. Snorkel will provide you the info you need to service it, they're pretty good at that, but the PRO126 is one machine I'd just as soon not have in my fleet. I'd take a JLG 120HX any day over a PRO126.
I called Snorkel today and do i feel like an idiot!! We had a piece of crap stuck in the bottom hole of the outrigger lock. There is a switch inside the hole and when you put the pin all the way in the lower hole it engages the switch letting the machine know you have the outriggers fully extended. There was some mud a crap in there and the pin wouldnt go in far enough to engage the switch. Thats all it was! We are going to paint this machine. I am wondering if there is a way to over ride the EMS so we can extend the booms out all the way or much more than they are now? Is that possible?
On that machine, it should use a locking pin to hold axle extension lock pin in place. The locking pin fits in a hole in the extension lock pin. When you insert the extension lock pin, it has to go in far enough to line up hole for locking pin. If it won't go in the far, you haven't activated the extension switch. I've never tried to overextend a PRO126, don't know that I would try it. First, you would have to disconnect the two cable reels from the extension sections and hold those two cables in that position. Second, you would have to disable the switches on the side of the boom that indicates various stages of extension. Lastly, you would have to lift the bottom of the platform with a forklift or something while extending because the machine would begin to tip over before max extension is achieved. I don't know that the aluminum platform could stand that kind of supporting pressure.
I was going to use some shoring scaffolding to crib up the boom in two places. Im just thinking there has to be, or should be a way to do this just for painting purposes. What if you had to pull the booms apart? Would you have to pull the booms out with a forklift? I think that pin that locks the big pin is missing, i will have to find a new one!
How does JLG manage the envelope on there big machines? Like the 120hx or 1350? We have a Terex TB110 and i think it just has limit switches that trip when the boom is out too far.?.
Pulling the boom apart for repairs isn't an issue with tipping machine because the boom is not extended. I suppose you could rig some kind of rolling scaffold to support the boom, just seems like a precarious operation just for painting the boom. Another thing to keep in mind is if you manage to figure a way to extend it and paint, you must be very careful retracting the fully extended boom in the horizontal position. The retract cables aren't designed to retract the fully extended boom in horizontal position. Being restricted to a working envelope, the retract cables typically bring the boom in with it elevated, which means gravity lends a hand. Similar, but far more simple. The PRO126 uses a complex ECU to monitor the boom operations and position. The primary ECU gets boom angle input from a linear transducer on the boom, and length input from a cable reel potentiometer. For redundant backup (in case of Primary ECU failure) there is and additional and identical Secondary ECU/sensor setup. Failure of any component or wiring of either ECU will restrict operations and make alarms sound. Troubleshooting faults with the system isn't the easiest process to do, and calibration is a drawn out procedure. And any mistake made during calibration, do it over again. A bang head moment. I'm not familiar with Genie or Terex long boom setups, so can't comment on them. But the JLG 100, 110, and 120HX is a very simple system that is easy to maintain or troubleshoot. They use a length sensor cable reel as well, but just a single one. And boom angle isn't done with two linear transducers, rather is done with a single angle sensor potentiometer like found on many crane LMI systems now days. For redundant backup, the turntable base of the machine is set up with a pivot point on one end (counterweight end or machine front end depending on model), and really big coil springs on opposite end. As boom telescopes out, the turntable base moves from the increased load. This compresses the coil springs and the whole base begins to tilt on the pivot. As the base tilts and compresses the spring, at a certain point of movement, the base activates one of two redundant switches. One is a mechanical switch, the other is a proximity switch. In case one switch is faulty, the other switch is a backup. You test these switches at the beginning of each work shift, only takes a few minutes to do.
Thanks for the info..... i always wondered how they worked. So, i messed around with the 126 a few hours yesterday and i dont think the EMS system is working properly. When the boom is horizontal i telescope it out untill the light flashes and then it goes solid (after which the boom is locked out). Then i would boom up untill the light turned off. Then i would telescope out untill the light would flash and stay lit, over and over again. When the boom was at around a 45 degree angle and up i boomed out untill the light lit solid.... well the boom would keep telescoping after the light was on! I am assuming this is wrong.?? I think i am going to haul it to the dealer to be calibrated. Dont need anyone dumping a lift this big.
Yes, it's a good idea to have the machine tested and calibrated before you put it in service.
I figured i would update this thread. We got the boom stretched out and painted. All i did was remove the top bolts on the boom posistion sensors and stretch out the rods, which tells the computer the boom is fully raised. Then we placed two forklifts under the boom and extended. We just kept leap frogging the forklifts. It was pretty easy. I had a mechanic come out and check the EMS, he said it is working as it should. I did discover the independant rotator motor was fried! That wasnt a big deal to replace, it took about 20 minutes and $150. The shaft seal is blown out on the house rotator, that is going to be a pain to replace.... Other than that i think its good to go, just gotta wait on the parts now.
see you had another thread on the injector pump on this machine. I'm looking at same year TB80 which has same engine and similar extendable axle and lock pins but I don't believe it has any digitial logic governing extension, just the analog lockout against axle extension signaled by the lower pin insertion. the only glitch i've identified is it doesn't seem to like to swith into the axle moving mode reliably. i'm going back to look at it again but i'm assuming that is a solenoid that redirects main hydraulic flow from normal operations to the two traditional direct hydraulic actuator levers for the jack and axle expansion. That kind of glitch seems addressable to me. Once the hydraulics are flowing the axles go in and out like we the people. I don't know if yours has the same expansion motif. I know that in some applications they don't use a jack but expand axle while driving slowly. I Believe the expanding axle rides on nylon blocks similar to the boom extension and can stick with a lot of wear although they wouldn't get anywhere near the extent of in and out that the boom does. Just checking if you are still running this and any experience you or hopefully other voyeurs here might have had with this axle system. That is my main concern (besides any prophylactic maintenance that the B3.3. ought to have at 5000 hours). I have the same engine/pump set up in a TB60 with low hours (1800) and this thing is we the people. I would take it over any other lift i've ever used in that height category so i'm kind of a snorkel partisan. But this axle thing is new territory. I think they went to a different extensions system on their taller lifts and just went with more counterweight and carriage geometry changes so that the TB80 no longer uses expanding axle. Although as long as i can coax the thing to work i kind of like have 1500 lbs less per tire. Any thoughts pro and con especially on axle but on platform in general greatly appreciate