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Wilson Electric WR-500 Antenna Rotator

Raccoon

Raccoon

Well-Known Member
Oct 27, 2005
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Hi everyone , I recently bought a Wilson Electric WR-500 Antenna Rotator and the control box . It turns one way just fine , but then the motor doesn't turn all the way the opposite direction. I tore it down, greased everything , lubricated all the gears , and then I did it again .I made sure all the gears were lubricated very well ... and the motor still catches when it goes the opposite direction. I tried looking in the manual to see what kind of motor it is so I could find a replacement, but that wasn't very helpful. I'm not finding a lot of information about the WR-500 online , and I'm not finding any replacement parts , or any information about what parts were used by the company.

So I thought I'd ask and see if anyone here either knows where I can locate the motor so I can replace it . Or if anyone has any ideas on how I can repair the motor I already have ? I have no idea why it's working fine going one way, and it's getting stuck about 3/4's of the way when it's going the other way .

Thanks for any and all advice or help in advance.
 

nomadradio said:
Is it "catching" mechanically? Or is the power to the motor failing in one direction only? A funky limit switch sounds plausible.

Found the owner's manual at BAMA. https://bama.edebris.com/manuals/wilson/wr500/

73
Click to expand...
Believe it or not Nomad, I got the actual original owner's manual with the rotor and control box when I bought it. I love that the manual shows exactly how everything goes together, and every little part. What I don't like is that manual is very vague in describing the parts . It doesn't specifically list each part by size or operation. It just lists part numbers that are no longer able to be referenced , which is why I've been having a hard time finding replacement parts . With that said, I'll have to apologize in advance ... I know my way around radio equipment pretty good . But this is the first time that I've tore a rotor apart . I don't know much about it , but it's pretty straight forward for the most part . Unfortunately I don't know the names of most of the parts , but I'm learning ... lol. Unfortunately I'm not finding the "limit switch" in the list of parts in the manual . And I'm not familiar with rotors enough to spot it ... yet.

I will say that I do believe that it's catching mechanically . Because when it starts approaching the point where it gets stuck , it starts to slow down as it's getting there ... then it jams up, and stops moving ... but the motor is humming, because it's still trying to move it .

I hope this helps you to better understand what's going on, and thank you for your help.
 
I also read somewhere online that it could possibly be a weak , or bad electrolytic capacitor in the control box . Do you think that might be the cause of the problem. The box is still using the original capacitors.
 
Raccoon said:
Hi everyone , I recently bought a Wilson Electric WR-500 Antenna Rotator and the control box . It turns one way just fine , but then the motor doesn't turn all the way the opposite direction. I tore it down, greased everything , lubricated all the gears , and then I did it again .I made sure all the gears were lubricated very well ... and the motor still catches when it goes the opposite direction. I tried looking in the manual to see what kind of motor it is so I could find a replacement, but that wasn't very helpful. I'm not finding a lot of information about the WR-500 online , and I'm not finding any replacement parts , or any information about what parts were used by the company.

So I thought I'd ask and see if anyone here either knows where I can locate the motor so I can replace it . Or if anyone has any ideas on how I can repair the motor I already have ? I have no idea why it's working fine going one way, and it's getting stuck about 3/4's of the way when it's going the other way .

Thanks for any and all advice or help in advance.
Click to expand...
The Wilson rotators were made by either Create, or Kenpro. I can;t recall which one of the two. You may try reaching out to them.
 
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Kenpro is who Yaesu purchased to make the Yaesu rotors for last maybe 15 yrs...Good Rotors IMHO...for some reason the Wilson rotors had a short run. I believe they were a "private" label during that run...Alliance???...Not sure been to long ago
 
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Hey Racoon.
Sorry ur having problem's with ur WR-500 Rotator.
The motor is AC current and as someone suggested the motor run cap in the controller may be fubar, Those Motor run cap's never fail turning one way, they are eather ok or blow up or just go fubar,
As far as turning all the way one direction and so far the other way, I'd look for some thing getting wedged in between the ring gear and the Drive gear.
If it was my rotator, I'd pull the bottom Bearing race and upper housing, Hook up a test cable from the controller and the rotator and run it with the ring gear in it and see if it bind's up and see where it's binding up at.
Also make sure the tab on the ring gear is not coming around to the Rotation stopper bar and bottoming out on the housing after it depresses the end of rotation switch.
It is possible it could be miswired as well. There was a correction sheet on the wiring going to the GX25, 8) pin plug on the rotator it's self.
 

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