Fire Research Pressure Governor

[rm1524]

Has anyone had problems with their FRC governor not holding steady. Setting at 135 on pressure side and dropping, jumping up, dropping and then going back to 135. Went from 135 to 50 to 280 to 120. This was on tank water, has happened on draft and from a pressurized source. It will also jump all around on the RPM side to.

The service center has no clue, they have changes relays, new control head, and are now saying the truck batteries might be the problem. It's on a 2008 KME mounted on an IH.

[firebill911]

I am no means a mechanic but here is a problem we had with throttle related to batteries. The apparatus we had a problem with was a 2001 HME/Central states custom pumper/tender. We would be going C-3 to a fire and after several miles from station the motor would without notice goto a idle. EVERYTHING else seemed to still work fine. You would pull over and pull parking break scratch your head try going and you could continue.

After doing lots of mechanical stuff, finally each battery was load tested and they all needed replaced. We were told that running code and winding the Q2B and such must have been having such a draw that the motor electronics were not getting the power needed to operate. So the motor goes to a idle.

Our local Napa has a load tester we borrow. Might start there if you havent good luck.

[jlcooke3]

First place I'd start would be to check the ground wires for the FRC. Bad grounds seem to be a common culprit in electronics.

[FIREMECH1]

Make sure they also check the battery cables. Especially where some cables are bolted on top of tying cables on the batteries. The rubber coating has a lip on it, and if not tightened down, will create problems.

Also note that if you have batteries on both sides of the rig, to check the voltages at both sides when it is running. Sometimes the rubber lip on the one side battery cable, going to the other side, will show a 2 volt difference, for the same reason as above. Check the tightness of the cable that connects the two sides.

I've seen this problem on 2 of the 9 new rigs, as well the alarms going off on the pump panel for no apparent reason when it was running. The remedy was to razor off some of the lip to get a good and tight contact on the cables and batteries.

FM1

[16Scott]

We have been getting FRC governors on new apparatus, while older engines and tankers have the Class 1 Captain. We have experienced very few problems with the FRC and those that have come up were rectified quickly. Our FRC rep is superb and backs up the product with quick action. Support from Class 1 has been good too, although those governors are more tempramental that the FRC.

[FireG33k]

First place I'd start would be to check the ground wires for the FRC. Bad grounds seem to be a common culprit in electronics.

Good call! Got word that the issue has been resolved with the help of an FRC service rep and was indeed traced back to a grounding problem in the harness.

[rm1524]

FRC said that we didn't know how to pump the truck. After they got the video of the truck not working they changed their mind. They got involved and give us an idea on what to look for. We found that KME had broken the wiring harness when they had plugged the cable into the ECM. The plug was not holding the ground wire in and was not getting a good ground to the control head. It was letting the unit run away with its self.

[firebill911]

Thanks for the update, funnor ironic the extreme you have to goto to get help from a company that makes a product, customer service says a lot.