Causes and Troubleshooting of Start-Up Failures in Rotary Drilling Rigs

Some rotary drilling rig customers may experience start-up failures when preparing for construction. This issue mainly manifests when the key switch is turned to the start position but the starter motor does not respond. There are many potential causes for this problem. When faced with this situation, it's important to troubleshoot step by step to identify the root cause. Today, we will share our analysis and troubleshooting methods for start-up failures in rotary drilling rigs based on our experience.

Based on our many years of experience, if the vehicle does not respond when attempting to start, the most common reasons are as follows:

Severe battery depletion or internal sulfation.

Damage to the key switch or starter relay.

Poor connection between the battery and the starter motor, such as loose connections or oxidized terminals.

Burned-out solenoid coil of the starter motor.

Recently, a customer experienced this failure. After our after-sales team explained and troubleshot the issue, it was found that the problem was caused by a poor-quality starter relay, which led to the prolonged heating and eventual damage of the starter motor solenoid coil. Additionally, inadequate connections in the power line caused a sudden change in local resistance, accelerating the failure. After identifying the issue, we replaced the starter relay for the customer, and no further problems have occurred since then.

Today, the rotary drilling rig manufacturer has addressed the issue of start-up failures in rotary drilling rigs. We have discussed some of the reasons that cause start-up failures in small rotary drilling rigs. Our customers can follow these steps to systematically identify which part of the machine is causing the problem. We hope this information proves helpful.