My trouble call was at Monterey Best Western, It was intermittently blowing fuses. The circuit that was blowing was a common circuit that goes everywhere. to isolate the problem you disconnect stuff one at a time, run the car and see if the fuse holds. after about 15 times going from the machine room to the car where there is a constant flow of people checking in or out and many of them have to voice there displeasure and the slight inconvenience.4 flights of stairs between the top floor and the machine room + lugging the tool box just wore me out.
I switched to a circuit breaker but the short was so brief that you couldn't determine what the elevator was doing at the time of the failure. Now the front desk wants a explanation. This is a 2 man job but no help would be available till tommorow. This week is the Superbike race at Laguna Seca raceway and the whole town and all the hotels are packed to the rafters.
I got a extension cord with 100watt light bulb soldered on some alligator clips and hooked that up to the fuse holder that was blowing. With the car on test mode I disconnected each wire 1 at a time run the car figuring when the short curcuit happened the bulb would glow brightly. OK progress. wire #41 was the culprit. I chased it out of the controller, down the traveling cable to the cartop, then to the door operator. as it turned out wire 41 was just barely touching an axle and after 4 years since it's installation the plastic insulation had worn away so that once in a while, when the door was opening or closing, there was a tiny spark (3amp) would open the fuse.
I buttoned every thing up and turned her loose. The shift had changed at the front desk so no explanation was needed. and I beat feet to go to Pebble Beach for a lingering trouble call that came in about 10am. Got home at7pm and plopped
did he know it was related to the pdo? did the lift fail when the doors open? if so it would be pretty clear it is door related.
And I was asked to go help a guy on a Dover Composite. By the time I got there this little 2 stop was blowing fuses all over the control in no particular rhyme or reason. I'd isolate the car call circuit, and then IBM relay contacts would weld and fuses blow in the direction circuit. This went on for quit awhile, unitl I finally snapped...
I had checked my S+ and S- voltage when I began and sure enough it was 48VDC. What I neglected to notice on my new bright shiny toy was the missing minus sign with the red lead on S- in relation to S+...
Yes my stalwart bud, I went to help, before I arrive had swapped the rectifier board and miswired it So now....S+ was really S- and vice versa...Thud...
After I "FIXED?" that. the original problem was a shorted hall lantern on the 2nd floor...
Ah the pleasures of youth, and the pursuit of having the latest and greatest..
still got it too!
The call was on a job that had just had a new controller installed. Jim had been over there quite a few times and it was always the same thing, a door fuse. He was a great trouble shooter but just couldn�t find the problem. While he was studying the prints I opened up the controller. Right there in front of me was this key that had been attached the panel door lock. The key had its end burned off. It seems that when the controlled doors were closed and the machine room exhaust fan was running the doors were sucked out. As soon as the machine cooled off the fan quit running, the controller doors relaxed and key would bump into the open contact of the door close relay.
Jim bought the rest of the evening.