I haven’t any experience with Miami Elevator, but I was around when U.S. Elevator was bizzzzy in the early to mid 80’s. I was the first in the L.A. office to remove the old U.S. emblem with the up arrowhead on the “U” and replace it with the single Thyssen logo with the blue arch over the name (mid /late 1990’s?). My how things have changed indeed from IBM pin relays to software based controls. From standard equipment rooms on roofs with machine beams and Hollister Whitney machines to shoebox controllers in hallway closets or tucked away in a hoist way door jamb, hydraulic pumps in the pit and remote reset governors. Man…it is different isn’t it?

Miami and Dover are the same. The only difference is Dover had their own controllers whereas Miami used CEC Swift or VE ICON instead of DMC, traflomatic, or TAC.

The best company ever is Northern, a copycat of US in Canada, but better. Northern is the only brand of elevator I've never been stuck in and never had problems with, and the only brand I've never seen break down before. I miss TC181 & 3200.

Not too much experience with the Northern 3200. “Normic” I think it was called? We had next to zero training with the MAP tool and heaven forbid you got an OT call on one and could not identify the password to access the controller to perform that reset feature. Some guys wrote it inside the control cabinet, and others like the routeman just knew it.
We had one job (duplex) at a race track which is less than a part time usage venue, but come race night…. Yep, OT calls. The track manager wasn’t too happy as it seemed way too often and threatened to sue and tear them out.
Anyway I liked the U.S. MP1230 and the 1200 and 1210’s for gearless and geared jobs respectively, they quit the latter two builds here in about 1990-1995 IIRC. The MP1220 MG drive had a decent start and of course utilized the same PCD as the 1230 which I thought a smart move. We had the first 1220 GE SS drive which was interesting. The U.S. engineers (from Spring Valley/San Diego) smashed one of two cars into the overhead trying to get them to over speed for inspection. Yep they had the governor blocked open…oopsie!
Ahhh fond memories!

In 2004, I got to use the very last 3 elevators Northern ever made that bear the branding of US Elevator, installed in Durham, NC, installed in late 1999. These had ASC-2000s on them. One of the best controllers ever. Now that Northern is now TK Canada, it's now game over. They finally migrated to the mainstream TKE model based on the Miami/Dover/Lagerquist design. The only thing I don't like about Northern is that on both the ASC-2000 and the TC series, they have this annoying trip counter that will cause a shutdown due to lack of maintenance.

Norhern's worst product was the TIME MRL.

I think I disliked every model or mfg’er of MRL. Guess I’m just a traditionalist. Laptops, diagnostic codes…yeah that’s ok, but…Machine on beams and on the roof with accessible governors brakes and controls. Besides I’m of the opinion that the MRL concept eliminated a lot of construction hours and actually robbed mechanics of the field experience of the traditional overhead machine installation when the job spec or rise calls for it.
I like C9 Christmas bulbs too, they’re traditional. Stock exhaust on Harley Davidson and I detest taking a vintage Honda CB750 and stripping it of stock body work to rat it out or create the “cafe” look with clip ons and a Kerker four into one unbaffled exhaust. Yeah, I guess I’m old…old school.
Hey do you remember when Reliable Elev was around and on their bigger hydro they’d use the size 3 GE YD starter, and over time the silver debris from the moveable contacts would sprinkle down, build a bridge and eventually short across two AC lines on the top of the O.L. block. BAAABOOOM like a shotgun when it occurred and blow open a couple mainline fuses, and maybe trap passengers. Not sure why I thought of that.
I think U.S.’s worst control was that 2 or 3 stop Diplomat. Man those were the days.

I actually like MRLs, as long as they have common sense layouts, such as KONE Ecodisc (along with their knockoffs like imperial 540 series and HW GLR series), with easy access to equipment. The kind of MRLs I don't like are senseless generic designs where machines that are too big, such as the Imperial 570 are installed in an MRL setting where parts of the machine are difficult to reach.

I agree with the Northern controllers being solid I just wish the screen was reliable. You can log on to several I work on but can’t read what’s on the screen anymore

The only good controller other than Northern I can give a good rating to is the MCE 2000/4000 series and their predecessors PTC & PHC.

Here's another reason to admire Northern. They invented the Malfunction Management Unit (MMU), which includes unintended movement protection and door lock monitoring.

UCM & door lock monitoring was all required in Canada starting in the early 90s. have you ever seen a sheave jammer before? not the most eloquent way to do UCM but it worked.

BTW: Have you ever seen Innovation bruiser (PB-23) buttons where the button is made of mirror finish #8 stainless steel instead of the more common brushed #4 SS? If you look carefully the button edges are angled not rounded. Notice the buttons are very reflective. The very first Northern I used had em. These are the nicest looking innovation buttons ever. If you don't what I'm taking about, check out this link. A lot of people mistake them as EPCO SSL.

First post on this forum.

My opinion, as someone who installs those elevators you mentioned, with larger Imperial machines and a dubious controller to go with it, HM500A to be specific. And I can say with 100% certainty that you my friend, are 100%..

correct.

They suck, even a rail mounted motor is not the greatest. Seen a few with some wobbly motors. MRLs only exist because they're cheap. Take TKE EOX or whatever it's called. It's stupid. They're so cheap, and more and more companies are producing their parts in China. HW now makes half their gearless machines in China! TKE uses Torin for motors, Schindler produces theirs in China, Otis as well. My company even goes with Torin.

Now I'm just ranting, but the point is they're cheap. MRLs are cheap. Kone will kill whatever creativity TKE had and just make them cheap.