Need some guidance. There isn't a lot to be found on the net in the way of install and troubleshooting material on this elevator.

I'm a retired engineer and fully comfortable working on the LEV in this house that I bought earlier this year. Only two stories and the elevator worked fine until the other day.

Got an E8 error and after getting some materials from another LEV owner, I see that E8 is BP Error. I figure that BP is the bit position magnet plate. Elevator is at the first floor, which has no pit. I look around to see what I can see and the BP magnet plate has a lot of magnet shards on it and the magnet plate sensor on the cab is loose at the bottom and flapping around. I figure that's the issue, so I manually raise the cab with my monster 1/2" drill about 5 feet to get at the magnet plate to clean it off and line it up well with the cab mounted magnet plate sensor.

Well, when I raise up the cab, the cam plate on the right side falls off the rail !! This is where the final limit sensors on the right side of the cab are, which is a mirror image to the magnet sensor plate on the left side. I don't know how the cam plate is supposed to go back on the rail relative to the limit sensors. There is one bottom limit sensor and 2 top limit sensors. When the cab is parked properly at the bottom are all three of them tripped? Is the first one "slow down" and the top two "stop"? That's how I put it back to see if it would work. So then I manual reset the controller: hold the reset button, Run->Stop and back again and then let go of the reset button. The E8 is gone, but elevator is still not working. It did lower to the first floor, did not hit the floor and feels in the same height it always stops. But, now I get "d". All the other sensors are fine, so I figure the "d" is coming from the slack sensor on the very bottom which has to be manually reset. I manually raise the cab 4 feet and manually reset the slack sensor and then the controller and the elevator goes down to the first floor and stops and "d" again.

BTW, I re-torqued every bolt in the hoist way and on the exterior of the cab. Found about 10 that needed something, but nothing that could have resulted in a serious problem. This is now on my every two year list. It is no different from properly maintaining your car, which I do for 5 of them in the family.

So, I guess I have a few questions:
(1) I'd love more compete service manuals -- this thing is built like a tank and as long as the electronics work...
(2) How exactly is the bottom floor cam plate supposed to be placed relative to the final limit switches on the cab?
(3) Why is the chain slack sensor triggering? The chains are fine and I see nothing that looks strange. The only thing I can think of is that all this manual up and down and short movements have messed somehow made it more finicky.

Also, I ordered a bunch of switches and a pendant box from Automation Direct to make my own pendant according to the pendant schematic I have. I also bought a couple of books from the Elevator World Bookstore since I'm going to be living here for the duration and I want to maintain this thing properly.

Thanks for reading!!
Tom

I wish you luck sir. My only thought is if I had to rely on it the rest of my life a LEV is the last elevator I'd want. Your right, the electronics are the weak point. I always said if I had to have a home elevator in my house I'd build my own relay logic controller from scratch. But I'd prefer to buy a single level home. Longevity wise your in a tough spot. Because the hands down best and most reliable home elevators ever made were the relay logic inclinators. But even they have caved to their larger dealers with untrained mechanics unable to wire and so they ditched relay logic in favor of microprocessor controlled serial communication controls. In other words, I'd tell you your best bet is to mod it, but there's really not any really great options to mod it to. Better than a LEV as far as reliability? sure.
Great? No.

Honestly you sound like your definitely not a 25 watt bulb and you understand what your doing, but I hope you do understand everyone's reluctance to give out technical information to someone who has stated they are not a elevator mechanic due to the potential liability.

Thanks for the reply.

My LEV was installed in 2011 and has an Allen-Bradley PLC controller. I don't know if this was how it shipped then or a later retrofit, but that's a decent controller.

I do understand the reluctance to give out information to people who don't know what they are doing. It reminds me of the Dunning-Kruger effect -- when a person's lack of knowledge and skills in a certain area cause them to overestimate their own competence. You have to plan and consider what can go wrong before you do work like this. I am cautious as required. Respect for what can happen is important to keep from getting hurt. I've done a lot of work under cars on jack stands and a lot of mechanical and computer and electronics work over my lifetime. I have a very good ability for understanding how things work and fixing things. I do not get under the cab unless there is something there to stop it from coming down on me if something happened. My house is only two stories, so falling down the shaft isn't really a concern.

I'm actually suprised. I've never seen a LEV with an Allen Bradley PLC. Your right, that is actually pretty good. Anymore a PLC based control is the best your going to get. The LEVs I've worked on had tac20-esq microprocessor control boards requiring a laptop to work on them.

The dunning-kruger effect I often cite when talking to other mechanics as our sales lady fits the definition to a T.

Do be careful. It's not the tall falls that scare me the most. If you fall from real high your dead, you fall from two stories you might be unlucky enough to survive it and be crippled.

That is the controller that TKE Access made for the LEV after they bought out Wheel-o-vator. The d fault is saying thet the safety circuit is open. This is due to the slack chain being tripped. You could move all the magnet plates up 1/2" and see if it stops properly and the slack cable switch doesn't trip.

You could also pile some sawdust or kitty litter around the base of the rails to see if the counterweight is landing on the floor and slacking the chains.

Not if the cwt is hitting the floor, but to see if the car sling is hitting the floor under the car..

Thank you for that valuable information.

This is the part that fell of the rail...
[url=https://access2parts.com/lev-elevator-final-limit-cam/][/url]

Well, I have it back working!

Although, in the process the first floor call station display digit no longer lights. Not sure how that happened, maybe I did something or it was just a coincidence (I hope), but I can fix that later. I have emails out to access2parts and world-electronics to see about a spare and/or repair of the call station.

In the end there were many problems and I think there has probably been little to no maintenance performed over the years. The initial E8, BP Error was the actual problem that took the unit down. In the end, the magnet sensor for the first floor magnet went bad on the magnet sensor circuit board. I probed each magnet sensor with my multi-meter and ran the correct polarity magnet over each of them and BP1 did not react while BP2 and BP4 did. These sensors are hall sensors and similar to what's used on cars for wheel sensors and crankshaft and camshaft position sensors. In my experience on cars they do die occasionally. There are three magnet sensors on the circuit board and my house only has two floors, so I de-soldered the BP4 sensor since it is not used for for only two floors and put in in the place of BP1. They are surface mount components, but not the smallest, so doable without exotic soldering equipment. That was the fix that got it working. As to if something killed it or it was just a coincidence, I don't know, the magnet sensor board holder was loose and hitting the magnet sensor board.

Along the way, I found a dozen loose bolts here and there, a couple completely unscrewed, although none that would have caused a catastrophe. The first floor final limit switch cam plate was so loose it fell off the rail. The magnet sensor board was loose and hitting the magnet plate. There was magnet "dust" on both the first and second floor plates, although a lot on the first floor plate. I found a couple loose wires, although there could be more.

I made a pendant using the schematic so I could move the cab up and down easily. That is really a must have, especially given where the equipment controller is located.

Thanks for this forum and to everyone who had tidbits in the past and helped me now.

BTW, Note to all part time elevator maintainers -- I'm sure the professionals know this already. When you set the final limit cam, do it will a full load! Found that out the hard way when the final limit switch triggered. First time I had 3 larger people in the elevator after I re-installed the final limit cam. I had adjusted it with only 200 pound self on top the cab. I was home and opened the door and then since I had people over, I had 5 people get in the cab and then I re-adjusted the final limit cam.