I think we have a fix. One of the original techs who installed the elevator (now works for a commercial firm) came out and quickly had the elevator running again by bypassing the upper limit switch and resetting the floors ("learn mode"). He then waited in the elevator for 15 minutes to track the door lock click open/close - which it never did. He left the elevator and we chatted outside the door and within a few minutes the door clicked open which he heard.

We decided the cab is not balanced properly and has too much counter weight (so the cab is constantly pushing upward triggering the brake loss). So I loaded the cab with 50 pounds and the elevator has not clicked open or get stuck above the second floor since. He suggests putting 100 pounds on top of the cab which will balance the cab/ counter weights closer to what it should have been at installation. In addition, the APC backup battery was never installed. We saw a box with a brand new battery UPS system sitting on top of the elevator !! It is intended to keep the control energized during a power outage and to return the cab to the first floor.

Anyway it's working now and seems to be reliable....with 50 pounds of weights inside for the time being.