Charlie,
If you have a local trade/tech school I would see if they offer any classes specializing in motor controls, PLCs and micro-controllers (electronics wouldn't hurt either). Print reading and some hands on learning/troubleshooting should be a staple of the class. I went to my local votec and took their automated industrial systems class, and I consider it one of the best choices I've ever made. It started me out on a solid foundation before I joined the elevator trade.
If that's not an option for you, there are surprisingly a lot of good videos on basic electrical troubleshooting and print reading on youtube.
The concept will carry over to elevators and scale up. If I come across any videos here in the next few days I'll post them here.
Also, when your looking at a set of prints, learn to break it down into sections. It can be overwhelming looking at it as a whole, but if you section it off in your mind and focus on one thing at a time it's not so bad.
Example - Grab an older print (ESCO or other relay logic hydro, if you have one. Its more simple for you to start out on.) and trace what happens from when someone presses a call button, all the way to the motor starter and arrival at the destination.
After you are confident in this you can generally carry the same concept over to the newer style controllers. You'll realize its essentially the same, there are just a lot more safety and redundancy features. Also the newer GAL elevators have some excellent prints. Everything is layed out in a grid, and everything is labeled or color coded. There should be a legend in any print you look at that will tell you the what the symbols are. Get real familiar with them. If you don't know what a diode, triac, SCR, thyristor, ect. are look them up and learn about what they are and what they are generally used for. Otherwise the best way to learn is to just tinker around and get your hands dirty. If your having a particular problem that you've spent hours and and can't make heads or tails of it, take a break get some fresh air. When you come back try to think outside of the train of thought you were in earlier. Sometimes its easy to chase a problem the wrong way for hours or days.
Here are a few video suggestions that should keep you busy. (copy and paste the link into your browser)
How to Read AC Schematics and Diagrams Basics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsLXJZ46xjkHow to do Electrical Troubleshooting of Electrical Motor Control Circuit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PdFPtkG1OYMotor Control 101
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aml0VGzNXEoVFD 101 Basics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA-6TNhFsE4What is a PLC? PLC Basics Pt1 (long, but good)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLYosK87D8EAlso, since most things are serial link now-days, your eventually going to want to get familiar with the following:
RS232
RS485
CANBUS
That's all I can think of for now I may add more later on if I can think of anything else. PM me if you have any questions, I'll be glad to pass on what little I know. Cheers.
