Home Forums General Discussion DID YOU KNOW? Motion 4000 ELGO 160 Landing System

We found an issue with the Elgo 160 landing system used on the early version Motion 4000s. We started to have intermittent governor trips (about once every 2 months) and had checked typical speed feedback devices (tach, couplers, etc...). It turns out that the primary speed feedback is through the Elgo so any unusual wear on the magnetic tape or tape guides can cause an overspeed issue. The new style Elgo 240 has a nylon liner that seems to protect the magnetic tape better and should reduce related issues. If your having intermittent overspeed issues on the Motion 4000 check for wear marks on your Magnetic tape.

thats a good one thanks.

If your Elgo160 fails the only option MCE offers is to upgrade to the 240 which means changing the tape as well. Ask me how I know.

how do you know? someone had to ask probably not going to be a good story.

Had a bad 160 at a job less than 2 years old. Had to purchase a 240 for $1000. plus 60 feet of tape for $210. MCE was very generous and threw in the software upgrade for free. First one that came was defective and they sent a replacement over night. Kind of unbelievable. Sadly the 30 year old relay logic Armor was more reliable than this over engineered POS. Makes me wonder if this race to the bottom will ever end.

What He said.

You installed the ELGO tape perfectly plumb, right? The tape slides through the guide nice and easy, right? Seems pretty intuitive and doesn't need any explanation, right?

That's probably part of the problem.

The tape guide needs to be installed so that it is slightly pulling the tape. Obviously, install per the manual, but if the tape is not being slightly pulled, the magnetic surface will eventually wear away. If it's slightly being pulled, it keeps the surface of the magnetic side off preventing it from wearing.

MCE has a "CAUTION" note: It is critical to ensure that the sensor is installed so that any mechanical contact between tape and sensor head is between the steel band and the polymer sensor guide. Adjust for a horizontal offset of 1 inch (25 mm) between the sensor metal face and the magnetic band so that contact between the steel side and the polymer guide is firmly forced. (This is on page 10 of their current install manual. Older units are similar.)

The newer guides have a plastic insert to help protect the tape on one side.

This is good to point out. It does show in the book to adjust for a horizontal offset of 1" although I've found in all installations it needs to be more. In order to really make sure the tape's steel side is riding on the polymer guide, I've had to adjust between 2" and 4". The Elgo 240 is a much better unit than the 160. I've changed out several of the 160's so far.