Home Forums General Discussion Technical Questions EQ sensor nuisance trips

in our office we use the draka eq sensor for all of our newer jobs. trouble is all of them have had nuisance trips or have just gone bad. unfortunately otis funded their research and so we have to keep replacing them with their "newer but not better" version. there have been many meetings with draka and pissed off customers just curious if anyone else has had this problem or uses a better unit.

The Draka boxes are crap we did away with them a while ago. Same issue, nuisance trips that had to be reset after hours and weekends of course. Good for the Duty Mechanic but bad for the customer. We have been using the white boxes that CED sells. I think the company is "LT" something. I'll find out the name and post it here. We have had no problem with these and they're easy to test for the inspector.

Same issues here. Finally got tired and went back the the Seismic Switch units with the gel. More money initially but a couple of nuisance call backs can easily nullify that. No more false alarms from being mounted in less than desirable positions like controller doors, partition walls, same floor as back up generator...

Oh yeah, I thought we were the only ones I talked with draka and was told they there was a whole bunch of bad units they gave us some new units and the problems went away but were not using them any more were using a blue box with a clear cover I dont know the brand but they've worked great.

we installed one of those clear cover ones and it went off when i was putting the cover on but no more problems. i agree with the seismic sw the initial cost is nothing compared to one OTCB. oh well guess thats why mechanics dont run companies.

Seismic Switch out of Northern California are the "blue box " type....we have found them to be reliable!

We have a few bad draka's too.

If you are getting a level error fault the accelerometer module mounted directly behind the display is bad. According to Draka they have premature epoxy curing problems during the manufacturing process. Had about 10 we had to replace and no problems since. The older units were also not "fail-safe" when power was lost completely, i.e. battery and line dead, the unit would not put the elevator into EQ mode. They remedied this with powered contacts that are N/O and are closed during normal operation and open with a loss of power.

We replaced the accelerometers and the power supplies when they told us they were bad and still had problems after that. Then we got the new grey plastic ones that would throw sensor errors and when you reset the display would just go blank. Our office is now buying the seismic switch blue boxes and returning all nuisance tripped draka units to manufacture for refunds. No problems with the seismic switch boxes.

I've had two Draka's fail with the "level error" fault, eventually becoming a full time error that would not clear. Draka replaced one with the grayish colored box, but I haven't installed it yet. Sounds like GreenPants is ahead of me by a mile. At least I'll know what to possibly expect! Who makes the "Blue Box" unit?

I see Halfpick answered it above.

We have purchased some from CED that have been working well. Very small unit, but battery must be mounted remotely. Not sure of the manufacturer.

Just replaced two of the black box Drakas with the grey box. Set up, self test went OK, but time will tell.

I just installed two grey Draka seismic boxes and used the Non-Latching N.C. Contacts pre the instruction for CA code. Let both back up batteries charge to 6volt D/C but when I up plug the 120vac screen goes blank relay goes to fail safe mode putting cars on E.Q. Shouldn't it run on battery power until the battery go dead then it should then go on to failsafe mode and put the cars on E.Q. How do you get the back up batteries to work on this unit? http://prysmiangroup.com/en/business_markets/markets/elevator/products/components-systems/

Looks like I have to clear the Memory first before I install the Lithium Batteries. I will try this tomorrow.
Step 1: Unplug and remove the original rechargeable battery
Step 2: Fix the new battery to the enclosure with double-sided tape and plug it in.
Replacement batteries can be ordered from Draka Elevator Products. The part number is
SEISMIC-BATTERY.
Lithium Battery Replacement
The onboard battery controller keeps track of lithium battery voltage and total battery runtime to provide a more accurate assessment of when the battery is nearing end-of-life. This
information must be cleared when new batteries are installed.
To clear the memory for a new battery:
Step 1: While Main Power (PWR) is on, remove the old lithium batteries. The red light for
the lithium battery will turn on.
Step 2: Press and hold the button near the battery holder for five seconds. After five seconds, all 3 lights on the board will flash on and off simultaneously for a few seconds. This
means that the controller memory has been reset and is ready to accept a new battery. The
controller will not allow itself to wipe its memory while lithium batteries are installed. At
least one of the batteries must be removed before wiping the memory. This is to help prevent accidental memory wipes.
Step 3: Place the new lithium batteries in the holders.
Replacement battery type: 2 x 3V CR123A lithium battery [Panasonic (CR123A), Sanyo
(CR123A), Duracell (DL123A), Energizer (EL123A)]
This is a common battery for cameras and other consumer electronics, and should be available wherever batteries are sold.

Gray boxes just as bad as the old ones. Most common failure is the battery backup feature. It will work occasionally, but never when the inspector shows up. Lol

we dont even deal with them anymore we have switched to the seismic switch chv-2.

I guess we dont have EQ or use seimic switches here on the 3rd coast. Im guessing if you have a earthquake it will shut down the car?

earthquake operation is triggered by a counterweight displacement "ring and string" contact and/or a building sway sensor. it will stop the car and run away from the counterweight to the next landing and open the doors. it has to be manually reset. the problem is the building sway contact can mis-fire putting a whole group or a whole building out of service.

Well got the battery back up to work. Just pulled both sets of batteries and held down the middle button by the batteries for 5 secs with the main input still on, then reinstalled the batteries.

make sure everything is grounded good will cause problems