Home Forums General Discussion Technical Questions MCE or GAL?

Which do you prefer and why? We currently have several of each in our companies portfolio, but looking to bid on some mods in the future.

I know personally I find GAL to be slightly easier to work on, but beyond that I see no appreciable differences. I like Galaxy for traction and MCE for hydros. Not a huge fan of iBox, but admittedly have relatively less experience with newer MCE stuff. What is your take, especially those of you who may spend a lot of time working with these controllers.

T,
For the most part agree. Unfortunately I have little experience with the Galaxy controllers. I have looked at two galaxy hydro's recently for a potential customer. The customer shared the other contractors work reports with me. I'm still not ready to offer any conclusion on the galaxy control units. But I will say I've always liked their equipment.

MCE has alway been reliable equipment for us. Their support is tough to get a hold of sometimes. But when I have called on them for support they have always given me a follow up call after the job was done.

I would like to point out a personal observation. There are over 1000s threads in this section of the forum. Now I know there are a lot more of the big 4 units out there!

But, I don't see a single thread for Virgina, ESI or CJ Anderson? Either they are to easy to fix. They have such a small part of the market. Or they are not breaking down...

Elevator Controls Corp makes a decent controller also, similar to MCE.

Go Smartrise

I never worked on GAL controls but I have heard very good things about them.

I have a lot of Performa MCE on my routes before. Im not sure if Performa is still in production but these controller are about as good as you can get.

Swift is still my preference. The recorder is worth in its weight in gold times a billion. Set up a cycle, set the trigger for the fault you want to capture and let it run. With that set up now you can go perform maintenance on other units. Also its really easy to set up all kinds of things for the customer in matter of minutes(up peak, down peak, lock/unlock floors, turn the cab lights off until a hall call is pressed saving energy).

Though all good options, the consultants in my region expect one of the two options I asked about. It is awfully hard to convince them to go another route.

I also prefer swift futura, not meridia.
I have worked on mce and gal but I have worked on more swifts and I have written software for them.
I can make a swift5000 run up and down hands free, view i/o's, velocity, and stop count.
I also can compare parameters saved on file with loaded values in the controllers.
demo:
http://www.firstchroniclesproductions.com/desk_top/swift_5000_errorcode_lookup.html

I've worked on Futura's as well. I can make an MCE or GAL do the same. Is there any advantage to swift that you can see beyond personal comfort level?

Besides the ease of troubleshooting, ease of changing parts, super easy to adjust, and the REMON system for the building. Not really any advantages compared to MCE or GAL.

I've got 4 GAL Traction,3 MCE pre 2K, 9 post 2K, and 2 MCE hydros. Tech support for both are good, MCE you'll need a confimation # so you'll be billed, GAL is free. Boards are less expensive for GAL.

MCE quit charging several years ago. We are probably the largest installer of both these controllers in the Midwest. Both are good controllers and we choose witch one based on several job requirements. But you will not be disappointed with either controller. And with any mechanic they like the equipment the know the best. Just ask an old Otis guy what he thinks of Westinghouse........

I agree with Dan. When MCE charged this was a no brainer. Now, this comes down to price.

We like to install the serial link controllers, as they use less wires, no switches, and have car top and c.o.p. boards. You do not have to be in the machine room.

For modernization we have installed both the newer MCE traction and hydro controls, but for GAL just traction. So far both company's controls seem pretty good. I do however like the fact that you can order online parts and get pricing right away from GAL instead waiting for somone and sending a hard copy PO to MCE.

Has anyone had any experiance with the GAL hydro product? How does it compare price wise and installation wise to the motion 2000?

Some really good points. For us being in the north east, GAL has an advantage with regards to parts wait times.

The company I work for installs majority GAL. Once you work on the product it is easy to approach. Getting good tech support from GAL can be tough. Frank and Patrick are the guys you want to get through to. If you need a board overnight you normally get it from GAL..if you order before 230 EST. I don't recall any 24 hour lead times like MCE's SC-Base boards and some of the swing panel boards.
From what I have seen all the recent GAL AC traction controls come with KEB drives. They run great but I have had a lot of serial comm faults with them. I prefer the Magnetek drives...which you have to request.
And for hydros I prefer Virginia Controls MH3000. I have seen too many 2-3 stop GAL hydros get shut down overnight on serial comm faults (TOC can comm errors. SPB can comm errors, etc).

As a troubleshooter I prefer working on Futura's for traction elevators. The RVU is great and its nice having the Wizard.

Hope this helps.

If you want to plug a laptop in and use simple terminal, yes.
The advantage is that custom software can be developed.
Swift accepts ascii commands.
When you send pmii the response is a table of the i/o status at that instant in time.
para will review all parameters with value? to update or continue listing.
Software could be developed to take advantage of these kind of details

Both MCE & GAL are good controller. But they make a simple thing to become complicated just like westinghouse/schindler controller. I install both a lots before. Now I go with smartrise for most of the jobs. Due to simple installation and if one of the I/O went bad, you can program the spare on the board for that function without wait for the new board and use of computer. *which the doc did not tell you*
Also, control sru, cartop and car station board is inner changeable
but need a computer to program it which smartrise is working to change that.

I have worked quite a bit on both Galaxy and MCE. Each new Galaxy I see has about 20 new parameters.So they are constantly adding new features. They are my preference in smaller , low rise buildings. I never cared for their tape unit or their seemingly undersize starter relays , but it they to be relatively trouble free once installed. I guess it really is a pricing decision as to which one you choose.
I would stick with MCE on high speed cars and large groups. CEC is now extinct. I have worked a bit on EC units but never on anything beyond a duplex.
I am curious about the SmartRise Controllers.

I've worked on both in mods and in service. Hands down the Galaxy's are better. Easier to work on, software upgrades can be emailed to you and are quick and easy to upgrade. All the boards are made in N.Y. City. The Galaxy is more reliable and just a better product.

Now GAL has a new version for AC traction that on the right application without a lot of bells and whistle's is almost half the cost!!! This controller will dominate that part of the market.