Home Forums General Discussion Technical Questions MCE ,VFMC-1000 traction controller

I had a good one tonight on call. Got to the job site to find the door off track. Fixed that and ran to the bottom floor doors wouldn't open. So I ran to other floors , same thing doors wouldn't open. Ran to the top floor doors open , put it on inspection ran the elevator down and put the door operator on manual. Doors opened and closed freely. Mind you this is a GAL MOVFR . Put it back on normal same thing no door open. Went to the machine room and checked out the door board in the controller. I noticed DO relay the light would flicker like it wanted to open but never stayed lit. Swaped DC and DO relays figuring I had a bad relay. No change. Has anyone seen this ? Is there something I'm missing that feeds DO ?

Door open limit signal??? Top floor door working makes it interesting. You don't use the open limit signal on manual.

Generally the controller will look for the Door Zone before it o/p's a DO, and possibly a LU and LD depending on if pre opening is available, so I would look in these areas.

The car would physically stop at floor levels . DZ was high. Sometimes I'd shake the DO relay and the doors would start to open then close. So that's when I swapped the DO and DC relays in the controller and the same thing happened for DO again. I don't think its the board , I think it's whatever feeds DO. But I did notice when they upgraded the door operator to a MOVFR, they added another set of DO and DC relays at the bottom of the controller. Why I have no idea but I traced some of the wires back to D01 and D02.

Do you have prints for this unit?
Is DZ on the selector board picking at each floor?
Did you see if the car is level at each floor?

Is the controller registering any faults when the car goes to a floor and does not open the door? I've seen that if the tape reader is not reading the magnets correctly, it will do something like that.

No faults, it comes in level with every floor and DZ picks Everytime. Of course this was yesterday and there is prints on the job. I guess there sending the adjuster today. He told me that it sounds like a Tirac . And that they can go bad all the time. I'll let you know when I hear back.

I've got alot of experience with MCE. You are saying door wouldn't open but had not fault on the swing panel in the controller? I agree with the above analyses, it look as if it isn't seeing something it needs -- DZ, etc. Those magnet sensors may also be on the hairy edge. INcrease your dead zone a little by taking a screwdriver and reaching around the back of the selector box and pushing BOTH magnets a little further out (the magnets have to stay the same distance from center). Gives it a little more leeway to find and stop in the door zone. Some people have the dead zone so tight the one sensor is on the magnet at the same time the other one comes off.

No, not magnets (I used the wrong word)!. SENSORS. Push the sensors out a little (one up and one down) The sensors, not the magnets have to stay the same distance from center. The magnets are on the tape!! I am getting old -- dimensia. ??!! I know what I am saying and can't say it.

MCE "like all manufacturers" created several versions through out the years. In my experience the door open circuit all had a common series with the following;

DO coil to DZ(n/o) to Test Switch (n/c) to H(n/c) to DOL(n/c)

You could have a loose wire in a terminal.
A magnet not lined up on the tape.
A bad DZ sensor switch in the selector.
Worn selector guides.
Worn H or DZ contacts.

Let us know how you make out...

Faulty DZ relay on the main CPU board. One side of the contacts would hang up intermitting. Thanks guys.

Ah right, thought it would be a fault in this area. Just for your info, a lot of times, particularly when doing upgrades of circuits like door operators, you haven't enough contacts required for the job. Sometimes its current size, not enough contacts etc. So what you do is either parallel up another relay or use an existing contact to drive another relay then in turn redirect the wiring to this new relay. This is probably why you have 2 DO/DC relays.

Address 21 Is DOI flag hi? What is the status of your DOL? Maybe the car gets enough shift to work at the top

It's fixed now the adjuster put in a new DZ relay. I was kinda embarrassed because I knew I should have went after that first.

You are doing good, if that is the biggest issue to have hanging over your head!!

I agree with solidstate, that's a small issue. You'll have plenty of chance to do it again...

Trouble-shooting is an art form. Learn from your mistakes and try not to make the same ones again. I know I've made plenty myself. I've messed up worm gear bearings, burned up a few boards. And I don't even want to try and count how many meters and cell phones I've drop down the shaft.

And good for you for having the courage to admit your not perfect. Do look now but your showing you have character.

Ha don't worry about it mate. As JKH says, we all make mistakes or miss an obvious fault, and if someone says otherwise they are lying. Just learn from your mistakes/errors and as you have done admit to it. All of this makes a better person but importantly a better mechanic.

Elev te79 --- Don't worry about it��IT IS ALWAYS THE SIMPLE STUFF THAT GETS YOU. sometimes the best techs look for the hard stuff first. Last time I looked for hards stuff first I dropped my I PHONE 21 stories to the pit. We think , "it can't be that, that is too easy." my phone looked like a book when I got it -- yeah , like pages of a book. Strange. took it back cuz I had a otter box on it and they said "what the heck happened to this�we've never seen anything like this before."

It is better that he fixed this one -- cuz you will never forget the experience. If you 'd have fixed it, you might forget next time. Keep head up.

Yep we ALL make mistakes. Did I ever tell you about the Baldor Drive I blew up? I'll never make that same mistake again. Experience is priceless.