Home Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Virginia Controls Vision Controller

Not looking for Tech Support or anything really just looking to see what the general consensus is out there on the Serial link controllers that VC offers....maybe just venting also haha

Currently doing a job now that uses the first version of Vision controllers and to be honest I'm not a fan and am a bit confused by it. I'll preface this with I've always done the standard Virginia Controller that is not serial link and because of that I may be a bit biased and with that this is my first Vision controller so some of my issues I have may be due to a learning curve of sorts. At the same point there are certain things i look at with this vision controller that just don't make sense to me. I assume the idea is to make the install quicker, maybe its cheaper as well although i don't see how at least on my job. I assume the serial link is thought to be a quick install however I'm still running 18AWG wires to the top and bottom floors to account for access. Also, and this may be the fault of the MFG that packaged this job, but I'm given all 1/2" flex which is fine for intermediate floors but when it comes to the bottom floor specifically and running 2 serial cables plus additional wires for access you can barely get it through and even then you risk tearing wires. With that when wiring intermediate push buttons... on a normal VC controller I would be wiring 4 total wires but with this serial link I'm now wiring 8 wires. on top of the hatch wiring.....With it came this LIMAX selector which has limits and slowdowns and all that built in which is great however for code reasons i'm still installing a separate cam with top and bottom normal limits. Also I'm still installing a separate mag switch set up with magnets to track the DZ at each floor.

Maybe I'm missing something but it still does not make sense to me to do things this way....you maybe save some time wiring up the controller at the end but now instead of installing one selector tape and magnets (IP8300 type), I'm installing a smaller selector and then installing a separate mag switch and magnets.instead of running 18AWG confuctors and wiring buttons pretty easily, im now trying to get two serial cables through 1/2" flex and wiring double what i would have in some cases. even wiht this new selector im still installing a cam with limits at the terminal floors. Not sure about it, at the moment i hope i don't need to try another one of these but also maybe someone here can give me some other way of looking at it that will help me understand the benefits over it.

I do not understand why they went half and half. It is crazy how they call it going serial link, but still a ton of wiring to hook up to. Not a fan at all of the new one, the old ones were reliable, but just too much wiring to hook up. Kinda like they do not want to jump into the new world.

Smartrise or the one from Elevator controls is the way to go.

If you are doing serial link.

Truth be told not a big fan of Smartrise although I know a lot of people like them and EC is ok just dislike their tech support. Honestly the old VC controllers are still my go to, definitely a lot of wiring but I guess I've done it so much I have it down pat and can get it done quicker than most I would assume.

How do they do the car wiring? How many travel cable wires does it use?

T cable was 41 (18 AWG) with 4 (14 AWG) and 5 shielded pairs. Trying to remember but I think I used all shielded pairs which one was for the phone but the other 4 were serial link related, 3 of the 14 AWG wires for 110V feed, and then i believe 30 of the 18 AWG wires.