Home Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Has anybody modernized proprietary mrls?

Curious about modernizing elevators like the kcm or the Otis mrls to non proprietary equipment. More interested in the machine that would be used. Any info would be helpful.

Thanks.

I haven't done it yet. Smartrise supposedly has a full mod package for Ecospaces, with a five year warranty on everything electrical. They keep the Kone machine I believe. Replace controller, operator and all fixtures, selector etc.

While a huge improvement over the OEM equipment in my opinion, it still leaves the customer with a machine and car/cw sheaves that are non greasable and will cost them a ton when bearings start to go bad. Everything about them is not good for the customer. Good for architects and the big 4's salespeople.

If it's low rise it may be another good option to discuss removing the whole thing and sticking a hydro in there.

I have modernized many OEM elevators including KONE and OTIS. My recommendation to everyone who wants to modernize OEM controllers: either don't do that or Smartrise crap should be your last option. Smartrise is a mistake. That doesn't simply work and is not even safe. Smartrise AC inputs fail all the time, and their brake boards are also unsafe. We are now replacing Smartrise C4 controllers with MCE and EC.

We are also getting away from smartrise. The mod package sounds nice because I assume that would get rid of the drive issues but a replacement for the motor would be nice.

We are also getting away from Smartrise. I don't recommend them to anyone anymore.
I know Magnetek has a special drive for kone elevators. I think it is called axial flux. HPV 900 AF AC Elevator Drive

Imperial actually recently came out with a replacement machine for the Kone MX machines used on the mono spaces. There is an article in elevator world from earlier this year where a independent company in Florida did a full mod on one and installed the first replacement imperial machine for that application. I am currently trying to get the machine approved in my state.

As for just doing controls we did one 3 car mono space job where we retained the machines and replaced controls, fixtures, and door operators. We used smart rise controls with Magnetk drives. I think this may have been one of the first ones Magnetek did in this application as they were very involved with set up and adjustment.

How about GAL? Smartrise versus GAL?

I would certainly recommend GAL. I have worked with both of them and found GAL more reliable than Smartrise controllers. My feeling about Smartrise controller is it is still under development, there are still lots of bugs and issues with their hardware and software and every day we have to deal with a new issue. Again this is my personal experience maybe other people don't have all the issues that we are having with Smartrise.

I would go with GAL or MCE. For sure not Smartrise

Here's a video of a Kone Eco disk running via a Nice3000+
Not my video, but I stumped upon it.
I've working on Nice 3000+ integrated drives quite a bit and can see them working on most if not all proprietary machines

https://youtube.com/shorts/RWHp2LtiKEM?feature=share

NICE3000 (Monarch) works great! They are reliable and easy to work with. I have used them in the Europe market, but unfortunately they are not certified for US market yet. No UL, or CSA

Now, not only does Imperial have a replacement, GAL/HW has one called GLR. The version they have is for new installs and replacement of the MX10/NMX11. It's only rated for 1.5 US ton/1 tonne capacity. The imperials have greater capacity are are also certified for 4:1 roping w/4 US ton/3.6t capacity. It also has higher speed options. The Vantage/HW version (GLR) is only certified for 2:1 roping.

More recently, Delco is a 2:1 1.75 US ton, 1.5t Max speed. 2.5m/s/500fpm.

Here's the Delco flyer. Equipment is both EN/ASME complient: Model HGL465. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...ve_Catalog_2025_-_Final.pdf?v=1737673097