Home Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Cat 1 Testing on 1965 Otis

I've got an old Otis unit, type 21UCLS. I've never done a cat 1 test on these and was wondering if anyone has paperwork on how to properly perform said test?

Thanks in advance

Maybe someone does have some papers, but generally old stuff the mechanic just looks at the prints and figures out what to jump for what he's doing. Really there's not going to be much on a 1965 elevator, no unintended motion etc. If you have prints you should be able to determine what terminals are your limits, SOS, what to jump to run it on inspection etc.

Elevators made back then relied on knowledgeable mechanics. You have to remember back then it was still your own fault if you hurt yourself, different times.

That's what I thought, I was hoping someone had a type of quick reference made or anything else of the sort - I know a lot of mechanics write on controllers what terminals to jump for safety tests.
For these older units you don't need to actually overspeed the car, correct? You just remove governor cable, then spin and tach to test tripping speed?

Your right. Any car like that I do tests on I usually write on back of the controller door the switch and the terminal numbers to jump to make life easy next time.


You said your doing a cat 1. You don't get governor tripping speeds on a cat 1 test. That's a cat 5 test. But if you did need to, just clamp a vise grip on the governor rope just above the hole in the floor in the machine room, bump the car up a couple inches to get slack, slide the rope off the governor and you hold the tach on the governor while your helper spins it with a drill.

Cat 1 test all you do is run the car down on inspection speed, have your helper trip the governor manually while running on inspection speed, see the governor switch work, jump it out, bump it down, see the SOS switch work, jump it out, bump it down see the ropes slip on the sheave, bump it up, reset governor and SOS and your done with the safety test.

I have a couple 1000 volt insulated flat screwdrivers I keep in my toolbag as my wiring drivers that also double as insulated push sticks for contactors for tests on old stuff.