LW4000 measure woes

[cherokee235]

I have a LW4000 with VT and it measures correctly when it creeps left toward the front bumper, but when it crosses the rear of the vehicle it sometimes goes wide to the right limit, sometimes measures short and hits the car as it comes down the right side creating an impact switch alarm. We have changed the measure prox switch and the cable. We have adjusted the width measure with the same results. The next part to throw at it is the right limit switch. What am I missing? Any ideas as to where to look next?

Thanks

 

[MDrost1]

C235,

Do you have a separate cable from the JO to the x30 prox? I had measure issues, and ran a shielded cable as linked here. Directly to the JO. Often times there is interference when you run the x30 via the festoon cable. A common mod.

 

[cherokee235]

C235,

Do you have a separate cable from the JO to the x30 prox? I had measure issues, and ran a shielded cable as linked here. Directly to the JO. Often times there is interference when you run the x30 via the festoon cable. A common mod.

No, don't have that. We replaced the right limit switch this morning. Washed a few cars then it turned short to wash passenger side and hit a pickup tailgate. Very random.

Should the cable be pulled all the way to the input card X30? Or just to the wiring block in the right side of JO??

 

[cherokee235]

I pulled up the book this morning. There are 3 wires on the x30 circuit. 24+ 24c, and 24cx30. I assume I'm only concerned about 24c and 24cx30 correct? 24+ is power for all the circuits. I can run 24cx30 all the way from the prox switch cable junction in J4 back to the I/O card terminal 30 in JO. The shield in the wire can go from 24c at the prox switch cable junction in J4 back to 24c on the terminal buss in the right hand side of JO.

Am I planning this correctly? According to the wire routing in the manual it seems like the logical method.

Thanks

 

[MDrost1]

Yes. I believe that is what we did. The wire from the JO is connected directly to the wire in the JVT, and then that connects to the x30 terminal.

 

[MDrost1]

Any updates on the measure woes?

 

[cherokee235]

got the cable installed today. Only connected wire to 24CX30 from the terminal block in J4 all the way to the 24CX30 terminal on the virtual treadle controller in JO. This hookup duplicates the original wiring setup. I'll try it for a few days and report back. All seemed to work fine during testing. Bought a 500' roll of 18-2 shielded cable from Lowes. $60 per roll

 

[cherokee235]

Here's the latest. It measures perfectly if the vehicle is far left in the bay, probably where the arch engages the trolley left limit when it passes the vehicle on the driver's side. However, if any vehicle is a bit to the right in the bay the arch measures the car appropriately on the passenger side front, it measures appropriately on the driver's side front, makes the pass down the side to the rear, comes across the back and comes up about a foot short and impacts as it starts forward. It does this every time a vehicle is not tight to the left of the bay. It doesn't matter if it is a full size truck or a smart car. The vehicle has to be all the way left to get it to pass correctly.

It almost seems like if the laser doesn't see the trolley left limit, it gets confused and measures short across the rear. Anyone have any ideas as to what we need to do to stop this? I'm stumped.

 

[MDrost1]

So it's impacting as it comes up the rear of the car? A foot short on the right side measurement as it starts to travel toward home at the rear of the vehicle?

Check the picket fences. Make sure they are clear of debris and rust. You can use sand paper to get old paint and rust off. Make sure the x30 is about a 1/4" from the picket fences all the way across.

Have you recalibrated your vt side sonars ever? You should do that every 3/6 months. The process is in the vt manual, or you can call PDQ to do that.

 

[cherokee235]

So it's impacting as it comes up the rear of the car? A foot short on the right side measurement as it starts to travel toward home at the rear of the vehicle?

Check the picket fences. Make sure they are clear of debris and rust. You can use sand paper to get old paint and rust off. Make sure the x30 is about a 1/4" from the picket fences all the way across.

Have you recalibrated your vt side sonars ever? You should do that every 3/6 months. The process is in the vt manual, or you can call PDQ to do that.

Picket fence is new. Sensor is new. Cable is new. I will check the VT manual for calibration and report back.

 

[MDrost1]

Ok. Have you ever calibrated the sonar eyes? I am sure someone else will chime in.

 

[cherokee235]

Ok. Have you ever calibrated the sonar eyes? I am sure someone else will chime in.

We tried your suggestion and it worked. However, now it is going across the back of the vehicle all the way to the right limit, maybe even past it, turning to 270 degrees driving up the right side of the vehicle and jamming against the dump valve bracket initiating Arch index fail because it can't turn to Home. Get this, it is only doing it on the spot free pass and initiating the fault during the startup check. It did it randomly 3 times on Saturday, none today (Sunday, (raining)). At least the customer gets his car washed, but the wash gets shut down until I get there to reset.

Oh, these things are hard to find. Grrrr!

 

[MDrost1]

Man, what is happening sounds like an x30 issue to me...I know all of that stuff is new, but I had that same issue and the x30 was miscounting across the back of the vehicle due bad prox, RF interference in the x30 cable, bad prox cable. Maybe try a spare cable in your festoon on the x30, or get a super shielded cable like the one I suggested???? I feel your pain. Best and God bless.

 

[cherokee235]

Edit the description

It did one last night, but on the polysealant pass. It did one this morning in the HP rinse pass, so the customer is getting short changed on the wash. It cannot see right limit when the arch is at 270. It's not able to go that far because it hits the T-bar before it can see right limit. It is just completely not measuring randomly across the back. We have replaced everything in the X30 circuit, sensor, flag, wire. The cable is contentious from JO to J4, not splices and it is shielded. What is left to do?

 

[MDrost1]

When you manually drive the bridge, simulating a wash pass, does the right limit work properly? Have you swapped it out? Maybe try that. How far off the picket fences is the x30? Mine are under 1/4" inch. Are your tires inflated to 27-30lbs?

 

[cherokee235]

When you manually drive the bridge, simulating a wash pass, does the right limit work properly? Have you swapped it out? Maybe try that. How far off the picket fences is the x30? Mine are under 1/4" inch. Are your tires inflated to 27-30lbs?

We may be on to something and it ties in to your suggestion. We rechecked the fault printouts and determined it always is happening on a high pressure function, not in the spot free as I previously wrote. We think the pressure is pushing the trolley out of range of the flags when it passes over the back of the vehicle due to slop in the rollers or low tire pressure/worn tires, therefore missing some pulse counts. The pressure would push the trolley closer to the flags as it passes the front of the car, so it never happens on the front. We are going to replace the trolley rollers and tires tomorrow and see if it helps. We closed in the range on the pulse sensor (x30) today. It has been raining, so very few cars washed since we adjusted. I'll post back in a day or two.

From my original posting, I think we have solved the original measuring problem and are now dealing with a new issue. Automatics are great when they work, but an pain in the @#%$ to keep in running order, expensive parts, too

 

[MDrost1]

Great. Making headway. Yeah, if rollers and tires are bad...lots of issues. Let me know how it goes!

 

[cherokee235]

Great. Making headway. Yeah, if rollers and tires are bad...lots of issues. Let me know how it goes!

Seems to be better. I had one truck get bonked on the tailgate from turning too early to make its pass going forward, but I think he was in there crooked. I ran him back through and it worked fine. Let me run it a few more days and I'll repost.

 

[cherokee235]

Darn, it did it again.

This morning a pickup was in it about 13" to the right of the floor guides which put it right of the bay centerline and it got whacked on the first soap pass on the tailgate after the 270 degree turn with the bridge heading forward. Maybe as the trolley rolls right it drifts away from the flags and miscounts. New flags, new guide rollers, tire air checked, new prox switches, new cables, x30 run unbroken from JO to J4 in a shielded cable, VT sonar rebooted and reset. What's left? Trolley seems tight to the frame with no slop. I'm stumped. Could it be the VT card? Doesn't seem like it because it got much better after we replaced all this stuff. I still think it is an x30 circuit issue somehow miscounting. Grrrrrrr!!!!!! I've still never seen it happen if the vehicle is all the way left. It always happens if car is a distance away from the left side of the bay.

 

[MDrost1]

At this point, the VT board is about all you have left. I know a bad VT board can do weird things....Worth a shot.