Photo Eyes for Self Serve wash doors

[Jason Studer]

For you wash owners with garage doors.

What photo eye set up have you had the best and worse luck with? I seem to go though them way to fast, Transmitters, Receivers, and even an Amplifier once in awhile.

Started out with Carlos, terrible luck, switch to Telco, have been better but still seem to have a higher failure rate then I would expect. I just purchased a set of Banner photo eyes, but have not set them up.

Thanks for your input.

Jason

 

[New Washdog]

We use Carlos on three bays and I have only changed one set in four years.

 

[mjwalsh]

I thought automatic ovd door openers with photo eyes were mostly just the domain of the non self serve bays??? I see Jason has been around since 2008 so maybe I am the one who is behind the times in terms of the ultimate level for self service customer pampering???

We have encapsulated door sensors but they are for our alarm system & "door open -0° F alerts".

How large of of overhead doors do you guys have? It seems like that could be pertinent to the photo eyes in terms of precision level needed.

 

[Jason Studer]

Door are 10'x10' This shouldn't make a difference on Photo eyes.

Here in Minnesota we use doors, every wash does. We will be open even if subzero, and yes it can be very busy. FOOLS.

 

[mjwalsh]

Jason,

I get the need to use ovd doors ... we have had ovd doors on our self service only wash since 1968. We have always made sure that our doors are easy to lift manually. I was not aware that it was that common for self service to have automatically opening doors. When they drive up ... the entrance door senses the car & opens without customer getting out of vehicle? Then the photo eyes are setup on the exit is set up with a timed closure???

I am aware of the sometimes extreme salting of the roads in Minnesota so that might explain some of the flow of business in subzero ... like you say can happen!

 

[Rudy]

Not self serve, but our automatic doors use Pantron photoeyes. I've replaced 2 sensors in the last 15 years. VERY wet and harsh envirnment.

 

[Jason Studer]

We have open and close buttons that the customer would push to open the door at the entrance as well as open and close door buttons inside the wash for both entrance and exit doors. we have tandem bays. all door are on timers entrance and exit, all set at 30 seconds.

 

[mjwalsh]

Jason & others,

In the past I remember seeing self serves in Grand Forks making sure that the entrance was also the exit ... drive in forward drive out backwards ... to address the wind tunnel effect.

So even in the summertime you allow the customers to close either or both doors???

Relating to electric or magna glide opening - photo eyes ... I have to consider that our ZAP operators (from Airlift) ... that we do not let the customers activate ... if the Strapeze ovd doors get a bit too heavy with extreme ice or a slight roller problem ... those operators are not strong enough to open or close in a 100% way. For us to have those ZAPs comes in handy in "freeze weather" because we can remotely close the door or open the door all the way ... assuming that there are no impediments with the ovd door rollers etc.

I am thinking that your style of extremely powerful operators need those photo eyes also for safety??? I would think the photo eyes could have problems of getting too cloudy or even dirty from time to time???

 

[MGSMN]

We have open and close buttons that the customer would push to open the door at the entrance as well as open and close door buttons inside the wash for both entrance and exit doors. we have tandem bays. all door are on timers entrance and exit, all set at 30 seconds.

Same here. Our self serve bays use Liftmaster openers and they use proprietary 2 wire photo eyes. In our IBA's I have used Carlos, Telco and Banner. The Banners are probably the most trouble free but the Carlos and Telco are very reliable also, plus you can get an amplifier relay with ON/OFF delay timers if you need that feature. The Carlos also have 2 channel capability if you are using two sets of photo eyes in close proximity to each other.

 

[Jason Studer]

I do let customers open and close doors during the warmer weather. I am setting it up so the that all door will automatically open and lock up at 9pm and go back to be used at 7am. This way the Police can drive by and see what is going on at night. It just turns into a wind tunnel and dries the soap before they can rinse. Plus it keeps the Magna glides moving from time to time. very seldom do I see door closed unless really windy.

Maybe I'm being to critical about the eyes, but this winter I have replaced one receiver, one transmitter, and two amplifier. Last year was worse. Keep in mind I only have 4 doors.

 

[mjwalsh]

Maybe I'm being to critical about the eyes, but this winter I have replaced one receiver, one transmitter, and two amplifier. Last year was worse. Keep in mind I only have 4 doors.

Jason & others,

When a component with the photo eye system fails ... does it mean that the specific ovd door fails to open 100% &/or does the specific ovd door fail to close 100%?

 

[Jason Studer]

Fails to close 100% of the time. You can pull out the amplifier and they will operate on the timer but no protection if the door comes down and a car is driving out. I'll shut the bay down before I would run like that.

Fortunately I will get a call from my alarm company to notify me that a door is stuck open. 24/7

 

[mjwalsh]

Jason,

I have closed ovd doors at our car wash to avoid heat loss & even potential freeze up with my Airlift ZAP operators ... with extreme caution. As in carefully watching at least 3 camera views simultaneously just in case a driver shows up towards a door at a much faster than normal speed.

For over 25 years we were using a Talk-A-Phone 2 way intercom to try to get customers to close the door while they were washing on a ... especially way below freezing day. Our overhead Trane Unit Heaters are nice for clearing the fog in the bay but not so nice when below zero air pulls the boiler glycol down costing mucho extra utility dollar $$$ expense!

No offense ... but I have mixed feelings about being able to perfect the angles of the photo eyes from a safety standpoint. How much pressure closing force do your Stainless Steel Magna Glides have compared to the MGSMN's LiftMaster setup? One of the forte's of the 24VDC ZAP is that there is no chance they are strong enough to crush whatever. I guess that is a drawback considering slight roller problems etc. Do you use the Magna Glide's in combination with a counterweight system similar to our Airlift's Strapeze?

 

[Jason Studer]

Yes it has the counter weight set up, not sure how your strapeze work but I do believe they are the same.

Setting the eye angle is not an issue, they have a very wide range. That's not an issue, and there is a lock out system once the doors are shut. So if someone or something break the beam they will not open when fully closed.

Sorry forgot about the pressure question. It will not even crush a snow turd. I can stop the door if I grab them. I have never the checked down word pressure with a gauge, but now I will when I find time.