Shuttle Jam Vector Wash

[Karim]

Hi,

I am constantly getting shuttle jam error every couple of weeks and I have so far done the following:

- Checked Encoders and they are fine and also compared with the e300 panel to ensure while jogging machine that encoders are active.

- Checked and replaced cables and checked wiring and it seems fine.

- Tire pressure is at 85psi which is recommended by belanger.

What else could it be? It's a long weekend here in Canada and I had a line up and had to clear out .

Thank you,
Karim.

 

[Whale of a Wash]

Go in and disable the shuttle, my machines are both disabled because of shuttle jam problems. You lose the side to side action, but washes almost as well and saves 15 sec. when starting a wash.

 

[MEP001]

Do you have a surveillance system? If so, point a camera at the machine and the next time it happens you'll see if it actually tries to move and doesn't read the pulses or if it doesn't move and shuts down. Your gearbox could be failing, and you'll want to rule that out.

 

[Karim]

Go in and disable the shuttle, my machines are both disabled because of shuttle jam problems. You lose the side to side action, but washes almost as well and saves 15 sec. when starting a wash.

I disabled my shuttle and it's working for now. I am thinking it's the proximity sensor which is not able to read the pulses. I am goin to replace that tonight once wash is closed and see if that will resolve the issue.

I doubt it's the gear box as i recently 2 months ago put in new gearbox for shuttle and butterfly.

Thank you for your input I really appreciate it very much.

Whale of wash, how long have you had your shuttle disabled for?

 

[Whale of a Wash]

Mine has been disabled on both vectors for around 6 mo. Between that circuit board that is in the gearbox, and the cables to it. It was just too frustrating, glad you found it as when i was at the wash today i looked at where it was in the program to disable. You can then move the shuttle into the right spot with the jog and leave it there. Before you go and fix it, try it for a week, and by that time you won't want to fix it. Vector's achilles heel those circuit boards. When they run on 24v they should almost last forever, but usually went 6mo for me, they would get very hot and start to melt-voltage was perfect always so i blame it on poor circuit boards. On the new machines they just have eliminated the side to side sizing.

 

[MEP001]

Actually the shuttle motor doesn't have a card in it, at least not on machines 9 years old and newer. It uses a prox sensor and a stationary "picket fence" cut piece of metal to detect the movement and position. The butterfly and carriage motors are the ones with the encoder cards.

 

[Karim]

Thank you both Whale of a Wash and MEP001 very much for your input. I do believe it is the proximity sensor and of course that was the part I did not have so will have to wait until wednesday as it is a long weekend here in Canada. At least I am still up and running which is the main thing by disabling the shuttle option. I had one complaint today that car was not clean and I gave the guy a free wash and he was very pleased and no other complaints after that.

Whale of Wash, I tried moving the machine side to side but it just will not move at all but the positioning of the machine is dead centre so right now its all good unless I get a smart car which wont get a good clean as I imagine the arms to be very far from the car but since I live in the north I get lot of pick ups and big Suvs.

Once again gentlemen, Thank you for your time and input and I will update once all is repaired by mid week.

Karim.

 

[MEP001]

I assume you don't have a surveillance system to watch the machine. If you do, try what I suggested. I had a weird, intermittent problem that I couldn't figure out until I saw it happen on video, then I knew exactly what it was.

Have you adjusted the prox to the picket fence or checked that it's not rubbing on it? The older machines had a steel one and it would rust and damage the prox.

If you're convinced the prox is bad, check mouser.com. They carry the same one, likely a lot cheaper than you can get it locally, and if they ship it from close enough to you it might get to you just as fast or faster.

You won't be able to move the shuttle unless there's a catastrophic failure. If that happened, the whole shuttle would slam to one side as soon as the high-pressure comes on. I had that happen once - the key came out of the pulley on the gearbox output.

 

[Whale of a Wash]

MEP is right and i was still thinking of the butterfly problems i had. The steel picket fence when rusty will damage sensor or give false signals if rusty. I think there is an aluminum or stainless replacement.