ultrasonics or X30 switch

[raisetheprice]

On my LW4000 with virtual treadle I'm having a more common than not problem with the arm being too far away from the passenger side. Sometimes it will see the width and sometimes not. When it finds the right width it nails the width on the vehicle throughout the entire wash. When it can't find the width it swings wide throughout the entire wash. Luckily we have alot of trucks and SUVs in our area, but it's way too far away when a small car is in there.

My thought is...when it sees the width and keeps it throughout the entire wash how could it be the switch? Could it be the X30 switch or in the VT board?

 

[newhampshiretech]

if it can track some cars and not others I'd say sonic. if it was x-30 it would be erratic all the time even different on passes during the same wash. check the keep out zone on the vt board. if vehicles are going into the keep out zone it defaults to the limit x23 or x24.
unless light 7 is lit in the setup then it would kick them out if they entered the keep out zone. your best off to re-calibrate the sonics and set the keep out, wash envelope and buffer zones to the defaults.(pdq or your dist can give them) and then retest a vehicle see if the results are consistent. if you can wash a truck or van a few times then a small car a few times. then if you see a pattern you'll be better able to detect the deficiency . as to whether its an actual problem with the switch or sonic. or if was that people were driving into the keep out zone and the machine was going wide to compensate which is how its programmed to work.

 

[lag]

If you are sure it is measuring trucks,and suvs correctly... Then you may have your right keep out zone to wide(position B on the VT board).

Other things that cause them to be wide is it needs re calibrated,or if you have gattlings,or the UC is close to the ultrasonic they could be interfering with the measuring.

A good test for interference is to run it in test mode,with a small car and see how well it measures if it measures OK , then you have interference ,from the UC ,or gattling guns if you have them.

 

[raisetheprice]

It measures incorrectly on my wash with no undercarriage...I've got the VT manual now and will see if I can tune it in to make it measure better. Thanks for the help!

 

[madscientist]

rtp,

if it is consistent for each vehicle washed, i'd say ultrasonic, not x30. if it varies within each vehicle's wash, i'd say x30 or rusted out pulse bar. all the other things that the smarter guys before me said are true, but if the machine has been working fine for a long time and then out of nowhere started this problem then i doubt it's a calibration or keep out zone problem. it's probably just one of the expensive things starting to fail.

 

[madscientist]

also, it's been my experience that a bad x30 (or its cord) will result in the trolley stopping too soon and the arch rotating into the vehicle, like at the rear license plate. the bad pulse bar seems to do as you are describing....going too far. once again, if it's always the same measurement for the entire vehicle, i'd suspect the ultrasonic ($600). if it varies on each pass on the same vehicle, i'd start with x30 (or its cord) or the pulse bar.

 

[raisetheprice]

Mad,

I do recall seeing the pulse bars becoming a little thin...I'll try that along with the cord and switch and maybe new rollers to see if I can make the problem go away. Got a quote from washworld rep to replace the entire bridge brand new stainless...$28K.

 

[lag]

Washworld has all the trolley flags,and pulse bar ,and dump target in stainless. The ones I have replaced to stainless I had to adjust the switch a little closer to flags ,but the bar won't be rusting away ,and tearing up any more x30 prox switches.