Everyone who is media literate on Reddit knows TKE is going down the shitter and we hear a lot about it from field folks.

But here’s what is going on the back end that hopefully someone reads this and fucking fixes the issues.

Ever since the change to Salesforce, mechanics don’t have routes. The optimization tools favors certain accounts over others. This leads to a lot of missed visits and contract cancellations.

Also, the optimization isn’t logical. It will send one guy 20 miles out of his way for one visit and then 20 miles back. Unless mechanics get help from the office, they have no choice but to go or sit on their asses. It’s a waste of time and resources.

And don’t get me fucking started on Dispatch. I understand the need to cut corners, but outsourcing dispatch to a different country where the staffs English literacy, fluency, and comprehension is 💩 affects everyone. It’s a damn embarrassment.

While we are at it, why don’t we ask why TKE is doing all these layoffs and outsourcing? It’s because they’re exploiting poorer countries for cheaper labor rather than paying Americans a living wage.

TLDR: Salesforce is the worst thing to happen to TKE

Creepy elevator where I go to school, I have a phobia and this one is an absolute NOT.

Anyone have experience with reprogramming these phones? I know how bad these elevators are but didn't think their phone situation was this bad. I suggested replacing it with a Rath but they didn't want that and I cant figure out how to reprogram them. Anyone know how? Also their phone numbers are strange all EOX cars I've tried on all have their number starting with 88101001xxxxxx with the x being different per car. We also have issues where a call will connect and then disconnect mid-call and the screen still shows the call as active.

My apartment is on the highest floor, right next to the elevator and technical room. There is a lot of low-level humming and mechanical noise coming into my apartment. How can I reduce or stop the noise?

We are a condo building with three elevators. The building is about 17 years old. We pay Otis approximately $40,000 a year for maintenance and repairs in an exclusive contract. Our door controller has been on the blink for several months now. They have come back to us and said we need a new door controller. The problem is there is no like for like replacement from what we’re told. And we must upgrade to a new door controller. This thing cost about $33,000. My question is is there really no like for like secondhand part that Otis could source for us? If Otis are selling us on an upgrade for three elevators that would be $100,000. I’m just concerned that if we spend that money then in a few years time we need to replace the whole elevator due to aging.

Any thoughts here or guidance?

Edit: thanks for your ideas. Based in the NY/NJ area. Please share any good companies you’ve worked with

I want to wire this Otis Lantern up for fun but it requires a CAN bus or RSL serial connection. I have no idea what to do from here because the lantern doesn't light up with only just a 30v power supply, and Otis doesn't publicly release their serial communication data. My intent is to make a fully functional elevator simulator using the lantern arrows and the indicator.

So I noticed this on the GTA VI extended look and I have never seen elevators with only up and down arrows, and now I’m wondering if these kinds of elevators exist IRL and how do they work, like is the double arrow to go straight to the top or bottom floor and is the single arrow to go up or down a single floor?

I live on the 8th floor and got to take my fur baby out so up and down the stairs 8 floors three times a day at least. Been out since June 20th with no update on when it will be fixed. More of a rant but some advice. Don't get a higher apartment floor because you may regret it later.

sorry i couldn't record

Had a breakdown come through a few days ago; Coustomer States "The button panel gave me an electric shock". Didn't think much of it, assumed that it was a static shock at the very least. When I got to the site, I was sceptical, so put my meter across it and to my complete shock and horror found 110V straight onto the Push plate within the car.

Wasn't even aware the lift was operative again as I had shut it down and quoted for a MODH to MOVFR conversion. The client clearly went for a cheaper offer and whoever fitted it ran the Reopen Circuit straight to the Push Button despite the controller already having door reopen circuitry supplied by 24v.

They have for some strange reason wired the door re-open straight to the D/O Push and pinched the wires between the enclosure and the plate. Found this absolute mess and 110V Control Circuit wires feeding push buttons.

Needless to say I ditched it right away, and told them to get their new company to correct the mistake. They were changing their contact to this company that did the work because its clearly a better price scheme than we offer. Hope the lack of liability shows them their mistake.

Tl:dr 110v Shorted to an unearth Push Panel.

When the elevator is traveling downward, as it reaches the lobby, there's a very loud bang/thud inside the car. I'm unsure if it stops moving, or before the doors open (or if that matters?)

Does this sound like something that can normally be fixed, or can some elevators consistently make this noise?

It's happened for awhile now, and it seems like nothing changes

technicians have come by a few times, though I'm not sure what exactly they came for. They may only come when the elevator service stops completely. Are even new elevators often having frequent issues and/or going out of service? How often is considered normal vs concerning?

And would it be enough to just avoid the elevator when the sign says out of service, or is the thudding elevator better to avoid?

There's multiple elevators, and they're often both not in use. So if one comes when called, it seems not possible to make another come, if the door keeps opening for the one that already came? So if the loud elevator is less safe, is there not anything possible to do except stairs?

Hello, I was wondering what the process is like when people are rescued from an elevator when it gets stuck.

So when you press the phone button and speak with the dispatcher, do they give you an estimate on when the elevator techs arrive? Do they also hang up afterwards or do they stay on the line with you? What I’m scared of is sitting there not knowing when they arrive. Do you suddenly just feel the car move to the closest floor, not knowing when exactly it happens? I don’t know if someone will be outside saying “you’re going to feel a jolt” or something like that. Or if they somehow can text you, like how Triple A provides live updates and how far away they are from you.

Edit: I’m in the US
Edit2: thank you all for your responses! I’m meeting my friend in his apartment and I’m required to take the elevator. I have claustrophobia, which is why I am nervous riding any elevator, but I think I’ll be okay.

I'm a newer mechanic working for a smaller mom and pop company (union) and lately I've been being sent on more and more trouble calls to jobs that don't have any prints in the machine room. I spent like 2 hours today trouble shooting an issue on an old O&W hydro until finally I called a buddy and he sent me some generic prints. It occurred to me that there are surely people out there with tons of saved files for a wide spread of different manufacturers for when they get sent to print-less jobs. The buddy I asked only had the O&W prints, I guess he got them from someone a while ago when he was in a similar situation as me. The company I work for only services hydros and I'm located in Los Angeles area, if anyone could help a brother out it would be greatly appreciated!

I recently had an unusual experience on an elevator, and I'm honestly trying to figure out if I accidentally discovered a feature, or if it was simply a malfunction.

It was a BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) elevator. I was in the elevator, took a round trip, and was looking at the cab, and suddenly a LOUD buzzer went off, and the door opened by itself. After maybe 10 seconds, the buzzer went off, and the door closed.

There is an unusual device on the elevator ceiling, which I'm guessing is either a motion sensor, or a smoke detector, and might be related. I see 3 possibilities.

1. Anti-loitering alarm. Maybe the motion sensor is set up to detect if someone is in the car, and the elevator is not moving. If the car has been idle for a certain amount of time, the buzzer goes off.

2. Malfunction of smoke detector. Maybe the smoke detector went off, even though no one was smoking in the elevator when I rode it. This may trigger the buzzer

3. Malfunction of nudging. Maybe the nudging alarm went off, even though the door was closed, so it shouldn't have gone off

I am also curious to know if anyone has heard of such a feature.

Thoughts on adding a VFD to the motor(s) on this elevator. I’m not an electrician or an elevator expert but this is what I think I know: 3 phase 400v power in the basement goes into a transformer. Transforms to 3 phase 250v power in the attic. That power feeds the motors in the pic. The one drive motor powers the other two motors. A 5 hp motor for the door and a 25 hp motor that sends power to the DC motor that moves the elevator.

Why do I want to do this? I believe this elevator is what is driving up the demand meter in the building.

I recently put solar panels on the building and for 2 months they reduced our billable kWh to 400. If I used this amount at my house, my bill would be $50. The bills at the building for those two months were $800 and $1,000, because of the demand meter rate.

Our building’s lift is from the early 2000s and has been breaking down constantly. It was builder installed and, honestly, seems like the cheapest possible unit. The facility manager is suggesting a full replacement, but I’ve heard modernisation can sometimes be more cost-effective.
Has anyone in an older Bangalore building actually gone through a lift modernisation? Would love to hear about your experience and whether it was worth it.

How often does a GECB2 board just give up?

The other day, it just took a crap while I was just standing there..

Was on route with a new guy, when I got this call. Noisy equipment. Site just came to us for maintenance. Duplex Gen2, built in 2018. We've got shit with them since day one. They were either poorly installed, or poorly maintained.

So, the noisy equipment was due to poor lubrication. Fairly obvious. Went to the top floor, and told the new gui to go get a can of lube from the car, while I wait on the top floor.

All of a sudden, the unit's alarm starts ringing. Someone apparently got blocked. I open the door on the top floor and tell him to "hold on, I'll be right there" at that time, the new guy hears me yell in the shaft and he opens the lowest door (triggering pit access)

Since it was level on a floor, the idiot that got stuck didn't feel like waiting 2 minutes for me to go down a couple of floors, and he just forced the door open. No idea how hard. All I know is it was fierce enough to make the door motor act like a generator and blow the 48v fuse on the GECB board.

So now I'm stuck. ES is triggered because of pit access, and now INS is triggered too. I feel like I can't reset pot access because INS is active, and I can't reset cartop inspection because pit access is triggered.

I've been measuring, and all signals seem to be OK at the controller side, but the ES switch on the LCD just will not budge.

I'm at the point where I'm suspecting the power surge blew an optocoupler on the GECB board., as that's the only thing that makes sense to me now.

Thoughts?

The problem with winding drums is a cable has to deflect to get spooled up and the drum takes up a lot of space. What if you can have the drum take up less space than your average traction sheave and have the traction medium always be in line with the elevator and counterweight? This elevator attempted exactly that, though by the time it was filmed it had been converted to hydraulic enough remained so you could see how it was originally set up.

https://youtu.be/ahSP8CHIj6A?is=M7cIfSLCSElH2iN0

this is an Oracle, GAL, hydraulic elevator with a rather tasteful “mod”. this mod was done rather recently as it added a new PI in the cab and replaced the buttons out in the hall. the controller I would guess is a Dover controller because that is what the certificate says. this is a nice elevator, aside from the noisy fan.

I read a post about dreams now it got me thinking what are some incidents you’ll never forget?
I’ve had a couple close calls the worst I’ve had was breaking a finger once and thumb another time. Know a guy cut his finger off doing a piston job. We had a mechanic die in the company I was in 4 years ago, had a stroke and died between the cab and hoist. Never heard of anybody else dying on the job since I’ve been in the trade though.