Controller board went out on an Otis unit last Tuesday, what a nightmare

I got called to a building downtown around 2pm, older Otis setup from the early 2000s. The thing just stopped between floors with two people stuck inside. I figured it was a door lock issue at first, but nope, the main controller board had a visible burn mark near the power supply. Had to manually lower the car with the release valve to get them out, took like 45 minutes because the brake was being stubborn. Then I spent another 3 hours tracing wires and bypassing safety circuits just to get the thing moving again temporarily. The new board is on order but it's gonna be at least two weeks out. Has anyone else dealt with these older Otis boards just frying out of nowhere?

3 comments

3 Comments

piperb931mo agoMost Upvoted

Wait, a 1998 model did the exact same thing with the burn mark? That's wild, @julia_miller24. Makes you wonder if there's a weak spot in the power supply design on those old boards.

julia_miller241mo ago

Used to think those old Otis boards were built like tanks, but a few years back I had a 1998 model do the exact same thing, burn mark right near the power supply. That one took me a full day to hack together a temporary fix with a spare relay board I had in the truck. Really changed my mind about assuming older gear is always more reliable, sometimes they just fail from age and heat.

margaret30421d ago

That 1998 board I had the same issue with, I ended up swapping out the whole power supply section with a meanwell unit I had lying around. Took some cutting and soldering but it fired right up and never gave me trouble again after that.