Finally figured out why those Moseley T-cars keep kicking errors

Was on a call last week at a 12-story office building in downtown Dallas, the third time this month for the same MRL. Kept getting a door zone fault on the 7th floor but everything looked fine mechanically. Overheard the building engineer mention they repainted the lobby trim last month. Turns out the reflective tape on the hoistway door was swapped for a cheaper non-reflective version. Swapped it back with some 3M stuff and she's been running clean. Anybody else run into phantom faults from building maintenance crews messing with things?

3 comments

3 Comments

troyreed2mo ago

Man, I gotta disagree on this one. Those T-car faults are usually a bad encoder or a loose belt, not paint.

the_jana2mo ago

Remember last month when @troyreed swore it was a bad controller board and I spent two days chasing ghosts, only to find it was a paint chip stuck to the sensor lens? lol. I've learned to never rule out the dumb stuff, it's always the thing you least expect.

willow4071mo ago

Ha! Yeah, I read somewhere that something like 30% of those T-car faults are just crud blocking the sensor. Can't remember the exact stat but it stuck with me. Paint chip makes total sense. Had a buddy run a whole weekend trying to fix a jam. Turned out to be a dried bug on a photocell. Felt like an idiot after. Encoders and belts are the obvious stuff. But the easy fix is what gets you every time. I'd rather check the dumb thing first and save the headache.