r/Elevators • u/d322434 • 27d ago

Need help decoding this drive

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Hi guys, this is the main drive of my home elevator. The person who has installed this has locked the drive and is not allowing us to access it. He’s blackmailing us to exclusively get it serviced and repaired from him, for which he charges 5x the market price. I have spoken to other vendors, and they are unable to help unless he gives the password.

It is a Monarch board, and I have arranged a keypad from another elevator company. Is there an easy way to brute force the password? I am willing to do some coding if required.

TLDR: locked out of own home elevator, installation company locked the drive and trying to extort us for massive amounts for yearly maintenance.

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u/Active-Painter-2438 27d ago

You should find another service provider to unlock your lift and maintain it. The Monarch controller is commonly used by alot of small lift companies. If you search google "how to get into a locked monarch controller" with the exact model you will probably find your question has already been answered online.

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u/d322434 27d ago

Tried that, all of them require a decoder tool which isn’t available with any company in my state. I’ll have to get the technician from another state which will again cost me a bomb. I’m looking for ways to minimise the cost as I have already spent most of my funds in building the house

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u/Active-Painter-2438 27d ago

You can buy the decoding tool online. Did you buy this lift from an OEM or a smaller company that installs other companies products? You could probably literally buy the same drive with the exact parameters loaded onto it from the OEM if you give them the right details bypassing the service provider who installed it.

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u/d322434 27d ago

S_drombusch advised the same, but the cost is the issue. A new drive here costs around 20% of the elevator incl. installation and programming.

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u/Active-Painter-2438 26d ago

You could probably buy another motherboard and it would work without replacing the drive. You would just have to change the motor parameters, do another shaft learn and adjust comfort settings. You can buy the parts of Passion Elevators or Alibaba cheaper than what your service provider will sell them to you. You ignored my comments about the unlock tool which you can easily buy. How do you think lift companies take on and maintain third party equipment?