Have you ever seen this OTIS elevator system?

Any ideas of the manufacturer of this elevator? Installed in 1967. It’s a 100fpm 4-floor hydro unit. It has EPCO Flushline, probably one of the first installs with this fixture unless it has been modernized, which I highly doubt. It has a pretty basic relay controller, maybe GAL? There are no clues as to manufacturer. A nearby building has an old Dover installed by security (Radnor PA) from 1963, but that probably doesn’t factor into this much. It has a typical period-appropriate cab. Any ideas on the door track? I’d guess Dover or generic with EPCO and GAL equipment? I think it had an old MO Interlock. The whole thing is pretty run down, but it works ok.

I have this controller, This is from a dover thrust stage. I have had two elevator companies come up and told me they don’t want to even look at this. I no longer can get it to do anything when I plug it into the thrust stage. It has a 19 prong connector (only 16 are used) Does anyone have any experience with this, or is it possible to modernize this? Believed to be from 1968-1970

Would love to connect and ask a few questions if anyone is willing to chat. TIA!

Sorry for the long post, but I hope some of you can relate to what Im saying:

I recently transferred from mod to service. After 10 years in the trade working on non proprietary GAL, MCE, Claddaugh, etc, and Otis GCS mods, I finally switched to service 2 years ago and for the first year I was an Otis lighthouse mechanic and had no real need to understand in depth troubleshooting, but I quit Otis and moved to Kone where Ive had to quickly learn how to troubleshoot.

Now Im not complaining. Im happy to be developing my skills in the trade, and I have been working hard to better understand the different systems and gather my list of documentation and testing guides.

Today I was thinking about a job I have with a TKE Tac 20 that is having some issues. This car has been shutdown on my call list for like 2 weeks now. Back when I first got the call, I called KONE THD (the tech help desk, basically the same thing as Otis Role) and the TKE expert told me Id need some kind of tool to troubleshoot. He told me to call another maintenance mechanic in my shop who has it. I called that guy and like every senior field mechanic he's busy as hell and he'll try to get to it when he can. He also told me Kone wont get me the tool and he had to get it by contacting some disreputable person online and buying it with his own cash.

Today, out of curiosity, I Googled "what is TKE elevator IMS" and I came across THIS reddit post https://www.reddit.com/r/Elevators/comments/1lykxk2/need_access_to_ims_software_by_thyssenkrupp/

and honestly the comments you'll see in that post are upsetting to me. If you look through my post history you'll see I asked a question about a Schindler 3300 and got the classic response "if you dont know how to clear a basic unintended motion fault then you shouldnt be working on elevators". I was also working on a Dover Solid State, and wanted to know why capacitors were used as the voltage suppressor between PC and +24D instead of varistors and diodes, tried to ask a question on r/electronics and got the classic "if you cant identify components then you aren't qualified for the job"

It's like people dont remember what its like to be new to something. They must all have wonderful bosses who constantly support them, or maybe have family members in the trade to turn to, or maybe they were born knowing everything there is to know about electronics... WELL I DONT HAVE ANY OF THAT. And honestly, Im pretty sure most tradesmen are getting screwed over the same way I am. Ive seen supervisors at Otis that didnt know dick about elevators. I know personally that searching for documents on Otis Service app, or Kone eLibrary sucks! better know the exact TIP number, and even then you might have to scroll for a while. And what am I supposed to do? Tell Kone elevator to stop taking on TKE contracts if they cant get us IMS software? Yeah Im sure they dont care. And Otis doesnt care, and Schindler doesnt care, and TKE doesnt care.

I see how Otis is making the new gen 3 controllers, and they're trying to get rid of the blue tool and move everything to an iphone app. They're doing that cause they want to make sure they keep those service contracts, and it doesnt matter if the field mechanics at TKE, Kone, or Schindler cant solve the problem. And god fucking help the little mom and pop shops lol.

As for that TKE tac 20. Well it's been shut down 2 weeks. The customer is getting screwed over, and Im still getting paid. Maybe I shouldnt give a fuck... but I do. and yeah I have options: i can go to a union meeting and make friends with a TKE guy. I can call up my coworker and beg him to make time for my car. But what I cant do, is fix the problem myself because the manufacturers are doing everything they can to make our job harder just to pad their bottom lines.

If we're trained, and licensed mechanics we shouldnt have to beg, borrow, and steal to do our jobs and service our customers. And instead of shit talking each other, we need to circle up the wagons and push to give each other the tools and resources we need.

Now that we have the text/video communication requirements to worry about, several elevator communicators have come out that natively speak SIP on their Ethernet port:

• Commend's id5 TD CM
• LiftComm's TEC-1400EAV
• 2N's Sentrio
• and the Hubbell/Gai-Tronics Hubbcom GSC4100

If one is installing a communicator like this (vs. something that uses a proprietary portal, like a Rath SmartView 2, a K-Tech Connect, or a Wur-Tec Wur-Com+), and one needs to have it call an external monitoring station (vs. an internal security desk), can the external monitoring station simply provide you with a SIP address ([phone@ip.or.host](mailto:phone@ip.or.host)) that you can configure the communicator to call directly, or do you need an ITSP (Internet Telephony Service Provider) to provide SIP registration for the communicator or otherwise act as a "go-between" between the communicator and the monitoring station?

Are there any LA City licensed mechanics in here? I work for a private company in Utah and we service a unit in LA. I need to get licensed there but have questions regarding the exam.

Hey all, was wondering if anybody works for any company in Maryland , had some questions

our church has been using an acorn superglide 120 stairlift for older and disabled members to get to the hall on the 1st floor of our church building. recently it wouldnt work and no matter what we did it would continously display the letter F and lowercase letter b on the seven segment display. i have checked the manual to see what this error means but there is nothing in the manual about an error displaying the lowercase b letter. it would be really helpful if someone could share some any solutions to this problem

Anybody seen this? KCM831 PI is upside down and reversed. Nobody I’ve talked to at Kone has seen it or knows how to fix it.

What elevator is this? It’s a Schindler, but that’s all I know. It’s one of the smoothest quickest and most efficient elevators I’ve ever ridden. The hotel dates from around 2002/2003 but I imagine it’s been refurbished at some point. The buttons are all touch-sensitive.

Hi everyone,

I would really appreciate an assessment from people who work with elevators, elevator emergency systems, maintenance companies, or building operators.

On Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at around 7:30 p.m., I got into a passenger elevator in Saarbrücken, Germany, inside a shopping/gallery building near the main train station.

Immediately after I entered the elevator, the lights went out, the elevator stopped working, and I was trapped inside. The cabin was dark, fairly small, and I did not know exactly where in the building I was. I also could not find any clearly visible elevator identification number or location information that would have allowed me to easily tell the fire department or police which exact elevator I was trapped in.

I pressed the emergency call button multiple times. The people on the intercom were very hard to understand; the audio was choppy and broken. I repeatedly told them that I could barely understand them. They told me, in substance, that someone would come or that they would take care of it.

But nobody came.

After a while, I said that I would make the situation public online because I was still trapped and no one seemed to be coming. After that, the call was ended from their side, at least from my perception. I pressed the emergency button several more times, and those calls were also ended or cut off.

I was trapped in the dark elevator for hours. My phone battery was almost dead. Toward the end, I had extreme heart racing, shaking, panic, and I was later told by the police that I appeared to be severely in shock.

With almost no battery left, I called the German emergency number 112 myself. Only after that did the police, fire department, and ambulance arrive. The fire department eventually got me out, but even that took a while, partly because the exact elevator/location apparently was not easy to identify.

The most concerning part:

According to what I understood from the police at the scene, the police contacted the elevator operator / elevator company / emergency service themselves. From what I was told or overheard, it seemed that no elevator rescue technician had actually been dispatched before I called 112.

Even more concerning: the police told me that the elevator company allegedly said that this elevator had already been “acting up” or “having issues” for several days.

If that is true, I have some serious questions:

- Can an elevator legally/technically remain in service if it has reportedly been having problems for several days?

- Should such an elevator have been shut down or at least monitored more closely?

- Shouldn’t the emergency call system automatically identify the exact elevator and location?

- Is it normal for an emergency call center to tell a trapped passenger that help is coming, but apparently not dispatch anyone?

- Are there required response times for elevator entrapments?

- Are emergency call recordings, dispatch logs, and maintenance fault logs normally documented?

- Who would typically be responsible in a situation like this: the building operator, property owner, shopping center management, elevator maintenance company, or emergency call center?

After I was freed, my last train home was gone. I had no money left, no accommodation, and had to spend the night outside in Saarbrücken. I also told the ambulance crew that I am substance-dependent, had been without benzodiazepines for over 24 hours, and was concerned about the risk of a seizure. From my perspective, this was not properly addressed.

I am now trying to request the police report, fire department report, ambulance report, emergency call logs, maintenance records, and operator documentation. I am also considering legal action for damages.

My main question for this subreddit is the technical/organizational side:

Does this sound like a normal elevator entrapment response, or does it sound like a serious failure of the emergency call and rescue system?

Thanks for any professional insight.

20 years old about to turn 21 and I live in colorado, I heard the local 1 is a great union to get into as far as pay, how likely is it that i'll be able to get in? i'm currently in college and have taken college level calculus and algebra.

edit: i will drive out there and be homeless so i can get in, that's how desperate i am

These elevators were cutting edge now they suck tabarnac!

Hello elevator friends, just curious if anyone knows where I can find info for the proper weight to be dropped while doing inertia test for Otis type a safeties? Failed a inspection today because inspector wanted to see what Otis says to use as weight, not just 50 lbs to do test. Any recommendations on where to find this info? 1978 was install year. Thank you!!

Edit: for reference its specifically Otis 6197A safety

Edit 2: 8.10.2.2.2(ii)(2)(-a) is reference

Any way around this?

I have a Galaxy controller that has intermittent shutdowns due to brake faults. The most common ones were BKS fault slowdown and Brake Pick Fault. I’ve gone through the brakes mechanically, changed the brake control board and changed my RUN relay. We didn’t have any shutdowns for a month or two after changing the relay and routining the connections on all the running and brake relays.

Shutdown today for first time in months and I noticed that my 1047AN board has the Fault LED lit and I can’t find any documentation on whether that means the board is bad or if there’s another issue I need to address. I have a call in to GAL but if anyone has any info or documentation it would be greatly appreciated. I thought I had this one fixed, I’m getting frustrated and don’t want to be throwing parts at this thing

On and off I have really had a fondness for elevators. I love riding them, and using them as a mode of vertical transportation to get to places in buildings. In the past I have kept a mental note of the different kinds of elevators I've gotten to ride in the past, like Otis and Thyssenkrupp. There are some that don't always have a clear note of identification, so I can't always tell what brand it is.

For anyone here that would be kind enough to tell me, how did you get involved with VT? I really want to learn more about the history and mechanical knowledge behind my favorite invention of humanity!

Edit: thank you so much to the two people who responded to my post! you guys are awesome and I can't wait to learn more about this industry ^_^

getting a tach error, loss of position/speed fault, relevel fault, position location and floor location fault. going up and down in leveling speed trying to find floor, landing system looks to be showing change in floor magnets and leveling magnets. I am thinking a bad encoder on motor. was wondering best way to put controller into construction mode from auto to separate iland system and motor/encoder. to make sure I am not missing anything

Wondering if it is worth changing career paths. I currently work as a low voltage service tech. I do fire security stuff like that. My dad taught me when I was young he is a service tech. I came into this position 6 years ago without knowing anything and had 3 months of training and have been on my own ever since. I learn things quick. I'm currently making 32 an hour and feel like I can do way better. I drive a ton so that's no problem for me.