Appreciation post: That faulty door sensor in the old Hilton in Denver

I was out in Denver last month fixing a stuck elevator at the Hilton downtown, and I noticed the door sensor had a real quirky delay that most people would miss. It took me three tries to figure out it was a loose wire in the hall call station, not the motor. Any of you run into weird intermittent problems that turn out to be something simple like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

bennett.evan1mo ago

Start blaming the sensor itself way too often, especially on old gear where the wiring is toast. A loose connection in the station will act exactly like a failing sensor until you trace every inch of the line. That's why I always hit the call button a few times first to see if the delay changes before swapping parts.

ivanscott1mo ago

Used to blame bad wiring first, but now I check sensors every time.

the_lisa1mo ago

You know, @bennett.evan, I've actually had the opposite experience more often than not. On these old Hilton setups, the wiring is usually solid since it's been there forever, but those sensors themselves get real flaky after a decade or two. Swapped out a sensor at a Marriott in Phoenix last spring that had been acting exactly like a loose connection, tested the wiring three times with a meter before I gave up and replaced the sensor. Problem gone. Sometimes you just gotta trust the part is bad and move on.