Alternative to Telco Eyes

[Buzzie8]

I constantly am replacing various Telco eyes on my Jim Coleman Water Wizard. I brought the failures to the attention of Telco and they were very gracious in their response to my letter but the failures continue. These eyes are very expensive usually $100+ depending on what eye. Are there any other manufacturers eyes that would work to replace these? My failures usually occur at three to five years. Maybe this normal wear and tear but it creates huge problems with the wash and I sure don't enjoy replacing them all the time. I have 14 sets of eyes on my two washes (total of 28 eyes). I need to transition to something more reliable.
Thanks
Buzzie

 

[Whale of a Wash]

Can you just buy the side that goes out that would save some money. I think it is usually the receiver side that goes out first.

 

[MEP001]

I usedta could get the Omron equivalent for around $70 each from mouser.com. They never fail if they aren't exposed to constant spray.

 

[Buzzie8]

Can you just buy the side that goes out that would save some money. I think it is usually the receiver side that goes out first.

I usually only replace one at a time. Still expensive though. Seems like I go through 4 or 5 a year.

 

[pitzerwm]

Call Pantron in GA, they were a sponsor and as I recall had replacements for a lot of them.

 

[soapy]

My automatics use Carl Galvazzi photo eyes and it sounds like your replacement rate is similar to mine or maybe even a little less. I would not recommend a switch to this brand. Cost seems similar. One thing I found that seems to help is when I install one I put a bunch of silicone on the back of them where the wire goes into the back of the photo eye. It seems to help keep water from eventually working its way into the photo eye and making them fail.

 

[Whale of a Wash]

Soapy, I remember on my doors the guys putting silicone on the Galvazzi eyes and saying that a drip loop was absolutely essential.

 

[Buzzie8]

I always used eclectic grease on the cable fittings but never tried silicone. Most of my cables would not require drip loops because the eyes are above the cables.

 

[jimbeaux]

I use Pantron eyes with good success. They are a good company to work with.

 

[sparkey]

Banner makes photoeyes that are advertised in their carwash section of their website. They are much more sensitive than telco eyes (can read through much more water spray). I don't know about live span as I have never had to change one. I have only owned them for a year though.

 

[Greg Pack]

I'd say three to five years is probably what I get. In the scheme of things it isn't too bad.

I too use dielectric silicone grease in the connector, but never thought about a drip loop.

I have just started carrying self-fusing silicone rubber electrical tape on my truck and will start to use it on all connections. Hopefully that will help.

 

[mac]

The Coleman machines have to me an awkward method of aligning the eyes. <aybe the newer ones are different, but on the ones I work on, you bend a piece of metal to align them. Crude. Coleman sells a $700 gizmo to align them, while Magic Wand has a lasewr pointer that screws over the transmitter and receiver so you can see where the red dot is actually pointing. The price of the pointer is under $50 as I recall.

 

[Greg Pack]

Mac if you are working on first generation wizards I assume the $700 tester is an eyebox tester made by telco, along with a extension cable that allows the tech to read the tester while adjusting the eyes. You should be able to find them for much less than $200-300 and it will save you some heartache. But I do know some people that use a laser to get a close approximation.

 

[mac]

cfcw, thanks for the tip. The Telco tester measured the strength of the signal generated by the eyes "seeing" one another. I knew Magic Wand had a laser pointer that screwed on to the eye ends to align for under $50. Just wanted to make the point on how Coleman prices their parts.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Mac, your mfr. is as guilty as any. 10 years ago I bought a 511 hydrominder from them and was charged $150. A couple of months later I saw it in the K/R catalog for $55. A couple of years later they mistakenly shipped me a Sensortron intended for another person. Included in the box was an invoice for $175.

 

[mac]

IB, you are correct. All vendors have a mark up or else they would not be able to stay in business. Some are more egregious than others however. You bring up a good point however. I sometimes get comments that I overcharged a customer on a part because he saw it in a catalogue for half that. But, I had to buy that part maybe 6 months ago and carry it on a van so that when I found the bad one, I could fix it right then. In this case I thought that given the difference of $700 vs $50 was signifigent.

 

[Buzzie8]

As a follow up to this previous post, I found out that my problem was in the Telco amplifier in my door operators and not the eyes. I had to replace three of these in my doors this year. Maybe 7 years is their life span.

Also, one quick note. I was contacted by Donny, the national sales manager of Telco today. He was made aware of my post here on ACF. I have talked to him in Las Vegas and via some other communication methods in the past expressing my concerns. I am impressed when a manufacturer takes time to discuss concerns with their customers. I always felt that every business experiences problems of some sort and you can tell a lot about the character of a company by handle their problems. Donny tracking me down over this post meant a lot to me. I wish all manufacturers showed the same concern.

Lastly, I was able to find the Telco amplifier at Dultmiers for about $50 less than everybody else.

 

[ted mcmeekin]

I agree. When we had Telco eye go out I called Tech support in Charlotte. That's where I learned to use digital camera to determine which eye failed. They also told me to send in eye as they have 3 yr warranty. Our experience has been that telco is at least as reliable as others which came with machines. We have 6 sets and only replaced one or two eyes in 9 years.

Ted

 

[Buzzie8]

You stirred my curiosity. How do you use a digital camera to see if an eye is bad?

 

[ted mcmeekin]

Look through your digital camera at each eye--if you see red emitter that is the transmitter and it is working--so receiver is bad. If you don't see red emitter that is either a bad tranmsitter or it is receiver. So look for eye that you can see red and replace receiver or if you can't see red on either eye it is likely that transmitter is bad but could be amplifier. You can not see red in transmitter with naked eye.

Works every time for us all type eyes.



Ted