Intermittently losing wash on Ryko Maxx with ICS Wash Valet

[fatboy]

I've had this problem for 1.5 years and can't seem to figure out a solution to fix it.
If a car is in the Ryko bay getting cleaned and the next car purchases a wash (stack), it intermittently loses the wash.
Wait for wash (stop sign) goes to "pay for wash" screen instead of go arrow (green light for entry).
The customer has to pay again (or calls me).
I've spent lots of time with both vendors and lots of coin to figure out a solution but each time strike out.
On the ICS side:
1) I've replaced CPU board (with upgrade to win7)
2) Played with cage configs (it seemed that it might be related to credit cards but that was wrong....just shows up that way since 70% of business is CC.
3) Played with all timers
4) Replaced PIO board
5) Also disconnected car sense (metal detector)

On the Ryko side:
1) swapped all types of relays
2) swapped all types of vehicle sensors
3) swapped out treadles, mercury switches and vacuum switch
4) added delay timer/relay to wash busy
5) swapped signal lines with spare wires on gantry
6) and probably some others that I can't remember....

There are no errors on the Ryko screen and this configuration used to work great until the summer of 2014. It really rears its ugly head in the winter when we are stacked hard. It does seem to be slowly getting more prevalent.? A fix would be to turn off stacking but I'm afraid my customers won't like that. They are used to coming up to pay station and paying then wait for wash to empty. (Same as competition in area!)

Help! Anyone with ideas would be greatly appreciated.....

 

[soapy]

I have had the same problem on various Ryko touchless washes for 20 years and I use Hamilton ACWs. What usually happens to mine is that the Hamilton will act as if it never gets the signal from the Ryko units that lets it know the wash is complete. What I have figured out is that if a person selects a wash about the time some one is exiting the wash the all clear signal and the Hamilton signal get sent at the same time and ends up cancelling the wash signal. What helped me the most was to set the signal that is sent from the Hamilton to the Ryko to the longest possible duration allowed. (4 seconds) Another thing you might try is switching the signal that the ryko sends to the ACW. It can be set to be on constant with a short off pulse to the ACW to let it know when it can take a wash or it can be set to be off constantly and send a short pulse to the ACW to let it know it is ready for a wash.

 

[Ryko CS]

Usually this is caused by the coinbox sending the arming request to the wash too early. The Softgloss is not ready to receive an arming request until after vehicle detect is satisfied. What this means is that the following need to happen in order.
1. Front tire leaves bayplate.
2. Front tire pulses the backup air switch.
3. Front tire transitions the wheel scrub photoeye.
4. Rear tire transitions the bayplate.
5. Rear tire pulses the backup air switch.
6. Rear tire transitions the wheel scrub photoeye.

As soon as those steps happen (in sequential order), vehicle detect is satisfied and we know that vehicle has left the bay. This prevents the system from starting the wash with the rear tires on the bayplate. If these events occur out of sequence, or don't occur at all, the system switches over to a vehicle detect timer that will also allow the machine to be available to arm, but it is usually set around 90 seconds.

One place you can look is at the machine positioning at the end of the track when the machine is at rest. It should be almost touching the endstop bumpers if you drive it at all different speeds. If it stops too early (example would be if the machine stops 6" away from the bumper stops), the photoeye can get too close to the backup airswitch and actually be tripped out of sequence). This is an example of how it can get worse over time due to wheel wear.

If you can either delay when the ICS coinbox sends the signal to the machine, or if you can extend the duration of the arming pulse as Soapy indicated above, those may be other ways to resolve the problem.

 

[jprb]

We had the same problem. We are using American Changer Paystations. (I'll try to explain as best I can recall) The Ryko sends a constant "IN SERVICE" signal to the paystation. When a vehicle exits the wash, the "IN SERVICE" signal goes off momentarily, telling the paystation that the wash is out of service. This drops the stacked wash. The machine goes back into service, and the paystation asks customer to pay again. We corrected the problem by putting a timed relay on the "IN SERVICE" signal to hold it on when it blinks off. It holds for 10 seconds. If the machine is out of service for longer than the 10 seconds, the relay releases the signal and allows the paystation to go "Out of Service". Hope this helps!
JPRB