I get involved with a lot of orphan machines here. These are machines that someone sells and then either disappears, or is sooo incompetent that they are basically useless. That's the case with a 6 year old Wesumat. There is no manual with this, and I am trying to find out if you can turn on individual functions to test/fine tune them. Can you just activate the triple foam or RO? There is a blue box in the panel labled "DPS" with three buttons labled "P", "+", amd "-". Didn't want to just start pushing buttons. When I got there. I thought, I'll just call Mark 7 and ask tech support. Six hours later, no return call. The attendent said he has been calling for three weeks with no call back. On one call, he even said he was interested in buying four machines. Still no call. Any help greatly appreciated. I'll also post a couple of pictures of this machine's cable tray. All of the electrical cables look like they were drawn through the curly ice cream cone machine at Dairy Queen. Some are so twisted the outer sheathing is split. Is this normal?
Need help with a Wesumat and Mark 7
- Thread starter mac
- Start date
MikeV
Member
Mac, the electric cables "corkscrewing" in the carrier tray happens a lot and will cause problems. The first thing I would do is replace all those twisted cables then see how things work. I have no experience with the Wasumat, but I do have experience with the electric cables corkscrewing and I do know that wires in them will break, short out etc.
Mac, I picked up an orphan Wesumat owner about 3 years ago. I never touched the blue box until a few weeks ago. We were having problems with the amount of pressure the top brush was applying. It was not lifting up properly at the tailgate of pickups and actually denting them in. In the past, the owner has had to buy parts from a distributor he found in the twin cities, so he called them after I got stumped. My understanding is that the blue box controls the pressure settings for the top brush. They had us change some of these settings, and it did not fix the problem. Turned out to be a bad controller box (I think it was a TPAC or something like that).
To test certain functions, I have always had to use the manual trip levers on the contactors. You can move it around, bring brushes in/out, etc.
To test nozzles and chemical feed, you can trip the individual air solenoid for each product pump. There is a little button or screw on each solenoid.
I've seen a lot of issues with cables and hoses in those cable carrier (IGUS track) assemblies. If electrical cables are not properly unrolled before they are installed in an IGUS track, they tend to curl up. If the cable came from the center of a large spool, they tend to curl up. They make cables that are deisgned for IGUS cable tracks that usually hold up better. IMO many car wash mfg's are going to regret their decision to use these hose carriers. Hydrospray used to use them, but got tired of the constant hose wear-out and cable isuues. In the last year or two, I've noticed DS and Washworld started using them also. I don't agree with the arguement that it is ok to have to replace high pressure hoses every 6-12 months.
To test certain functions, I have always had to use the manual trip levers on the contactors. You can move it around, bring brushes in/out, etc.
To test nozzles and chemical feed, you can trip the individual air solenoid for each product pump. There is a little button or screw on each solenoid.
I've seen a lot of issues with cables and hoses in those cable carrier (IGUS track) assemblies. If electrical cables are not properly unrolled before they are installed in an IGUS track, they tend to curl up. If the cable came from the center of a large spool, they tend to curl up. They make cables that are deisgned for IGUS cable tracks that usually hold up better. IMO many car wash mfg's are going to regret their decision to use these hose carriers. Hydrospray used to use them, but got tired of the constant hose wear-out and cable isuues. In the last year or two, I've noticed DS and Washworld started using them also. I don't agree with the arguement that it is ok to have to replace high pressure hoses every 6-12 months.
Thank you both for the information. It is always amusing to see the different approaches manufactureers take when deciding how to build something, I really like the look of that cable tray compared to just letting them swing in the wind, but the wear issue really makes it suck.
I have a Wesumat that is about the same age. You can activate individual functions through the wall control box. I can get you the instructions to do that and the list of functions that can be activated. I actually wrote a cheat sheet because the manual from Mark 7/Wesumat was not very good.
I hate working on this machine.
The Blue Box labeled DPS is simply a data logger. It keeps a record of errors. I believe this is an optional item so not all machines will have it. In our machine it lays loose in the bottom of the cabinet. I think the controller for the top brush is also blue but it is mounted in the cabinet, near the middle.
The corkscrewing cables is also a problem that we had. The main power cable started to twist about a month after installation. The distributor said "Don't worry about it" Four years later the twisting had continued to the point that the outer casing had cracked and the insulation over the inner wires broke open leaving exposed high voltage wires in the bay. I called the distributor and he quoted over $1000 plus installation. When I complained they came up with a $300 replacement.
David
I hate working on this machine.
The Blue Box labeled DPS is simply a data logger. It keeps a record of errors. I believe this is an optional item so not all machines will have it. In our machine it lays loose in the bottom of the cabinet. I think the controller for the top brush is also blue but it is mounted in the cabinet, near the middle.
The corkscrewing cables is also a problem that we had. The main power cable started to twist about a month after installation. The distributor said "Don't worry about it" Four years later the twisting had continued to the point that the outer casing had cracked and the insulation over the inner wires broke open leaving exposed high voltage wires in the bay. I called the distributor and he quoted over $1000 plus installation. When I complained they came up with a $300 replacement.
David
MikeV
Member
I have been working on and own a car wash with the Igus track system. Most are many years old, some new and have not had problems with hose and/or cable wear. Sure, hoses wear out from rubbing but not all that bad. A lot of the IBA's that I service as well as my own have the original poly tubing and some of the hoses (hydraulic) that have been there for years. My own wash (Furtra Millennium) has all the original tubing and electrical cables that have been there since '04 and over 150k washes on it.
MikeV, my guess is that the Wesumat units must be using a different type of cable that the ones you work on. It's just too coincadental that the Wesumat ones have this in common. While the machines do a nice job washing, they were not designed with maintenance in mind. But then you can say that about a lot of machines out there. We spent a full day just opening and cleaning the different water and air solenoids. DavidM, if you could get me that cheat sheet, it would be a blessing. Maybe posting it here so the others could use it too. Funny thing also. After posting this here about the factory not returning phone calls repeatedly for three weeks, they called the operator the next day. Just a coincidence I'm sure.
DavidM,
I just paid $2500 for the 4 cables that run in the tray and feed my Wesumat, that is parts only no labor. Mine had corkscrewed but they did last 7 years. I am curious about that $300 fix from your distributor.
Doug P.
I just paid $2500 for the 4 cables that run in the tray and feed my Wesumat, that is parts only no labor. Mine had corkscrewed but they did last 7 years. I am curious about that $300 fix from your distributor.
Doug P.
DougP, just for reference, you can buy an 18 conductor cable for around 2.50 to 3.00 per foot, and that's for what is called robotics electrical cable. Regular cable is even cheaper. I use a company called Anixter out of Orlando.
Mac, I will get that information to you later today. I was at that wash this morning and forgot to grab the papers. I am going back later so I will get it then.
Doug, The cable that went bad was the main power cable, I believe it only had 3 or 4 conductors. Our distributor got the specs on the cable from Mark 7 then purchased the cable from another source that was much cheaper.
David
Doug, The cable that went bad was the main power cable, I believe it only had 3 or 4 conductors. Our distributor got the specs on the cable from Mark 7 then purchased the cable from another source that was much cheaper.
David
