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Ryko skipping back

J

Jimmy Buffett

Active member
Occaisionally, but not always my Softgloss will just not wash the back of a car. It's usually a small to midsize car that it skips. I have the program where 1 arm comes in then the other one on trucks and suvs and I never have a problem with them. Any idea why it would occaisionally skip the back of a car?
 
The ultrasonic that sits above the vehicle on the softgloss maybe going out or need readjusted, it's what determines what a vehicle's shape is. I have mine setup to where it thinks it's always washing a van or SUV to get that rear arm oscillation.
 
No I don't. It's about time for a pm though. I'll have him do it when he comes. Thanks. I think the ultrasonic should be fine. It's relatively new.
 
Also have him check to see why it hits the rear end stop so hard, I have watched your wash and it shouldn't do that.
 
It would be an endstop prox or arm prox, not the Ultrasonic. You could also be loosing a bayplate signal. If its hitting the end stop hard, then all the drive speeds need to be adjusted.
 
I do occaisionally get a random "17" prox switch code. I never really connected it to this condition. Does the fact that it only does it on cars and never on trucks or suvs make sense if it is a prox? Any way to tell which one?
Thanks
 
For the hard hitting at the rear then yeah it would be a prox, but for the arms not to recognize a car from a truck would be a ultrasonic issue.

 
The ultrasonics determine whether its a "tall vehicle" and if it should do a rear arm oscillation but it should not keep the arms from completely missing the back of the vehicle.
 
Depending on if your Softgloss has clutches, or not, the ultrasonics are used to profile the vehicle as either a sedan, tall vehicle or pickup. This is used relative to the clutch logic (on/off), top brush interrupt and rear arm oscillation methods. It's not used at all to prevent overtravel at the rear.
As the machine travels toward the rear, it is looking for two blocks, and unblocks, of the wheel scrub photoeye (the one in the middle of the frame on both sides). It should detect the front tire, then the program ignores where the guide rail should be, then it should detect the rear tire. If it sees the two blocks, then as it detects that second tire, it will continue travelling reverse for a brief time, but it should slow down to the trunk wash speed. If it doesn't decelerate arount that area, you have a photoeye issue.
If the machine is decelerating in the trunk area, it starts looking for the rear arm proxes to transition on, then off. When a rear arm is in to the center (closed), the prox input will turn off. This indicates to the PLC that we have found the rear of the car, and it will go into it's dwell cycle, followed by the rear arm oscillation if it is setup for this (a sedan will only oscillate one arm if it is setup for this).
If a rear arm prox is not detected on, then off, it will continue to travel to the rear endstops.
If you are only seeing this on a small vehicle, I suspect you have a photoeye issue that could be causing this. If the rear wheels are real close to the guide rail, it's possible it's not seeing an unblocked condition between the wheel and guide rail. You would know this if the machine isn't decelerating around the trunk.
 
A remote possibility could also be related to wheel wear. We expect the guide rails at a certain point of travel, so, if the wheels are worn, the machine won't travel as far for a specified time, so when the guide rails are seen by the photoeyes, the machine thinks they are in the wrong position.
 
Thanks. That is helpful. You are talking about the Banner photoeyes, right? I replaced the wheels last year so I'm satisfied that is not the issue. Those photoeye brackets have been abused by some very poor drivers over the years.
 
Yes, it would most likely be the banner photoeyes that are in the center of the machine. Not the ones on the exit side of the machine. Those brackets get abused a lot... Good luck!
 
Usually, it is the receiver. Assuming your machine has the FX2N PLC installed, if you look at the PLC, look for input X20. This is the photoeye input. If you have a vehicle in the bay, move the machine from the exit toward the entrance. Make sure the input goes off at the front tire, guide rail and rear tire. If it does, the photoeyes are functioning properly. If you lose the input in another area, something else is blocking it, or the photoeye (emitter or receiver) may be bad. If the unit appears to be working properly, you will probably need a tech to come out and monitor data registers using an HPP.
 
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