Vector Passenger Side Break Away Error

[baybe]

I keep having an intermittent problem with my Vector IBA showing passenger side breakaway fault. The problem began about 3 weeks ago and was happening about once in every 25 cars. The first time it happened, the arm actually hit the passenger mirror and faulted. Several other times it faults without actually hitting anything. It always seems to fault at the end of HP wash and beginning of drying agent. I have worked with our distributor and Belanger Tech Team for weeks to try to correct the problem. Everything has been unsucessful. Yesterday I washed about 30 cars with no problems and then the passenger side arm hit a customers mirror and faulted. I washed approximately 10 more cars then the fault became persistent without ceasing. When I review the alarm list I get "PS Breakaway" and "Check Butterfly Prox" at the same time.
At this point in time I have bypassed the fault system to be able to keep washing cars through the holiday weekend. (I don't recommend)
Never fails...expect to have problems the night before a major money making holiday weekend

Maybe someone out there has had the same problem. Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated.

 

[sticky]

possible solution

hi there. you might try reducing the sensitivity of the "wiskers" that detect the break-away (those flexible posts that stick down through the manifold arm). if these are set to sensitive, they'll recognize a fault with the slightest bend, such as when HP flexes the mainfold, or the occasional mirror strike.

another thing you should look at is the cilibration of your p/s sonar. if it's mis-calibrated, the sonar will allow the shuttle the get too close to the passenger side, thus imparting more back-pressure flex on the manifold and/or more mirror impacts, with the same fault result.

hope this helps. cheers, ted

 

[MEP001]

Is the passenger side arm actually hitting cars and giving the fault, or is it just faulting for no obvious reason?

 

[John Spokas]

Like the previous answer I agree that you need to be sure break away faults are from actual contact with a vehicle or are they happening intermittently throughout the wash cycle.

If the faults are unexplained by contact then yes, check the adjustment of the whisker switch although that can be difficult if it hasn't been lubricated recently. The most likely reason for this failure is the connections at the whisker switch followed by the connection at the connector block inside the carriage.

Remove these connectors, spray with contact cleaner, and make sure to apply dielectric grease to the connectors when reassembling. If any of these connectors are severely corroded you probably will not be able to get them apart, this most often happens with the whisker switch not so often at the connector distribution block. If this is the case you should be able to get the replacement parts within two days from Belanger. To operate in the meantime, you can safely jump out the input for each breakaway.

If you are having vehicle contact breakaways then the carriage tire pressure and drive components must be checked out. I have recently had a drive bearing spline completely strip out! Also look at the connectors for the side sonars. If your low pressure passes are not centered this can cause the arms to contact mirrors.

 

[baybe]

Thanks! I will give that a try.

 

[baybe]

Both. It is very inconsistent. The arms sometime seem to creep into the mirror and at other times it just faults with no contact to the vehicle.

 

[baybe]

I actually have switched the whisker switches between the PS and DS and still continue to get the same fault on the PS arm (PS Breakaway) and also (check Butterfly Prox). Sometimes the arm actually hits and at other times it makes no contact. I have checked the connectors in the distribution block making sure there was no moisture, filled with die grease and secured tightly. I have noticed there is a large amount of rust flaking on the top of the butterfly prox sensor. My next approach is to clean off the flaking using air pressure and also check out all the other suggestions. I have bypassed the fault on that bay and it worked fine over the weekend. What is so strange is that just yesterday the other bay started doing the same thing, same fault without making any contact. I'm clueless. I'll let everyone know if any of this works. Thanks!