Hydraulic elevator – Solid State Motor Starter – Soft Start

We take care of a wide variety of elevators.  We are beginning an initiative to introduce all of our customers that do not have soft starts on them to Siemens solid state motor starters.  It is a great recommendation that isn’t very expensive but has a huge upside.

Solid State motor starter benefits

Electrical savings

Ride quality improvement – Smoother operation
Fewer maintainable items[no physical contacts]
Advanced motor protection

Less expensive and faster resolution if you have a significant building power issue
No starter noise – no “bang” when elevator starts

Motor starter evolution - The older style mechanical starters are fairly robust and last a very long time.  But they do age and will eventually cause problems.  Elevator motor starters that where installed in the late 1960’s/early 1970’s can last 50 years and most likely will continue working well with the correct replacement parts.

1960's & 1970's

This is a 1960's motor starter that is as about robust as they get - 2 motor starters doing the job that only requires 1

1980's & 1990's

On the right side of the controller you will see we have a smaller motor starter, still a good starter but getting smaller

2000's

Right side of the controller - this is a tiny starter with tiny contacts - not much wiggle room here if you have an issue

First generation of solid state starters

This is a Furnas Nordic solid state starter, great for its time but now has limited information for mechanic and all of them are reaching their life expectancy - If you have this it is time to upgrade

Alternate solid state motor starter

Sprecher Shuh has a solid state starter - The negative on this one is that if it has an issue you have to replace the whole starter - The Siemens you can just replace a board and you are up and running.  This starter gives the elevator mechanic limited information for troubleshooting

Siemens soft start solid state motor starter

The Siemens starter you have a great LCD screen that tells you anything you would like to know about the starter and the building power.  It also has a time stamped fault log.

The newer style mechanical starters are not made as well as the older style and typically do not last very long compared to their predecessors[10-15 years compared to 20-40 years].  The biggest issue is the size of the motor starter contacts they are putting on the mechanical motor starters.

Why could you have motor starter contactor issues?

Building power electrical issues

Elevator releveling causing starter to become overworked [leaky packing, valve, Victaulic, etc]

Mechanical failure

Lack of maintenance[more quarterly visits then monthly visits]

Take away – This is a great improvement you can make to any hydraulic elevator system for a reasonable price.  No more welded contacts that can lead to motor failure, no more overtime service calls for needing a specific set of motor starter contacts that may be difficult to get after hours.  Troubleshooting any motor issue or building electrical issue becomes very simple with the time stamped fault log. It is a great investment. 

Most new elevator systems have solid state motor starters on them.  There are a few brands out there, we recommend Siemens.  

 Hey! Sign up for our mailing list!  We are doing emails once a month.

 If you have any questions or would like additional information feel free to contact me at CraigZ@colleyelevator.com or 630-766-7230 ext. 107.

 Also check us out on Instagram @Colleyelevator see what we have been up to.