I finally got that sticky governor switch to stop tripping on a 30 year old Otis

Had this car in a 15 story building in Austin that kept dropping into inspection mode randomly, drove me nuts for 3 days. I tried cleaning the contacts, replacing the switch, even swapped the governor cable thinking it was binding up. Turns out the old rubber grommet holding the switch bracket had softened over time and was letting it vibrate just enough to trip - anyone else run into that with older Otis setups?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_john5h ago

Drove me absolutely nuts on a similar job last year! I had a 25 year old Otis in a mid-rise in Dallas doing the exact same thing. I chased my tail for two solid days, replaced the whole governor switch assembly, cleaned every contact, even checked for magnetic interference from the elevator shaft lights. Finally found the issue was the rubber grommet too, but it was dry rotted and had basically turned into dust letting the bracket wobble a quarter inch each trip. That little bit of movement was just enough to make the switch bounce when the car passed certain floors. Its amazing how such a tiny piece of rubber can cause hours of troubleshooting. I ended up using a thick piece of rubber washer from the hardware store to shim it tight and it hasnt tripped since.

beth_butler752h ago

Wait, you replaced the whole governor switch assembly and it was still a dry rotted rubber grommet the whole time? That's absolutely brutal, I would have lost my mind on the second day lol. I've been there with the "replace everything in sight" approach too though, sometimes you just gotta throw parts at it until something sticks.