Blew $150 on a fancy vibration sensor that was useless in my old elevator bank

I was working on a 1970s Otis setup in a building downtown and wanted to get fancy with predictive maintenance. So I bought this wireless vibration sensor kit from some online startup for $150. Took me half a day to mount it on the motor, pair it with the app, and run the calibration. Right away it showed high vibration readings on every single trip. Turns out the old building has a loose floor plate above the machine room that shakes whenever the car passes the 3rd floor. The sensor was just picking up the floor vibrating, not the motor. I wasted 4 hours and $150 on something a $10 stethoscope could have told me in 2 minutes. Has anyone else had a high tech tool totally fail because of some random building condition?

3 comments

3 Comments

lilychen1mo agoTop Commenter

$150 to learn your elevator has a haunted floor plate, that's a bargain for the story alone. Next time just duct tape a smartphone to the motor and record the vibration with a level app, costs you nothing. At least you didn't mount it on the loose plate itself like I did with a humidity sensor once, thought the motor was sweating. Now you know the real problem is the building's cheap construction, not the machine. Welcome to the club of people who paid startup prices for basic building knowledge.

nathan_barnes1mo ago

Oh man, that brings back memories of when I tried to use a thermal camera to find a draft in my house. Paid $200 for one of those phone add-on ones. Pointed it at every window and door, got weird readings everywhere. Turns out my neighbor's dryer vent was blowing hot air right under my siding. The camera was perfectly fine, I was just chasing the wrong problem. Your elevator sensor story is basically the same thing, just with more expensive hardware and a scarier location. Sometimes the cheap tools or just your ears tell you more than the fancy gadgets ever will.

grantl941mo ago

Wait, did you actually end up talking to your neighbor about the dryer vent or just let it be? I had a similar thing with my parents' old house where we spent a whole weekend sealing up windows and doors only to find out the attic hatch wasn't even insulated properly. Felt like such a waste of caulk and weatherstripping. But hey, at least we got to use that cool infrared camera to look at the cat sleeping on the couch later. Made the whole thing worth it honestly.