Zefer Lift ZLS-19 issues

[koalamotorsport]

Hoping someone might have a good manual, or some first hand knowledge, on this machine.

Not sure how old it is, but Zefer is long gone from the industry.

Lift locks up. Will not release drive brake or lift brake, at the same time. I've fixed some crappy electrical connections and every time I mess with it, it starts working, I think it's fixed, I go to use it and bam, it's down again.

A good wiring diagram would be so helpful, along with the controller theory/logic. Better yet, anyone have a Zefer Programmer diagnostic box that I can beg, borrow, rent or steal?

I'm either losing an input to the controller or the controller itself is bad. The only thing I can think of that would shut down the entire machine is the angle/tilt sensor, but according to it's LEDs, it's working correctly. I would love to be able to confirm that with a wiring diagram. Reading through the owners manual, of which I have about 70%, it appears most other sensors/switches will cause the machine to not drive, OR not raise, but not both.

Anyone got any thoughts? I'm stuck. Thanks -Brett

 

[koalamotorsport]

OK, some research tells me I need access to a Navitas Probit PB200 Handset. This is the programmer/diagnostic computer for the SRE Controls ZE-175 controller in this machine.

Anyone?

 

[John C.]

It might be better if you describe what the machine does. I've never heard of the brand before so can only infer from the category that it has something to do with demolition.

 

[koalamotorsport]

It might be better if you describe what the machine does. I've never heard of the brand before so can only infer from the category that it has something to do with demolition.

Zefer Lift was a short lived scissor lift company out of PA. Started in the early 90s I think. The machines are electro mechanical. No hydraulics. They use a controller that is also used on electric fork lifts, produced by SRE Controls. SRE used to be out of Canada but now appears to be Chinese owned and their entire website is in Chinese, so not much help there.

As to the issue, the lift is locked up. It will not move up or down, nor drive. You can hear the various changeover relays activating and the motors try to activate, but it appears as though the motor brakes are not releasing. I've been messing with it for 2 days and am at a loss. I do not have the information I need in order to find the issue. A set of wiring diagrams at minimum, is needed. I've managed to find the logic processes online, but everything I find is forklift specific, so without wiring diagrams, or the ability to interrogate the controller, I can't properly relate those processes to this piece of equipment. There are multiple changeover contactors that reverse the motor directions along with a DIN relay set that I have no wiring information for. There are 3 motors, drive, lift and steer, and steer is the only one that is working normally.

Thanks. -Brett

 

[John C.]

I worked on a Sky Witch years ago that was orphaned like your machine. It was a platform scissor lift that went up 60 feet. The wiring harness disintegrated at the connector at the platform control panel. No schematics, operation manual, service manual or parts manual. I had to figure out where all the wires went in the cable and connected in the panel. I tried lots of different things, Identify the color codes of the wires in the relay box and label them where it connected to the control box on the platform. Checked that against the circuit board and then make a guess where they hooked up. There were 23 wires in that harness. It took about 15 hours of trial and error to work through all the placements. In the end the biggest problem was that the machine ran the control board off one twelve volt battery that never got charged on a regular basis. All the rest of the stuff ran off a battery stack with lots of voltage.
In your case if it were me, I'd talk to an electrical guy that is good with control circuits and try to work out something without the processor. I had to do that with a tire shredder a couple of years ago.

 

[southernman13]

Haven’t heard that name in a long while. I’m no help to you sorry it brings back memories. I was in the lawn business and almost ordered 50 of the zephyrs. I rented to the convention industry and this was the lift for me. My lifts were inside new hotel ballrooms and such. Anyway I backed out. Whew. The steering mechanism was the weak link. It was always stripping out. Or something like that. Good luck