A roundup of the latest remote controls for cranes

A roundup of the latest transmitter and receiver products in the constantly expanding world of remote controls

HBC-radiomatic has a launched a redesign of its existing eco radio control system with an expanded range of functions as more buyers demand customised products.

"In addition to traditional applications for self erecting cranes, truck-based loading cranes, industrial cranes and many other lifting and conveying-related plants, the transmitter is now increasingly being deployed for customer-specific individual projects," says a company spokesman.

As a further innovation, the Technos radio transmitter is now available with five LEDs for feedback information and warnings. Both products can be used for controlling a range of different cranes and machinery.

The company has expanded the eco transmitter features to include a new housing made of PA6GF30 plastic, designed to provide more protection in daily industrial use. In addition, the redesigned eco comes with a vibration alarm as standard. The feature provides pre-warnings for high wind speeds or impending excess crane loads, depending on customer requirements.

Options also include shock-off, roll-detect and zero-g safety features. "This unique development enables the radio controller to be quickly turned off automatically in various emergency situations, for example, in the event that an activated transmitter is dropped by the operator," adds the company spokesman.

Also included is the new radiomatic iLOG. The electronic key is now standard in the eco and it allows rapid activation of a replacement transmitter if one gets damaged.

"One thing that has not changed is the range of available operating elements, such as two high-quality joysticks, as well as up to six single-stage pushbuttons and up to two toggle or rotary switches or buttons," confirms the company.

"The selection of radio receivers for the eco system has been fully geared to the requirements of the customer," adds the spokesman. "The most important criteria for this include the required scope of functions, the power supply for and the required interfaces, including CAN-Bus or Profibus-DP."

HBC-radiomatic is also presenting a new product version of Technos. The original includes two joysticks, up to six single-stage pushbuttons and up to two toggle or rotary switches or buttons. The manufacturer has now developed a version with an LED module as an alternative to the standard integrated screen. "The popular ergonomic transmitter design will, therefore, be of interest to users who may not necessarily require an LCD display."

It has five clearly aligned, two-colour LEDs allowing the user to display status or feedback information.

Update on the Tiger

Tiger, one of Tele Radio's newly developed systems has been updated with a number of features. All Tiger transmitters can receive feedback from a range of field bus systems: CANopen, Profibus or Modbus/TCP, weight indication system or internal feedback from the receiver itself. The feedback for transmitters with display can be shown as images.

Another feature is that all functional relays, to a maximum of 28, can be configured to the users' requirements or used with standard settings.

By adding an external module to the receiver, weight indication is also now possible. Each module has two channels and can receive analogue signals of 0 - 10V, 4 - 20 mA or 0 - 20 mA for weight indication. The receiver can receive up to 16 weight values where each value can indicate under- or overload as well as trigger overload protection. Both the modules and the receiver can be configured to be adapted to the user's weight system.

An important safety aspect is that crane identification can now be set in the receiver and be sent as feedback to the transmitter. The number of load selections has also been increased and can be configured on all Tiger transmitters. If required, there is also a possibility to forbid some combinations of load selections.

Itowa has already implemented its GFCI system to automatically manage frequency interferences. Now the Spanish manufacturer has improved features on its Combi and Setval models to incorporate more commands in the same transmitter. The result, says the company is a more economical, compact and versatile product.

"The technological improvement in the feedback system inside the Spohn box guarantee a quicker and safe bi-directional communication between the operator and the receiver," says the company. "This improvement expands the range of service sectors that can use our remote controls."

A drive to improve and to satisfy customer requests in the poor economic climate has resulted in new features to optimise existing remote controls, as well designing new ones. An example is the feedback system. It improves the bi-directional communication to ensure remote with return to the transmitter. Itowa offers a new system with advanced technology that gives the guarantee of bi-directional communication between the operator and the receiver.

In the addition, the Combi and Setval provide increased operational range with more pushbuttons. The Winner model for construction cranes and industrial cranes now has an option of adding four side controls which the gives the opportunity of up to 10 selectors.

A new industrial modem using GSM transmits alarm signals by SMS or e-mail without noise to different units with a serial port, making it suitable for industrial settings, says Itowa. It allows the remote monitoring of industrial procedures, remote maintenance of machinery and provides a register of events and alarms.

Penny + Giles, a manufacturer of position sensors, solenoids, and manual controllers has launched its new hand-operated 12-bit programmable Hall-effect technology-based JC1500 joystick. It is designed for single-axis operator control of cranes, aerial work platforms and other off-highway vehicle applications. The compact joystick comes with a range of features, enabling OEMs to quickly and efficiently build safe and reliable control systems, says the company.

"Because the JC1500 joystick is designed with cast metal components it provides superior strength and reliability. It can be supplied with a wide range of handle and grip styles to suit specific applications that may, for example, require the increased safety and functionality offered by finger-operated triggers, buttons and rockers," explains a spokesman.

To support unique, customer-specific handle shapes or design requirements, the JC1500 is also available in a 'no handle' version with a plain operating lever provided for interfacing with the joystick handle or grip.

The JC1500 uses a 12-bit programmable Hall-effect sensing system with dual outputs. The joystick lever's sensor is embedded at the pivot mechanism to ensure maximum output sensitivity over the full lever travel.