The shop portion of my office recently had some welding equipment and a gantry crane installed. The company installing the crane said they had an optional setup for a strobe light to flash when the crane is in motion, but that it would cost $2,500. I did a little searching here, and realize that I could (hopefully) get it done for far less than that (the crane already has built-in relays on it's circuitry that come on depending on status). I'm fairly competent when it comes to figuring out how to hook everything up/ where to run wires, etc., but I don't know anything about wireless itself. All I need is a single channel wireless tx/rx that I can hook up to some relays to control the strobe lights. Max distance will be about 100'. Also, would it be possible to have some sort of delay built in, to keep the strobe on for XX time after it stops moving???

Thanks in advance.

 

with welding equipment nearby it make wireless a bit harder to be reliable, where is the crane control relays, in the crane or floor/wall control box?

 

A Google search for "wireless control" turned up this http://productsearch.machinedesign.c...System/32549/1 from Remote Control Technology. It looks like it might do what you need, except perhaps, for the delay.

 

Isn't $2500 a drop in the bucket for a construction company? After all its a safety device and is probably rugged and reliable vs something cobbled together in a basement.

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Hmm, how much did the crane cost?

 

Please excuse me if I am not very articulate. I will try to explain best I can.

The control panel is mounted on the side of the bridge itself, and is powered by a set of 3 rails (3ph 480v), in the same fashion by which an electric trane is powered. The package that the crane company offers, includes 2 new power rails to be installed (along the 140' main beams), and my boss thought that there might be a cheaper way (hence the wireless). $2,500 is just a shadow of what the crane cost (I don't know how much it was, but is a 5ton "bridge crane" that has a total of 140'x40' area of movement)

There are two doors leading into the shop area (from the office) that would have the warning lights. These doors are on the opposite side of the shop where the welding is taking place, so the signal will not pass through the welding area. Also, the welders are working under a mezzanine that has been grounded (I'm assuming for the purpose of emf isolation or whatever)

I saw this^^^ on one of my google searches, but I wasn't sure if would do what I need it to. Like I said, wireless is not my forte.

Here is a picture I found online that looks similar:

 

Jesus there are a lot of putdown artists in the world today.
It all starts from something "cobbled together in the basement"

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I'd have to disagree, at least in this case. On the one hand, you have a professional-grade, professionally-built, hardwired, presumably well-tested and underwritten system designed to any relevant codes and sold with a guarantee. On the other hand you have something running on wireless (pretty much always less reliable than hard-wired), designed (or at least spec'd) by someone who needs to ask for help in an online forum (and JoeBob, this is in no way a slight on you; I'd feel the same way if I built it), with no guarantee and no underwriters' testing. Both systems must be relied upon in a situation where lives are potentially (probably?) at stake.

Now, even if JoeBob was to get this thing custom-built, I'd suspect that if they went to the trouble to have it professionally designed, built, and tested to a level which would satisfy the insurance company, the price tag might likely come in at somewhat higher than $2500.

The system could certainly be built for less but I know which one I'd trust.


Torben

 

I would think that $2500 is a small price to pay for safety, and someone else to point the finger at if it fails... Besides, wouldn't messing around in the control panel void the warranty? Your company would pay much more in hospital bills for a simple broken bone, and that would be getting off easy if something goes wrong.

I understand that too many companies are willing to cut corners to save even a couple of hundred dollars, and no changing their minds. I'd see if there are any schematics or diagrams for the crane, it's probably pre-wired. Those safety features are likely manditory in many applications. Just a matter of finding the access point... 100' ? why even bother with wireless? A simple Xenon flasher would work well enough, maybe audio beeper so not to mistake the welding...

 

It wasn't a putdown, it was a reality check. It also wasn't something to build for the backyard or the cottage. It's a construction yard safety device, designed to warn against moving machinery and RF based to boot. There may even been regulations regarding such devices and if there was an accident there may be liability involved, I can imagine everyone pointing to the one homemade device whether it worked or not.

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Smart Kits build Smart People
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