Does it make sense to buy a spare remote control, and will it work with the same receiver?
If production depends on the remote, a spare cuts downtime from days to minutes. Teach it to the same receiver and test its channels well in advance.
If production depends on the remote control it makes sense: a spare device brings the downtime down from days to minutes. For the spare to work with the same receiver it has to be taught according to the teaching procedure in the user manual. Since the number of transmitters that can be taught to one receiver is not stated in the product data, confirm this before purchase.
The two questions that settle the decision
Does production stop when the remote control fails, and how long is the lead time? Make the calculation concrete: write down the cost of one shift of downtime, write the lead time in days and multiply them. If the resulting figure exceeds the price of the spare device, the decision has already been made. A significant proportion of remote control failures happen for mechanical reasons such as being dropped, crushed or exposed to liquid; these are failures whose repair time cannot be foreseen. The concrete benefits of keeping a spare transmitter are these:
- A shift does not stop because a remote control has been dropped or has gone into water.
- The spare is brought into service in place of a Li-Po remote control that has run out of charge, and the first one goes on charge.
- During servicing you quickly work out by comparison whether the fault is in the remote control or in the receiver.
In which plant it is really needed
| Situation | Spare | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| A single crane, the line stops completely when it fails | Necessary | Production stops for the whole lead time |
| Remote or outdoor site, long delivery time | Necessary | No possibility of intervention on the spot |
| Rechargeable Li-Po remote control, uninterrupted shift | Necessary | A second device stays in service while the first charges |
| A spare machine exists, the work can be transferred | Mostly unnecessary | The cost of downtime is low |
| Inside a workshop, battery-powered remote control, quick supply | Assess it | Some of the failures are cleared by changing the cells |
Preparing and storing the spare in advance
The condition for bringing the spare into service is that the device has been taught to the same receiver. Do this in advance, not at the moment of failure, and test all the channels; hunting for the manual at the critical moment costs time. Whether a second transmitter can be taught to a receiver depends on the set, so learn this constraint at the outset.
- Keep the spare remote control in a locked, dry cabinet; write on it which machine it belongs to.
- Do not leave devices with Li-Po batteries fully charged or fully flat for long periods; the general recommendation is to store them at roughly 40-60 per cent charge and to refresh them at set intervals. The habits that extend battery life are of more use on the spare than on the primary device.
- On battery-powered models, if they will not be used for a long time take the cells out, which removes the risk of leakage.
- If you are planning a long shelf life, settle the storage conditions at the outset; a hot and damp store wears the device out without it being used.
What a spare does not solve
- If the fault is on the receiver side, a spare remote control changes nothing. Before changing it, check the receiver supply and the relay outputs.
- On range problems caused by antenna placement, cable or interference, both devices behave the same way.
- On critical lines the real bottleneck is usually the receiver. When you keep a spare remote control you need to plan a spare board or a complete set for the receiver as well; on a receiver failure a spare remote control does not get the line back up.
- If an intermittent response continues on the spare too, the problem is not in the remote control; look at the radio environment and at the panel side.
- A spare remote control does not increase the channel count of the receiver. If the movement requirement has grown, the solution is not a second remote control but a set with more channels.
Keep your decision simple: if the cost of one shift of downtime exceeds the price of the spare device, buy the spare. If you have bought one, teach it today, test its channels and put it in the cabinet with its label. Once a year swap the spare with the main device and use it on site for a few days; that way the battery is refreshed and you find out that the spare really works before the day it is needed.
The full topic: Wireless Crane Remote Control Selection Guide