If the wireless remote battery dies, does the lever stay suspended in the air?
When the signal is cut the motor returns to safe neutral within 250 ms and flow and movement stop; what holds the load is the hydraulic holding gear.
If the lever stays suspended in the air, what holds it is not the kit but the hydraulic circuit itself. When the remote control signal is cut the motor returns to the safe neutral position within 250 ms and the oil flow to that lever stops; the movement stops and no uncontrolled motion arises. Battery depletion is not a sudden event either, and the system reports it in stages.
The three stages of battery depletion
- Warning stage: on the HCT402, low battery is indicated by LED and audible alert. On the HCT400 a visual warning is given below 5%.
- Refusal stage: the HCT402 does not allow motion control at critical level. You are not left with half-powered, unpredictable control.
- Loss stage: if the signal disappears entirely the 250 ms timeout takes effect, the motor returns to the safe neutral position and the oil flow stops.
| Stage | Remote control | Lever and hydraulics |
|---|---|---|
| Warning | LED and audible alert | Works normally |
| Refusal | The motion command is not accepted | The lever stays where it is |
| Loss | No connection | The lever returns to the safe neutral position |
The name of this behaviour is fail-safe neutral and it is triggered by the signal loss timeout. The same mechanism works when you go out of range and on dropouts caused by interference; the battery is not a special case.
The movement stopping is not the load being made safe
This is the important distinction. The oil flow stopping means the movement stops; what holds a load suspended in the air is the hydraulic circuit's own load holding arrangement. The load holding valve must be mounted directly on the cylinder port; the mounting point is what decides this function. The kit does not intervene in the hydraulic circuit, so it neither improves nor worsens the existing load holding arrangement.
How not to let the battery run flat
Charging behaviour is predictable and is managed with a few habits:
- Check the battery level indicator at the start of the shift; charge before the warning comes, not after it.
- Capacity falls in the cold; the remote control running down faster in cold weather is an expected outcome.
- On sites that work without a break, keep the spare remote control charged.
- The storage and charging habits that extend the life of the Li-Po battery are what make the greatest difference in the long run.
The remote control not accepting commands while it is charging is a deliberate design too; it prevents the machine being driven with a remote control that is plugged into a cable.
Do not confuse a flat battery with loss of range
The outcome of the two is the same but the cause is not. As the battery weakens the transmitter power falls with it, so the dropout is often met at the edge of the range and before the battery is completely flat. If the remote control works again as you come closer to the machine and cuts out as you move away, look at the charge first; if there is no problem at the same distance when it is fully charged, the cause is the battery and not an obstacle in the surroundings. Making this distinction saves you from pointlessly changing antennas and mountings.
What to do
If the battery warning comes while a load is suspended, lower the load first and then put the remote control on charge. Add a short charge check to your shift plan; waiting until the warning means leaving the job half done. If you regularly need to hold a load in the air, look not at the kit but at the load holding arrangement of your hydraulic circuit; the real assurance is there, and it is independent of the charge state of the remote control.
The full topic: Installation, redundancy and field uptime