What does the crane do if the remote control's battery goes flat?
On wireless remote control systems the expected general behaviour is that when the transmitter's broadcast is interrupted the receiver releases its relay outputs and the movement stops; this is called a passive stop. A command staying latched is not acceptable behaviour. Confirm this behaviour for your set from the user manual.
A flat battery is the most frequently experienced loss-of-communication scenario on a wireless remote control. In the general machine safety approach, loss of communication counts as a dangerous failure and the system is expected to go into a safe state by itself; that is, the moment the receiver does not get a valid command it releases its outputs, the contactors drop out, and the movement ends.
The operational meaning of this is: the load stays suspended in the air, the brake engages, and the crane remains motionless. To lower the load you either have to renew the remote control's battery/charge or use the machine's own wired pushbutton panel. On ST100 and SF100 sets, the fact that the manual pushbutton and the RF remote control can work in parallel is exactly what makes them useful in situations like this — you can carry on with the button without dismantling the installation. On other variants, confirm the possibility of parallel use from the product page and the user manual.
On the prevention side, what is practical is simple:
- The SF100/SF200 remote control runs on 3×AAA batteries; keeping spare batteries in the shift bag closes the gap within seconds.
- The ST100/ST200 remote control is Li-Po rechargeable and is charged through an AXI-Link 3-pin industrial connector; make putting it on charge at the end of the shift a routine.
- In critical operations, pairing a second remote control to the same receiver and keeping it as a spare is the most robust solution.
Always verify the exact behaviour from the product's user manual.
The full topic: Wireless Crane Remote Control Selection Guide