Month: January 2016

January 25, 2016

Outrigger Switches for Utility Trucks and Boom Loaders

Outrigger supports are a critical part of the safety proposition on all kinds of commercial vehicles. A short list of trucks and vehicles that employ outriggers includes:

  • Bucket Loader trucks that carry servicemen to the top of the telephone poleOutrigger limit switches for safety by CPI with an extensible boom.
  • Backhoe/Loaders that must deploy the outriggers for stability during digging operations.
  • Fire Engines deploy outriggers to stabilize the truck when ladders are deployed.
  • Cranes deploy outriggers for platform stabilization during loading operations.
  • All kinds of construction vehicles like diggers, hoe’s, and mining shovels

In all these applications, the usage proposition is similar: Put the outrigger down before you deploy the bucket/ crane/ backhoe/ ladder, or you will almost certainly tip over. To make sure of this, you need a reliable, robust, waterproof safety limit switch.

One Customer’s Story – Versalift Outrigger Switch Solution

Last year we spoke with Versalift East (http://versalifteast.com ) who is the largest east coast distributor for Versalift Utility trucks, in particular their bucket loader trucks. Versalift East provides the trucks primarily to utility company’s and acts as an integrator of the various major parts of the final vehicle.  For instance after installing the Boom / Bucket kits on the trucks, Versalift East then personalizes each truck for the specific customer with such things as paint schemes, logos, and any specialized equipment that the customer may require for their fleet.

The Boom /Bucket kits are supplied with outriggers to fit to the trucks as well as outrigger safety limit switches. The original switches used in these kits were not made by CPI and Versalift East had excessive warranty replacement issues on the non-cpi switches mainly due to weather resistance as well as physical damage to the switches during operation. This is because they were forced to mount the stock outrigger limit switches in a vulnerable area that is exposed to the elements because of their fairly large size. Additionally, the stock outrigger switches were overly labor intensive for Versalift East to install. They also were not robust in typical utility truck usage scenarios

CPI’s Solution to the Outrigger Switch Challenge

Versalift East approached CPI to see what alternatives we could offer them. Versalift East settled on CPI’s E1127 for some applications and E1092 for others. The CPI switches have a number of characteristics that made them perfect for this application.

  1. CPI switches were small enough to be mounted inside the outrigger tube there by protecting them from outside damage.
  2. CPI switches are truly waterproof thereby protecting the switch from a harsh and potentially wet outdoor environment.
  3. CPI switches are pre-wired and available with a waterproof connector thereby greatly reducing assembly time and failure modes and further increasing durability.

Can CPI solve Your Outrigger switch problem?

In addition to these qualities, CPI limit switches present one of the most robust switch designs in the world, surviving repeated operation in harsh conditions and over a very wide temperature range, with models available that  are guaranteed to operate down to -40F without freezing up.

Flexible stock mounting brackets and compact size complete the value proposition.

Can we solve your outrigger switch problem?

We’re pretty darn sure we can.  Call us today, lets talk. For more information, visit www.cpi-nj.com.

 

This content was originally posted at https://www.cpi-nj.com/blog/outrigger-switches-for-utility-trucks-and-boom-loaders/

January 9, 2016

Commercial Turf Equipment Runs With CPI Switches.

Hate mowing your large lawn? Have no time to get out there regularly to keep the grass from going to seed?  Then do what millions of Americans do and throw a little money at the problem by hiring a landscaping company to do it. Instead of walking your home mower around your yard in between running the kids to soccer practice and getting the car serviced and going going slowly deaf in the process, pay a landscaper to come take care of it with one of his huge, super efficient ride-on mowers.

These aren’t your average pieces of turf equipment found in home depot mind you. These commercial mowers pack a host of careful engineering and design considerations as well as needing to be functional in the tough, wet, and abusive outdoor environment that your lawn inhabits.

A perfect environment for a CPI waterproof switch actually…

CPI Waterproof Limit Switches for Outdoor Commercial Mowers.

When Walker Mower came to us they were frustrated. In their original design they had specified cheap sealed limit switches for three separate functions inside their mower design. Problem is that the switches weren’t really uh…”sealed” and during standard outdoor usage and during “washdown” operations the switches had an annoying tendency to fail.

Walker had four critical applications for a reliable waterproof limit switch in the commercial mower line that needed immediate replacement and improvement.

  1. Operator Presence Detection. Its pretty important that your high power commercial mower doesn’t start running around the yard on its own. Our E1283-01 limit switch has seen thousands of deployments as a “dead mans switch”, insuring that drive operation is defeated when no operator is present.
  2. Neutral Safety Switch. In this design our E1092 senses the mower is in the neutral position, performing a safety shutoff/disable function.
  3. Power Take Off (PTO switch) – In this system, a hand operated lever triggers Waterproof-Limit-Switch-CPI E1 Seriesour switch which then allows the mower blades to be engaged. Our E112 switch has been used in this application many times because of its reliable operation over a long period of heavy usage.
  4. Grass Pack Switch. Located in the grass hopper behind the driver, our B5151 switch is attached to a flexible arm that detects when the hopper is full by sounding an alarm.

Cool right?

CPI Waterproof Limit Switches and Commercial Turf Equipment were made for Each Other.

In addition to the proven robustness of our truly waterproof switch designs another appealing factor to Walker Mower was the adjustability of our switches. Because of our 70 year history in switch manufacturing, there isn’t anything we don’t know about the tradeoffs of making exactly the switch you want. Things like pre-travel, over-travel, actuation depth, and electrical parameters can all be specified.  Our flexible mounting configurations means that it is probably you will not have to custom design a mounting. But if you do, we can do that.

In the world of commercial turf equipment and commercial mower design, there is no better partner than CPI for switches that work right the first time and keep on working.

Call us today to discuss your application or visit www.cpi-nj.com.

 

This content was orginally posted at https://www.cpi-nj.com/blog/commercial-turf-equipment-runs-with-cpi-switches/