With the 2024 work truck show in full swing, the broad category of “Work Trucks” or “vocational trucks” is very much on our minds.

These trucks include vehicles from ambulances to class 8 heavy trucks weighing over 33,000 pounds . Unlike cars and your consumer oriented pickup truck, these vehicles really work for a living, and are built for a complex purpose beyond getting you from here to there.

As a manufacturer of some of the worlds most durable and reliable waterproof safety switches and hi-temp thermal switches, CPI brings both deep and broad experience to the problems of safety and component survival on systems for all kinds of work trucks. The CPI switches and sensors designed into these trucks of every type represent a small, but critically important component of overall safety system operation.

No matter what safety system your work truck design requires, reliability, durability, and long life will be maximized with a CPI hardened limit switch solution. Made in the USA you will also find a reliable supplier who is not subject to disruptive manufacturing and export policies of foreign governments.

Work Truck Applications for CPI Switches

It seems like every day a new manufacturer reaches out to us for an interesting application of one of our hardened switches.  Both our Thermal and our waterproof switch products have been used in work trucks and military vehicles for decades owing to their relatively small form factor, mounting versatility, and of course their operational toughness.

Here’s just a few examples of problems we solve on work trucks around the world.

Dump Trucks – Using our E1 switches to detect when the dump body is raised prevents inadvertent take off when the body is raised. (Don’t laugh, it has happened. See Here!)

Emergency Vehicles – Often use our E1 limit switches for Outrigger Deployment detection to insure the stabilizer is locked into place.

Heated Dump Box – Our M1 Thermal switches have been used on Salt trucks provided to the DPW to prevent freezing or melting during dispense by keeping the salt box at the optimal temperature through exhaust redirection.

Bucket Trucks – Bucket truck manufacturers have used a wide variety of our E1 limit switches as part of safety systems controlling the boom hydraulics and buckets. Our control panels have been used to provide operator control through our panel mounted waterproof pendant switches.

Door Interlock Switches – Anywhere that a door open or closed needs to be detected in a robust or outdoor setting, is a perfect home for our B-Series waterproof switch mounted inside one of our simulated roller actuator brackets. We’ve been used for hood down, door closed, hatch closed, or arm locked, kinds of applications on dozens of different commercial and military vehicles.

Agricultural Sprayers – Use our J4 ball switch to sense that sprayer arms are locked owing to its ability to withstand highly corrosive spray fertilizers.

Sanitation Trucks – Use our waterproof limit switches pre-mounted into a stainless steel control panel to control compressor and lift gate operations on the vehicle.

Cranes – Cranes of all types and sizes have made use of our E1 waterproof limit switches in anti-two-block safety systems owing to their robustness and small form factor.  They also use our J4 ball switch in hydraulic valve position detection applications using our specialized valve mounting brackets.

Forklifts and Construction Vehicles – Our operator controlled, Waterproof Pendant Switches are the perfect solutions to things like backup alarms and siren control. Or put this in any of dozens of mounting brackets we can provide and let the machine activate it. Our K1005 using our E1057 mounting bracket is a great example of this.

Military Vehicles – In applications like Door Alarms, and Neutral Safety detection, our J4 ball switch has been designed into tough vehicles for its durability, reliability, and small form factor.

Work Trucks Need to prioritize reliability in switching solutions.

On Work Trucks costing upwards of $100,000, its seems silly to take a chance on safety system sensors, with cheap, offshore produced switches.  All CPI switches are designed and made in the USA right here in our East Hanover NJ Factory. Despite this, our switches often cost less in quantity than comparable switches by Honeywell, Eaton, and Otto.

We love solving problems of safety and sensing with our switches. Please give us a call today.

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This blog was originally published at: https://www.cpi-nj.com/work-truck-safety-switch-applications/

 The Work Truck Association™ has released the full Work Truck Week® 2024 schedule for North America’s largest yearly work truck event. It runs March 5–8, 2024, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.

Over 500 companies will be there sporting the latest trucks, equipment and trends. In breakout sessions attendees can learn new ideas and solutions that can impact their operations, and connect with the people and companies they need to thrive.

CPI will be talking to companies there, both old friends and new ones, who are pushing the envelope on systems and functionality in these typically tough outdoor commercial vehicles. You know us, somebody says “tough” and “outdoor” and we’re there!

We’re particularly excited about the breakout sessions discussing the move to electric vehicles and subsystems. The exclusive commercial vehicle Chassis Update Sessions return with 12 commercial vehicle OEMs and three EV manufacturers sharing vehicle changes and upfitting solutions. Some of these may even include eAxel solutions that use CPI Switches!

CPI is Working Hard On Work Trucks

CPI is no stranger to the work truck industry and our presence at the show will serve as a reminder that there is really only one place to go for tough, made in the USA, waterproof switches and thermal switches for work truck systems. We’ve showcased this a lot over there years, here are just a few of the hundreds of unique applications CPI components find homes in, on work trucks.

• Outrigger lock/unlock sensing 
• Dump Body Down Sensing
• Door Closed/Open Switches
• Subsystem Power On/Off
• Panel mounted compactor/crane activation
• Liftgate control.
• Heated Dump Bed Thermal Sensing
• Cab Closed Interlock switch
• Operator Presence Detection
• Seat Position Sensing
• Lift Up/Down Control
• Overtemperature Monitoring
• Alarm Switch

If you’d like us to stop by your booth during the show to talk engineering, please send a contact request or call John Crozier directly at (973) 887-9400 x240 

Thanks!This blog was originally published at https://www.cpi-nj.com/work-truck-show-2024/

Harsh duty thermal switches like CPI’s have seen an evolution for over 70 years. Their tough operating capability and high degree of accuracy and dependability have made them ideal for military and tough commercial applications in aviation, construction, mining and refinery operations and naval vessels for decades.

But what many folks don’t fully realize is that they are problem solvers for a wide variety of more common commercial applications. A recent application comes to us from the developers of after-market additions to specialized work trucks.  This application highlights both the flexibility and reliability of our switch for thermal detection in a tough environment.

Thermal Management in Heated Dump Box Applications

At Truck & Trailer Specialities in Dutton Michigan, they’ve been providing work-truck upfit services for almost 50 years for the public works and commercial trucking industry. Specializing in snow and ice truck build ups, TTS represents the highest level of quality and craftsmanship in their build outs which are designed to last. So when they needed to change the design of their temperature monitoring for their heated salt dump box, they found a thermal switch that has the same focus on quality and performance.

In this application the exhaust from the engine is directed into cavities in the salt box so that the salt and sand does not freeze. If the engine goes into regen mode however, it can exceed 650 degrees and the flow of air is too hot and must be redirected. In this case, a thermal switch must close and activate a flapper that closes in the exhaust pipe, directing exhaust from the engine out the top of the stack.

“This was a perfect application for our M1 thermal switch,” notes Pete Gagliardi, CPI sales engineer. ” The M1 fits inside the exhaust pipe and is programmed with a set point that detects the rise in temperature and closes well before the exhaust air gets too hot.”  

The M1 Thermal switch is part of our “Plug Stat” line of thermal switches with a programmable temperature detection range from 0 to 650F. Made of all stainless steel with either wire or connector configurations, the switch fits perfectly inside the engine exhaust feed.  The M1 comes in all electrical configurations such as close on rise, or open on rise, etc…

“The switch works as designed and was delivered to the customer,” notes Pete. “This will now be their solution for thermal feedback designs on these heated dump beds.”

Cost Effective for Commercial Applications.

CPI’s Plugstat Line of thermal switches are cost effective for most commercial applications, and indeed very few other thermal switches have anywhere near such robust operating characteristics at this price point. For samples and discussions related to set point and mounting concerns contact our engineering team today.

This blog was originally published at https://www.cpi-nj.com/thermal-switches-in-work-truck-applications/