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Wasted $400 on a cheap load cell for my tower crane last spring
Bought a generic load cell off eBay for $400 to replace a dead one on my Liebherr, and it read 2 tons light on a pick with a 12-ton concrete bucket, nearly got me written up by the safety guy, so has anyone else had a bad experience with off-brand sensors?
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the_simon1mo ago
Can't believe you got that close to a safety violation over a $400 sensor man. Two tons off on a 12-ton bucket is huge, that's like a 16% error which is insane for lifting equipment. I've ran cranes for years and always go with the OEM stuff even if it hurts the wallet a bit because one bad reading like that could flip a whole job site upside down. The fact that it was off by that much on a concrete pour makes my stomach turn just thinking about it, that's the kind of mistake that gets people hurt or worse. Glad you caught it before something bad happened but man that's a scary close call.
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rowan9691mo ago
Ngl I used to be one of those guys who thought brand name sensors were overpriced and you could get the same thing for half the cost. But after seeing this I totally changed my mind. A 2 ton error on a critical lift is insane, that could get someone killed or at least cost you way more than the $400 you saved. Cheap sensors are straight up not worth the risk when your job depends on accurate readings every single time.
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violaramirez1mo ago
Didn't @rowan969 just say what I read in a crane safety report last week about knockoff sensors failing under load?
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