Spent $1,200 on a wireless remote system for my crawler crane and it failed after 2 months

Bought this fancy remote setup from a supplier up in Portland thinking it would make job site communication easier. Worked great for about 60 days, then started dropping connection mid lift. Almost dropped a HVAC unit on a foreman last Thursday. Sent it back and the manufacturer said I likely paired it wrong or something. Now I'm back to using a signalman with hand signals. Has anyone else had luck with these wireless systems or are they mostly junk?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylor_young17d ago

Read somewhere that FCC approval matters, like @jennys72's uncle lucked out there.

wyatt_green3128d ago

Did you check if they were FCC certified? I heard some knockoffs have issues.

jennys7228d ago

My uncle runs a small towing outfit and he bought a wireless remote for his rollback that cost maybe half of what you paid and it's been running fine for over a year now. So maybe it's not all the systems that are junk, just the one you got. @wyatt_green31 brings up a good point about FCC stuff but honestly I think a lot of people blame the equipment when it's really just a lemon or bad luck. I had a buddy who spent three grand on a fancy crane controller and it died in a month too, so maybe the price doesn't always mean quality. But is it really that serious to go back to hand signals? I mean, signal guys have been doing it for decades and nobody dropped HVAC units on foremen back then. I guess I just think some of these new gadgets are overhyped and you're better off sticking with what works until they sort out the bugs.