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Hand-Held Remote Controls Telehandler
Leroy Groening can run most functions of his 1991 Cat RT60 Telehandler using an inexpensive wireless remote control. He can start, stop, raise, lower, extend and retract the boom as well as tilt the attachment. He can also move the telehandler forward and back and switch hydraulic speed between slow and fast. About the only things he can’t do are turn and brake.
  “I do a lot of work around the farm by myself,” explains Groening. “The remote makes it a lot easier to do things like cover a stack of bales with a tarp. I can lift myself and a tarp up and throw the tarp over the stack.”
  Groening expects the remote to come in handy when doing construction or maintenance such as painting. He bought the telehandler this summer along with attachments such as pallet forks, work platform, bucket and bale grab. He says the remote has already come in handy for things like loading and unloading, lining up the quick-tach pins or positioning the unit.
  “When you’re in the cab, you can’t see everything you need to,” says Groening. “It also lets me easily shut off the engine to save fuel and unnecessary hours.”
  Groening purchased the 12-button remote handset transmitter and receiver on eBay and built a control board with relays that manages telehandler function switches. He then wired the receiver with its 12 relays to the board.
  “When I activate a button on the remote, it bypasses the original switch and activates the function on the telehandler,” explains Groening. “For example, I bypassed the key on and engine start switch so one button turns the key on and starts the engine, locking it on. Another button opens the relay to shut the engine down.”
  Testing to find the right switch for the various joystick functions was the most difficult aspect of the project, recalls Groening. “The older telehandler was fairly easy to work with,” he says. “Newer equipment with more electronics and computer controls may be more difficult to adapt.”
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Leroy Groening, P.O. Box 266, Lowe Farm, Man., Canada R0G 1E0 (ph 204 746-2063; lginnovations@hotmail.com).



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2013 - Volume #37, Issue #6