Lighting The Way
Indicating the status of your bin level indicator that is used for high level, preventing overfill, or low level to prevent material outage conditions is an important function. Bin level indicators have been performing these roles for decades, since the early 1900’s. In fact the resilient rotary paddle bin level indicator was first developed during the mid-1930’s (refer to technical podcast “Rotary Paddle A Favorite Flavor”) and has been indicating high and low levels reliably ever since.
Bin level indicators provide indication of their status primarily through use of their control output. There are two output conditions, ALARM and NORMAL status. The ALARM status is a critical indication of something about your process or the material in your bin. In a High level application the ALARM condition is when the bin level indicator senses the presence of material. In a Low level application the ALARM condition is the opposite, that is when the material is not present or is absent. The bin level indicator output is either in the ALARM or the NORMAL state.
Some bin level indicators are available with a locally visible indicator. The same is true for the local indicating light. The locally visible alarm light is either in the ALARM or NORMAL status mode. RED indicates an ALARM condition, which for a high level application is the presence of material while in a low level application the ALARM condition is the absence of material. BLUE or GREEN is usually used to indicate the NORMAL status.
Here is a very important point that many rotary paddle bin level indicator manufacturers don’t want you to know. Switching between High and Low level applications can only be accomplished with rotary paddle bin level indicators that use an electromechanical relay for their control output. Additionally, the availability of SUPER BRIGHT local indication lights is only available economically from one brand. Check it out.
Knowing the status of your bin level indicator at a glance locally is important. RED = ALARM; BLUE = NORMAL. It’s pretty simple, but not universal.
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