Monday 23 June 2014

Weight Indicator? Camera Screen? Or why not have both?

When you have your own in-house development and software people means you can develop new ideas quickly and efficiently. Responding to customer requests and new ideas is much quicker when you have all the facilities in one premises.

Whilst our prime focus will always be axle weighing and preventing overloading, a problem which effects all the major components of the vehicle – brakes, steering, clutch, suspension, tyres - we have developed our OnBoard Load Indicator so that it has some extra and very important safety features.

The OnBoard Display, which normally shows axle and gross weights, is a 96mm colour tft screen. And with sophisticated internal circuitry and software it can be made to do other things adding to vehicle safety and operating efficiency.

A subject that frequently arises during conversations with customers is the lack of space in modern cabs, especially lighter vehicles. And yet the range of electronic gadgets available to help run those vehicles – sat navs, mobile phones, etc is increasing and more and more of them are appearing on the dashboard. This can sometimes lead to a confusing and cluttered cab.

And of course the more gadgets there are, the more the driver has to concentrate on and the more there is to go wrong.

We can’t resolve all of these issues but we have helped with one by developing our OnBoard display so that it can take an input from both a reversing and a nearside camera.

In normal operating mode, the screen is showing the axle and gross weights and warning the driver of any overloads. But with the cameras fitted the screen can automatically show the view from behind or down the nearside of the vehicle.
Weight Display or nearside camera screen? It's both!

We’ve even developed the system so that for those customers who need it we can show a view from a camera focused on the load bed.

No input is required from the driver. He simply selects reverse gear or indicates left and the software will automatically select the right camera and replace the weight display with rear or nearside view. The screen reverts to the weight display when another gear is selected or the left indicator is cancelled.

These cameras offer enormous benefits. Improved safety when reversing or turning left, vital with the growing number of cyclists, some less safety conscious than others, in the country, less vehicle damage, lower repair bills, less vehicle downtime and possibly lower insurance costs.

The initial investment in them isn’t great and they pay for themselves many times over.

There is another important benefit in connecting the cameras to the OnBoard Load Indicator unit though; it removes one display from an already tightly packed dashboard.

Many companies don’t have in-house facilities t develop their products instead using third parties to write software and produce prototypes. A much slower process that can be expensive and lead to mistakes.


Having in-house development facilities meant we could develop our OnBoard quickly  and efficiently getting it out to our customers so that more of them can benefit from improved safety and reduced costs.