Remote Lubrication Monitoring with Roamer

An automatic lubrication system solves the delivery problem. It does not, on its own, solve the knowing problem. A pump on a remote crusher, a quarry conveyor or a coastal vessel can fail quietly, and on dispersed assets the first evidence is often a hot bearing rather than a warning.

The challenge

Fixed plant and mobile equipment share a blind spot. Once a lubrication system is commissioned it tends to be trusted, and the interval between something going wrong and somebody noticing is governed by how often a person physically walks up to the unit.

On a site with equipment spread across several kilometres, or a fleet operating out of region, that interval can be weeks. A reservoir runs dry, a line is damaged, a controller is switched to pause during maintenance and never switched back — each is trivial to correct and expensive to miss.

The conventional answer is a site walk-around and a clipboard. It works, until the day it is skipped.

The system

The Roamer is an Industrial Internet of Things module designed specifically to pair with the A2 Autolube controller. It uses GSM to connect over any available mobile network, so it needs no site IT involvement, no wiring back to a control room and no local network coverage — only a mobile signal.

With a Roamer fitted to an A2 Autolube, the lubrication system reports to a web interface. From there the maintenance team can:

• See the current status of the lubrication system at any time
• View and download history logs
• Change A2 Autolube settings remotely through the website
• Review system totals across lifetime, 24 hours, 7 days and 30 days
• Record installations and asset details, so data is tied to a specific machine rather than a loose controller

The remote settings capability matters more than it first appears. Adjusting an interval for a seasonal duty change, or correcting a controller left in pause, no longer requires dispatching a technician to the asset.

Why the totals matter

Lifetime and rolling totals turn lubrication from an assumption into a measurement. A cycle count that has stopped advancing is an immediate signal — long before a bearing runs hot. A count advancing faster than expected points to a leak or a damaged line. Comparing 30-day totals across identical machines exposes the outlier, which is usually the one about to fail.

The history log also closes an audit gap. Where lubrication forms part of a warranty condition or a maintenance contract, a downloadable record is evidence that the regime was actually followed.

Typical applications

Roamer suits any asset where the cost of an unnoticed lubrication failure exceeds the cost of monitoring it: crushing and screening plant, conveyor drives and take-up bearings, marine deck machinery and shipboard systems where salt exposure is unforgiving, earthmoving fleets working away from a home workshop, and equipment on hire where the owner carries the maintenance risk but not the daily sight of the machine.

Is remote monitoring worth it for your site?

Roamer earns its place on some assets and not others. The question is not how valuable the machine is — it is how long a lubrication fault would go unnoticed. Worth fitting where:

• Nobody walks past the unit daily. Remote pump stations, satellite crushers, equipment on hire or on long-term site placement.
• The asset moves between sites and no single person owns its maintenance in practice.
• A failure is expensive to reach. If a technician has to travel to diagnose a paused controller, remote settings access pays for itself quickly.
• Lubrication forms part of a warranty or contract condition and you need downloadable evidence that the regime was followed.
• You run several identical machines. Comparing 30-day totals across a fleet exposes the outlier before it becomes a failure.

Where equipment sits in a manned workshop and is inspected daily, a well-commissioned A2 with local alarms may be all you need. We will say so.

Equipment specified

• A2 Autolube controller with Bluetooth setup and diagnostics
• Roamer GSM IoT module with web portal access
• Electric grease or oil pump sized to the application, with low-level switch
• Progressive divider blocks with proximity-switch cycle verification
• IP-rated enclosure and salt-resistant fittings for marine and coastal duty

Ask us what your system is actually doing. Ultra-Flow designs and manufactures its controller range at Montague Gardens, Cape Town, and has supported lubrication installations across marine, transport, industrial and earthmoving sectors since 1989.