Regarded as the company’s hardest working shackle to date, the Generation 3 shackle takes all the benefits of Broadweigh’s tried and tested shackles and packages them up with some additional features, including Smart Sleep – brand-new feature of the Generation 3 shackle – keeping one eye open, even when asleep. Smart Sleep mode protects battery life and bandwidth by only kicking into fast transmission when it detects an anomaly.
Tom Lilly, Applications Engineer at Broadweigh, said: “With the new Smart Sleep, you can optimise your battery life and still monitor the load. If the load is stable, there is often no reason to monitor at a fast rate. You only really need to know when something changes. Smart Sleep monitors at a slow rate and compares the current reading with the last. If the difference is greater than the level set, then it will switch into fast mode until the load stabilises again. However, if you want to monitor at the fast rate you can still wake the modules using LOG100 or a handheld. This allows you to monitor at the fast rate when you know that something is going to chance, such as when a lift is happening.”
Generation 3 shackles are also paired with a Broadweigh designed bow which has undergone rigorous testing over the Summer. The bow comes in black as standard and has been treated in a process called Tufftride which is a surface heat treatment involving a Salt Bath Nitrocarburising treatment carried out at around 580°C for short periods of time. This produces a hard-wearing surface which increases corrosion resistance, increases wear resistance and improves fatigue strength.
The shackle also features a ‘one- swipe’ power cycle which completely removes the need to open the battery enclosure when hard pairing. A neat Broadweigh magnetic fob with built-in pozi-screw head and thumb screw attachment can swipe past the shackle enclosure to cut power.
Elliot Van Laere, Product Specialist at Broadweigh added: “We continue to develop and listen to the requirements that the forever evolving entertainment sector needs and out of our conversations with users and continual R&D, the Gen 3 shackle has been born. It really is our most powerful and intelligent wireless load shackle to date. It is intuitive, smart and the perfect choice for load monitoring. The black stainless steel bow sets the Broadweigh shackle apart from the rest. The finish is durable, looks the part with laser etching and will blend seamlessly into the eaves. The ability to power cycle without the need to remove batteries is also a huge advantage to our users.”
Added visibility has been built-in to Gen 3 so users can see when the most recent calibration was carried out on the shackle and the largest load that the shackle has seen. Load shackles are precision pieces of measuring equipment and despite being rugged, damage due to misuse could happen at any time. Broadweigh toolkit software retrieves calibration and peak-load data his data; so users know when to take action. With Full LEEA membership, Broadweigh can provide thorough examination and calibration services from their HQ in the UK.
Robert Willmington-Badcock, Managing Director of Mantracourt, the company behind Broadweigh explained: “It’s vital that we understand exactly what tools are needed for event professionals to do their job on a tour or in a venue and develop and manufacture products that prove we have listened carefully to user feedback. Our ethos is to develop products specifically for the entertainment industry and to continually improve the features and tools within our systems. We are confident that we can do this like no-one else – the demands in rigging are extremely challenging but Broadweigh is more than up to the job. No other shackle packs everything in like this one and we are extremely proud that our products are designed and manufactured in-house so we really know our kit inside out.”
Broadweigh are offering an upgrade option for owners of existing Broadweigh shackles to take advantage of the new firmware without losing investment in the precision load pin. Kelly Voysey, Marketing Manager for Broadweigh stated: “In the midst of COVID which has rocked our incredible live events industry, we have kept our focus and although delayed by a few months, have kept our development schedule on track. Broadweigh is a global solution and is adaptable to many applications and there are active project happening in the world right now. We are seeing our customers adapting and finding ways to make projects work albeit on a different scale. When you have the ability to engineer better solutions, you don’t hold back.”
