New entrant to the London open-top bus market TopView Sightseeing has installed two sets of Stertil Koni wireless mobile column lifts at its Wimbledon depot.
The ST1075FWA units give a safe lifting capacity of 7,500kg per column. Each includes Stertil Koni’s ebright Smart Control System. It enables workshop staff to operate the columns individually, in pairs, or in any other combination from any column in the set.
Wireless mesh networking as part of that functionality removes any possibility of communication problems between individual columns when numerous sets are used in the same building, Stertil Koni continues.
Colour touchscreens are employed for lift control to ensure that maximum information is given to the user. The ebright Smart Control System also shows how many columns in the set are being used.
Power is from long-life, deep-cycle batteries that last for at least a week on average before recharging is needed, the manufacturer continues. Unlike a screw lift, energy is used only when raising a vehicle. Charging is via a 230v single-phase supply.
The lifts come with an independent mechanical locking system in each column, which allows technicians to securely prevent a vehicle from being inadvertently lowered. Maximum lift height is 1.85m, which is reached in 75 seconds, and the unit’s unique synchronisation system ensures smooth raising and lowering even with highly uneven load distribution.
Stertil Koni notes that the lifts’ wireless nature assists set-up time, “making the system fully operational much more quickly.”
TopView Sightseeing launched in London in 2023, having made its debut in New York during 2016.