Electrical panel wireless
temperature monitoring
Isolated temperature probes on the joints that tend to overheat, connected to Sense-i nodes that report at the interval you set. A loose lug shows up as a rising trend, long before it shows up as a burn mark.
THE PROBLEM
A loose connection heats up between thermography visits
Most panel failures start at a connection: a cable lug that was not torqued correctly, a busbar joint that loosened with thermal cycling, a breaker terminal that oxidised. The resistance rises, the joint heats, and the heat makes it worse.
Infrared thermography catches these faults, but it is a snapshot taken once or twice a year, with the panel door open and the load at whatever it happens to be that day. A joint can go from warm to dangerous between two surveys, and the worst conditions often occur at peak load when nobody is looking.
Continuous point monitoring fills that gap on the joints that matter most: incomers, bus couplers, large outgoing feeders and capacitor banks.
HOW WE SET IT UP
Engineered for the inside of a panel
Isolated probes, designed per panel
The probe that touches a live joint must meet the insulation and clearance requirements of that panel. We engineer the probe, its insulation and its routing for your voltage class and panel construction.
Node outside the live zone
The Sense-i node sits in a safe part of the panel or outside it, and the probe leads come to it. The radio reaches the network without opening the door.
Alarms on the rise above ambient
As an example, a joint reading 60 °C in a hot plant room may be normal, while the same joint running well above its neighbours on similar load needs a look. We alarm on the rise against ambient and against similar points, with limits agreed per site.
Installed during a planned shutdown
Fitting probes on busbars needs the panel isolated. We plan the installation with your electrical team under your permit-to-work, in a scheduled shutdown.
AT A GLANCE
Panel temperature monitoring
- Measured
- Temperature at each probe point, plus panel ambient
- Hardware
- Sense-i nodes with isolated temperature probes engineered for the panel
- Connectivity
- Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz, 4G LTE; LoRa or Zigbee where panels sit in shielded rooms
- Alarms
- Thresholds and rise-above-ambient rules, relay output to a local alarm
- Where data goes
- RIOD Live or your server, with trends per joint and PDF and Excel export
- Engineering note
- Probe design and installation follow the panel safety and insulation requirements, done with a qualified electrical team
FAQ
Questions buyers ask us
Which points in an LV panel should be temperature monitored?
Start with the connections that carry the most current and cause the most damage if they fail: incomer terminals, busbar joints, bus couplers, large feeder breakers and capacitor bank connections. Thermography history is a good guide to the joints that have run hot before.
Is continuous monitoring a replacement for thermography?
No, it works alongside thermography. Thermography surveys the whole panel at one moment. Continuous probes watch the critical joints every few minutes at every load. Many sites keep both.
What temperature rise in a panel means trouble?
A joint running clearly hotter than ambient and than similar joints on similar load deserves inspection. That difference is a more useful signal than one fixed temperature, because panel rooms vary. We set rules on both the absolute value and the rise, agreed with your electrical engineer.
Do wireless sensors work inside a metal panel?
A closed steel enclosure blocks radio. We place the node where its antenna can reach the network, often on the panel top or in an unpowered compartment, with probe leads to the measuring points. Signal is tested before rollout.
Want to watch your critical panels continuously?
Send us the single-line diagram and the panels you worry about. We will propose probe points and an installation plan for your next shutdown.