Electric crane technology have carved out a niche in the mechanic’s truck market. One drawback of electric cranes has been the lack of proportional controls. To address this market segment Venco Venturo now offers proportional controls with the ET12KXP and plan to expand those across the entire electric-hydraulic crane line. This allows for small fine movement of the crane load when needed.
“Because smaller cranes have low capacities, there are few hydraulically-driven winches that are as cost effective as electric winches, making the smaller 12-volt electric powered cranes a more cost effective alternative for customers that have lighter loads to be moved,” says Ian Lahmer, marketing director, Venco Venturo Industries. “Electric-hydraulic cranes are usually a less expensive alternative to the fully-hydraulic cranes due to the wiring, hoses and overall structure of the crane.” Venco Venturo’s line of electric-hydraulic cranes pick up anywhere from 2,000 to 6,000 lbs.
Larger loads and constant duty cycles are still better served by fully-hydraulic proportional cranes. “Electric-hydraulic cranes have electric winches and are considered to be ‘occasional duty use cranes’,” explains Lahmer. “While electric winch run times vary by model, they typically fall in the two to five minutes of constant, not letting off the power switch run time. Most electric winch movement run times are just a few seconds, which allows for most crane uses to be done in plenty of time under the two to five minute window. However, typically electric winch cranes should not be used when constant long winch run times are involved. A good example of this would be pulling and service of below grade water pumps, which can often be 50 plus feet below grade.”
