S5 System Pty Ltd designs and manufactures battery-powered, IP68, LoRaWAN and NB-IoT condition-monitoring sensors for mining, agriculture and infrastructure, and delivers IEC 61511 functional-safety engineering from Perth, Western Australia. These are the questions reliability, maintenance and procurement engineers actually ask us. Short, direct answers — the same answers we would give on site.
Wireless condition monitoring on remote and unpowered assets
How do I monitor equipment on a site with no power or network?
You use self-powered sensors, not wired ones. RotaMon is a battery-powered, IP68 sensor that bolts or studs directly to the asset and transmits over LoRaWAN or NB-IoT. It needs no local power and no site network — the radio gateway or cellular backhaul handles the rest. That means it works on remote pumps, conveyors and rotating equipment where running cable and power is uneconomic or impossible.
Do your sensors work on remote mine sites with no Wi-Fi?
Yes. The sensors are not Wi-Fi dependent. They use LoRaWAN (long-range, low-power, license-free ISM band) or NB-IoT (cellular). A single LoRaWAN gateway typically covers a mine site’s process plant, and NB-IoT sensors report directly over the mobile network where coverage exists. No site IT infrastructure is required.
What is the lead time on a LoRaWAN vibration sensor?
Standard lead time is typically 2–4 weeks for small quantities from Perth stock, subject to firmware configuration for your LoRaWAN network. Sensors configured for a specific regional ISM band or a customer-specific gateway are quoted individually. Contact [email protected] with your asset count and site location for a firm date.
What battery life can I expect from a condition-monitoring sensor?
Battery life depends on sample rate and report interval, not on the sensor design alone. As a guide: hourly vibration snapshots on a fixed-mount sensor run for several years on a single battery; high-rate continuous sampling drains far faster. We size the sampling regime to the failure mode you are watching so you are not paying battery life for data you never use.
Are your sensors IP68 and rated for wash-down and dust?
Yes. The sensor body is IP68 — sealed against dust ingress and continuous immersion. The M12x30mm bolt/stud form factor is hermetically sealed for wash-down, dust and vibration. This matters on conveyors, crushers and wash plants where an IP65 enclosure will not survive.
Specific failure modes
How do I detect a missing GET tooth before it reaches the crusher?
GETsmart monitors ground-engaging-tool dislodgement and loss at the bucket. It detects the change in behaviour when a tooth is missing or moving, and raises the alarm at the face — which is the only place you can act before a dislodged tooth reaches the crusher and causes catastrophic damage. Continuous monitoring beats the walk-around inspection that happens between shifts.
How do I monitor wear-liner thickness without sending someone into the chute?
WearMon measures wear-liner and wear-plate thickness in real time. The sensing element is bonded to the liner material and reports thickness continuously, so no one enters a transfer chute or climbs a mill to take a manual measurement. You get a wear trend and a change-out prediction instead of a point-in-time reading and a confined-space entry.
Can I detect loose bolts on vibrating equipment before failure?
Yes — with BoltWatch. It continuously monitors bolted-joint tension, so you see loss of preload as it happens rather than discovering it as a fatigue crack. This is the difference between a re-torque and a structural repair, and it is especially relevant on vibrating screens, crushers, structural joints and towers.
Can I monitor a vibrating screen or crusher without running cables?
Yes. This is the core use case for RotaMon. Because the sensor is battery-powered and wireless, installation requires no cable tray, no conduit, no local junction box and no production shutdown for cabling. A sensor can be installed on a vibrating screen in the time it takes to bolt it on.
Integration, cost and commercial
How much does a wireless vibration sensor cost in Australia?
Sensor pricing is quoted per project because it depends on quantity, LoRaWAN/NB-IoT configuration, gateway requirements and integration scope. What we do publish is the entry point: the Instrumentation Pilot instruments one critical asset for 90 days for a fixed A$4,900, consultancy-led, and delivers a written condition-monitoring business case. That is the lowest-risk way to price the outcome before committing to a fleet.
Do you integrate with SCADA, PI or our existing CMMS?
Yes. Sensor data can be delivered into SCADA, historians such as OSIsoft PI or similar, and work-order systems. As an OT/SCADA engineering firm as well as a sensor manufacturer, we integrate at the plant level rather than handing you a standalone dashboard. Data can also be delivered via API for your own analytics.
How do I build a condition-monitoring business case for my superintendent?
Frame it as avoided cost, not technology. One unplanned failure on a critical asset — a crusher, mill, screen or primary pump — typically costs more in lost production than the entire monitoring programme. The Instrumentation Pilot produces this argument in writing for one asset over 90 days: measured baseline, detected events, and a defensible avoided-cost model you can take to the superintendent. Fixed scope, A$4,900.
Functional safety and engineering services
What functional safety services do you provide?
IEC 61511 functional-safety engineering: SIL assessment and verification, HAZOP facilitation, LOPA studies, safety requirements specification, and Safety Instrumented Systems design. Our principal, Davoud Nassehi, is a Certified Functional Safety Expert (CFSE). Engagements range from a single defensible LOPA to full SIS lifecycle support.
Can you do OT cybersecurity and SCADA engineering too?
Yes. S5 System provides Operational Technology (OT) cybersecurity assessment and hardening, and SCADA, PLC and DCS systems engineering, alongside the condition-monitoring products. Because we understand both the safety case and the network, we can deploy monitoring without creating a new attack surface.
How do I get started?
Email [email protected] or call +61 8 6189 8719 with the asset you care about most, its failure history, and your site’s connectivity. We will tell you honestly whether monitoring will pay for itself on that asset — and if it will not, we will say so. See RotaMon, WearMon, GETsmart and BoltWatch for the hardware.