3 days until digital waste tracking is mandatoryThe guide

The weight goes on
without anybody typing it.

A weighbridge indicator has no internet connection. It sends its reading down a lead into one computer in the hut, which is why every yard types the figure into something afterwards. The LoadSnap Weighbridge Connector is a small program for that computer: it reads the display you already have and puts the weight straight onto the receipt.

Download the connectorStart for free
Log a load
On the bridge
21,460 kg
Settled. Safe to weigh in or out.
Weigh inWeigh out
Loaded
21,460 kg
Empty
14,220 kg
Waste
7,240 kg
Version 1.0.2 for Windows 10 and 11. Download it, double-click it, and its setup page opens in your browser. It then starts by itself whenever the computer does. Windows may ask you to confirm the first time: choose More info, then Run anyway.

What it does

One program in the hut, and the typing stops.

It reads the indicator, sends the kilogrammes, and does nothing else. Loads coming in and loads going out, with a ticket for the driver at the end of it. Everything that says whose load it is still comes from LoadSnap and the person at the window.

The live weight at the gate

The figure on the indicator appears on the gate screen as the lorry drives on, and says whether it has settled.

Weigh in, weigh out, net

One press stamps the loaded weight, another the empty one, and LoadSnap takes the difference. No arithmetic, no transcription.

Or the empty weight you already know

Work off a vehicle's empty weight and LoadSnap offers the last one it weighed for that registration, with its date, as a button.

It only ever reads

There is no instruction LoadSnap can send it. The approved indicator stays the legal display and nothing can change what it shows.

Any make of indicator

No driver for each make. It shows you what your display is sending and you pick the figure, once.

A ticket the driver leaves with

Print it in the hut: vehicle, both weights, the difference and a reference. Driver's copy and office copy on one sheet.

Nothing waits on it

If the computer is off or the lead is out, the gate says so and asks for the weights to be typed, exactly as today.

Setting one up

A key, a lead, and one choice.

The whole setup is done at the weighbridge computer, on a page the program opens on that machine. Nobody needs to know what a serial port is.

  • 1. Make a key in LoadSnap

    Your site, Taking waste in, Weighbridge, Make a key. One key per weighbridge computer, so a yard with two bridges can tell them apart.

  • 2. Install the connector on that computer

    Windows 10 and 11. It runs in the background and starts with the computer.

  • 3. Paste the key in and choose the lead

    A lead into the computer, or the indicator's address on the yard network. It lists what it can see.

  • 4. Pick the figure

    It shows the lines the display is sending and you pick the number that matches the indicator. That is the last step.

  • 5. Watch it go green

    The office sees the connector start sending, with the last weight it read, on the site's own page.

Download the connector
Which figure is the weight
ST,GS, 21460 kg
ST,GS, 21460 kg
US,GS, 21300 kg
The weight is 21460 kg (looks like it)
Pick the number that matches the indicator in the hut. That is the whole setup, and it is why it works with any make.

No weighbridge to hand

Try it before you wire anything up.

The connector has a pretend bridge built into it. Choose it instead of a lead and it plays a whole visit: the lorry driving on with the figure bouncing about, a settled loaded weight, off to tip, and back on empty. The gate screen behaves exactly as it will on the day the lead goes in, which is also the honest way to show it to somebody before they commit to anything.

  • Nothing to buy

    It is in the program. Pick it from the same list as a real lead.

  • A real weighing

    Bouncing figures, a settle, and two passes, so you see what the clerk will see.

  • Then swap the lead in

    The same connector, the same key. Change the one setting when the bridge is ready.

The connector's own page on the weighbridge computer, showing 21,460 kg on the bridge and sending to Riverside Yard, with the pretend bridge chosen as the lead

What we can and cannot see

Kilogrammes. That is the lot.

A weighbridge does not know whose lorry is on it, and neither does this. It sends the weight, whether it has settled, and which connector it came from. Identity comes from LoadSnap, the transfer note and the person at the window, as it does now.

  • No registration, no carrier, no waste code

    The indicator has never known them, and the connector does not ask for them.

  • It cannot act on the bridge

    Reading only. The reply to a reading says whether the key is still valid and nothing else.

  • Turn one off from the office

    Turning a connector off in LoadSnap stops it, wherever that computer is.

  • Your photos still stand

    The picture of the ticket and the display stays on the record, for anybody who wants the bridge's own word for it.

The site's Weighbridge section in LoadSnap, showing the hut computer sending, the display make and the last weight of 21,460 kg

Questions

Weighbridge questions, answered.

01Do I have to buy anything for the weighbridge?
No. The connector reads the display you already have, through the lead that already runs into the weighbridge computer. The approved indicator in the hut stays exactly as it is, and it stays the display that counts.
02Which weighbridges does it work with?
Any indicator that sends its reading as text, which is effectively all of them - Avery Berkel, Marsden, Baykon, Rice Lake and the rest. There is no list of supported makes to check against, because it does not use a driver for each one. When you set it up it shows you what your display is actually sending and you pick the number that matches the indicator.
03Does it handle the empty weight?
Yes. Weigh the vehicle in loaded and out empty and LoadSnap takes the difference, both figures stamped straight off the bridge. If you work off a vehicle's empty weight instead of a second trip over the bridge, LoadSnap offers the last one it weighed for that registration, with the date on it, as a button. It holds that offer back when the figure is old or when that vehicle never weighs the same empty twice, which is what happens with skip lorries.
04What if the computer is off, or the lead falls out?
The gate screen says so and asks for the weights to be typed, which is how every LoadSnap site works today. Nothing is blocked and no load waits on a program.
05Can LoadSnap control the weighbridge?
No, and it is built so it cannot. The connector only reads. There is no instruction it can be sent, so LoadSnap can never zero a bridge, print from it or change what the approved display shows.
06What does it send us?
Kilogrammes, whether the weight has settled, and which connector it came from. It never sees a registration, a carrier, a waste code or a transfer note: everything that says whose load it is comes from LoadSnap, the paperwork and the person at the window.
07How do we try it before wiring anything up?
The connector has a pretend bridge built in. Choose it instead of a lead and it plays a whole visit - the lorry driving on, the figure settling, the lorry off and back on empty - so you can watch the gate screen behave exactly as it will on the day.
08Does the driver get a ticket?
Yes. Print the weighbridge ticket from the hut and the driver leaves with it: the vehicle, the two weights, the difference, and a reference anybody can quote later. Two copies on one sheet, one for the driver and one for the file. It is not a transfer note and it says so, and if your own weighbridge software already prints a ticket, its number is printed on ours alongside our reference so the two can be matched up.
09Does it do loads going out as well as loads coming in?
Yes. A yard weighs what leaves as well as what arrives. The movement itself is raised in the office, where the destination and the paperwork are, and the weighbridge screen lists the loads going out so whoever is in the hut can weigh them loaded and empty. The weight is then shared across the waste lines, so what the movement says it carried and what it weighed cannot disagree.
10Do we have to replace the software on the weighbridge computer?
No. The connector only reads the display, so whatever is already on that computer carries on untouched. If you would rather LoadSnap printed the ticket and kept the records, it can do all of that; if you want to keep using what you have, the two run side by side.
11Is there a cost?
The connector is included. It is part of receiving loads in LoadSnap, not an add-on.

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