Frequently Asked Questions

Edge includes three components: (1) Sensors to measure properties such as vibration, temperature, current, humidity, and the presence of water; (2) Gateways to transmit sensor readings to the cloud; and (3) The Edge dashboard (on desktop) to view real-time sensor readings, manage sensors and gateways, and handle alerts.

Installation is straightforward and typically completed in hours, not days. Our wireless sensors require no hardwiring, and the LTE-enabled gateway connects to your network out of the box. Most teams are up and running with full monitoring capabilities within the first day.

No. UpKeep Edge is designed for frontline maintenance teams, not data scientists. The platform comes pre-configured with smart thresholds and automated workflows, so your technicians can start monitoring assets immediately without complex setup or training.

Most facilities can be fully instrumented in 1-2 days. Sensors are wireless and mount with industrial adhesive or magnetic mounts — no wiring or specialized tools required. They connect to the gateway automatically when powered on.

The sensors work in North America and LATAM where frequencies are 900 MHz. For deployments outside these regions, contact our sales team to discuss options.

UpKeep Edge currently offers five sensor types: Vibration, Temperature, AC Current, Humidity, and Water Detection. Each sensor type is optimized for specific use cases like motor health, cold chain compliance, power consumption monitoring, environmental control, and leak detection.

Sensors have a range of roughly 1,000+ feet line of sight and 250-300 feet non-line of sight from the gateway. The presence of metal buildings or similar obstructions will reduce range.

Sensors transmit via 900 MHz radio frequency. All sensor readings are encrypted from sensor to gateway to cloud and back.

Sensors are powered with 2 AA batteries. Battery life is approximately 4 years at a reading interval of 1 reading per hour, or approximately 2 years at a reading interval of 1 reading every 10 minutes.

The sensors are rated IP65, meaning they are protected against dust ingress and low-pressure water jets from any direction.

No. The sensors are not explosion proof. They are designed for standard industrial environments but should not be used in areas with explosive atmospheres.

The sensors can operate in temperatures from 0 F to 130 F (-18 C to 55 C). This is the ambient environment range for the sensor body and batteries.

Standard temperature sensors detect -40 F to +257 F (-40 C to +125 C). High temp sensors detect -58 F to +700 F (-50 C to +370 C). Low temp sensors detect -328 F to +325 F (-200 C to +162 C). If the measurement range is outside the operating range, keep the sensor body in an acceptable area and run a probe to the measurement point.

Yes. UpKeep Edge sensors are built for the factory floor with IP65 ratings. They are designed for environments with dust and moisture, though they are not explosion proof.

The gateway is a 4G LTE cellular gateway that receives radio frequency transmissions from the sensors and then transmits the messages to the cloud. The gateway is required to relay messages from sensors to the cloud — Edge cannot be used without a gateway.

The gateway plugs into a standard electrical outlet. In order to transmit messages to the cloud, the gateway needs to be placed in an area with cellular service (i.e., a place where your mobile phone would work). The cellular network is AT&T; if out of network, customers can use a hardline (Ethernet) connection.

Up to 100 sensors can connect to a single gateway. You can mix and match any sensor types on the same gateway.

Each gateway needs to be within 1,000 feet line of sight or 250-300 feet non-line of sight of your sensors. If you have sensors outside these ranges, you will need an additional gateway. You will also likely need additional gateways if sensors are located on different floors or behind certain obstructions such as metal walls.

Yes. All sensor types can connect to any given gateway. You can mix and match sensor types for any given gateway as well.

No. The gateway runs on a completely separate cellular network and does not impact your existing network or data.

Gateways can store up to 50,000 sensor readings while offline. Once a gateway gets back online, it will transmit all stored readings automatically. No data is lost.

No. You have to restart the gateway from the device itself by power cycling it.

Sensors can take readings anywhere from once every 10 minutes to once every 2+ hours. The default reading frequency is 1 reading every 10 minutes. This interval helps preserve battery life and reduce bandwidth usage.

Sensors can store roughly 3,200 readings while unable to connect to a gateway. That equates to roughly 22 days of readings at 1 reading every 10 minutes and 133 days of readings at 1 reading per hour.

The Edge dashboard displays readings with configurable date parameters. You can export readings as far back as you wish to a CSV (spreadsheet) file for historical analysis.

Battery life depends on factors like transmission frequency and temperature. On average, batteries last 2-4 years and can be easily replaced. You can monitor battery status through the UpKeep Edge dashboard.

Yes. After connecting the sensor to a gateway and your UpKeep account, battery levels are visible within the Edge dashboard. You can set alerts for low battery thresholds.

You can establish upper and lower threshold limits in the application. When a sensor crosses these thresholds, the system automatically generates an incident notification, enabling you to create and assign related work orders.

Sensors connect to the gateway through radio frequency (RF). Each gateway can support up to 100 different sensors. The gateway then uses cellular or Ethernet networks to send readings to the cloud.

The maximum range for sensors to reach the gateway is 1,200 feet from the gateway. However, facility surroundings and walls may reduce this distance. The radio waves can go through up to 12 walls and span multiple floors.

Use a probe sensor — place the sensor body outside the fridge and run the probe inside the refrigerator under a slow heating/slow cooling liquid for accurate readings.

Yes, all sensors need to connect directly to a gateway. Sensors cannot connect via Wi-Fi directly. The gateways connect by either cellular network or Ethernet, so no Wi-Fi is needed.

No. You must have both an UpKeep Edge license and an UpKeep Maintenance Management software license. Sensors are part of the integrated Edge platform and do not function as a standalone product.

Yes. Edge is a separate product but it works with the data in your UpKeep account. All assets and locations created in your UpKeep account will be available in the Edge dashboard.

Go to app.onupkeep.com and click the "Sensors" icon in the bottom left menu, or navigate directly to edge.onupkeep.com.

Edge is currently available on the web only — you need to access it through your browser on desktop or your mobile device. A dedicated mobile experience is not yet available.

Any paid user for an account with an Edge subscription can access the dashboard, including Admins, Techs, and Limited Techs. All Edge users have full read/write access.

UpKeep Edge is natively integrated with UpKeep CMMS, providing seamless data flow between sensors and work orders. When a sensor detects an anomaly, the system automatically creates a work order, assigns the appropriate technician, and loads the relevant checklist — no manual data entry required.

Yes, UpKeep Edge is designed to work as a native extension of UpKeep CMMS. Sensor data flows directly into your asset records, work orders, and reports. This tight integration is what enables features like automatic work order creation from sensor alerts and condition-based preventive maintenance.

Yes. UpKeep Edge supports multi-site monitoring with centralized dashboards and reporting. You can track asset health across all your facilities from a single platform, with location-specific alerts and work order routing.

You can set an alert and then apply it to as many sensors as you wish. When an alert is triggered, you will receive an email and/or text notification and an Incident will be created. Subsequent out-of-range readings will be added to that same Incident. Once a reading falls back into range, that Incident will be resolved.

Your sensors check in with the Edge dashboard at the interval you specify (e.g., once every 10 minutes). If you have applied alerts to a particular sensor, those alerts will be checked each time the sensor transmits a reading to the Edge dashboard and triggered if the reading is outside the range you specify.

Yes. You can configure alerts to require a threshold breach to hold for a specified duration before triggering a full Incident, reducing false positives from momentary spikes.

A Warning means a sensor is approaching an alert threshold. Out of Range means the threshold has been breached but has not yet held for the configured duration. An Incident means the threshold breach has held for the full duration you specified — this is when full alerting and work order creation triggers. All three states are visible in the dashboard and you can create work orders from any of them.

You can set an alert for sensor battery level and signal strength, but this must be set up for each individual sensor. Note that if signal strength drops to zero, no reading will be transmitted and the alert will not trigger. Improvements to offline detection are being actively developed.

When sensor readings exceed your predefined thresholds, UpKeep Edge instantly alerts your team via email and/or SMS notification. Simultaneously, the system can create a work order with all relevant asset information and assign the appropriate technician based on your rules.

AI-Powered Insights are context-aware summaries generated by Edge AI for each sensor. They analyze current readings against historical patterns, detect repeating trends, identify early risk signals (like abnormal duty cycles or threshold proximity), and check communication stability and battery health. Insights generate automatically every hour, with on-demand generation available every 15 minutes.

Yes. When an AI Insight identifies an actionable issue, you can create a work order directly from the insight panel. The AI pre-fills the work order title and description with the relevant sensor readings, alert context, and device information. Created work orders remain visible within the insight view for full traceability.

Yes. All sensor readings are encrypted from sensor to gateway to cloud and back using Encrypt-RF encryption (256-bit key exchange, AES-128 CTR). Data is also encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256).

UpKeep Edge uses enterprise-grade security protocols at every layer. UpKeep Edge is SOC 2 Type II certified and supports SSO on Enterprise plans. The gateway runs on a completely separate cellular network and does not impact your existing network or data.

Gateways can store up to 50,000 sensor readings while offline. Sensors themselves can store roughly 3,200 readings. Once connectivity is restored, all stored readings are transmitted automatically. No data is lost during outages.

The Edge dashboard displays readings with configurable date parameters, and you can export readings as far back as you wish to CSV. Retention of real-time dashboard data depends on your plan.

Sensors and Edge are available on Professional and Business+ plans.

There is a one-time cost for hardware (sensors and gateway) and a recurring cost for the Edge software subscription. Contact our sales team for a detailed pricing quote based on your sensor count and plan.

Absolutely. You can add sensors at any time — they automatically connect to your existing gateway network. If you need additional gateway capacity, those can be added as well. Most customers start with a pilot on critical assets and expand from there.

Contact our sales team to upgrade your plan or add additional sensor capacity. We offer flexible scaling options from small pilots to enterprise-wide deployments.