What happens today
A printed route sheet signed at the end of a long day, photographs left on a personal phone, and a monitor export pasted into a spreadsheet by somebody else a week later. The three rarely agree on which points were attended.
Guided kit · route evidence, no metrology
The reading was taken; the route is what gets questioned
cathodmon is a read-only evidence layer that sits around cathodic-protection monitors already installed on a buried pipeline or tank farm. A technician scans a QR label at each test point, photographs what is there, adds a note and signs, and the route comes out as a dated record of who attended which point and what they saw. It is for pipeline and asset operators whose potentials are already logged but whose proof of the visit is a paper sheet.
Route42 test pointsin the order the QR labels fix
Captured38 offlinephoto, note and signature each
4 UNVISITED
carried to the next pass, not hidden
carried to the next pass, not hidden
pipeline integrity and corrosion teamscathodic-protection contractorstank farm and terminal operatorswater utility asset owners
The potential survives; the visit is what goes missing
Cathodic protection of buried steel is judged on pipe-to-soil potentials and on the record that the structure was tested as the operator's programme says it should be. AS 2832 sets out cathodic-protection practice, AS 2885 governs pipeline integrity in Australia, and AMPP and NACE SP0169 is the long-standing practice for buried piping elsewhere. An installed monitor holds the numbers perfectly well. What it does not hold is who walked to test point 31 on a Tuesday, what the post looked like, and whether the reading in the system came from that visit or from the one before it.
What cathodmon records instead
cathodmon binds each reading to a scanned test point, a photograph, a signature and a time, and reports the points on the route that were not visited rather than leaving them off the sheet.
A QR label, a phone that works without signal, and a read-only import
No instrument is built here and none is replaced. The kit is a set of weatherproof QR labels for the route's test points, an offline capture app, and an import that takes the readings your existing cathodic-protection monitors already produce. S5 writes the route record and the offline behaviour; the monitors, the test points and the potentials stay exactly as the operator has them.
1. Test-point QR labels
Each label carries a fixed identifier for one test point, so a scan is what establishes place: the route order comes from the labels rather than from a technician's memory of the line. A label that will not scan is reported as an unvisited point, which is the honest outcome.
2. Offline capture
The app takes a photograph, a note and a signature with no signal at all, and holds them until the phone finds a network. Times are recorded on the device and reconciled on upload, so a route walked in a dead spot does not arrive with a tidy, invented timestamp.
3. Read-only import
Readings that installed monitors already log are imported as evidence against the visit, never written back to the monitor and never used to command anything. If a monitor's export is unreadable, the gap is shown as a gap rather than filled with the previous value.
Six steps, and the technician keeps their own instrument
- List the route and its test points with the corrosion technician, and agree the identifiers before any label goes on a post.
- Fit the labels at the test points, leaving existing identification and any structure marking untouched.
- Import one month of the monitors' existing readings and confirm each one lands against the right test point.
- Walk one route with the paper sheet still in hand, so a lost capture is caught while somebody still remembers the walk.
- Decide what an unvisited point does: a note to the next pass, or an escalation on the day, and name who decides.
- Sign the route at the end of the walk, close the missed points with a reason, and export the record for the operator's file.
What is in the starter
a set of weatherproof QR labels for the route's test points, the offline capture app for the technician's own phone, the read-only import connector for the monitors already installed, and the first 3 years of the subscription. The route work is quoted per route; the subscription is listed.
A route, not a spreadsheet column
The record below is one month of a route, with the points attended, what was captured at each, and the four that were not reached. It is the page an auditor asks for when the potentials are already in the system and the question is who was there. The record is invented to show the shape and is labelled a sample.
Route PL-7, monthly CP attendance — sample 4 UNVISITED
- Route
- PL-7, 42 test points, 11.4 km, walked in label order
- Attended
- 38 points scanned, each with a photograph of the post
- Potentials
- Imported read-only from the installed monitors, 38 matched
- Signature
- One route signature at 15:40, scoped to the 38 attended points
- Unvisited
- 31, 32, 33 and 36, all in the floodway section
- Reason given
- Access track under water; recorded by the technician at the time
- Action
- Floodway points carried to the next pass and flagged to the integrity engineer
- Disposition
- Route closed with four open points, not closed as complete
The signature covers the points that were scanned and what was captured at each of them. It does not cover the accuracy of the potentials, which belong to the monitors, and it is not a statement that the structure is protected.
Why this is not a commodity sensor
Every metre of this route already has a number attached to it. The scarce thing is the chain that says a named person stood at test point 31 on a date and photographed it, which is what turns a potential into evidence rather than an entry someone typed.
What this is not
cathodmon is a read-only evidence layer and performs no cathodic-protection control and no cathodic-protection survey. It does not energise, adjust or interrupt a rectifier or any other CP source, it does not measure pipe-to-soil potentials itself, and it does not run or replace a close-interval survey. It does not validate the readings it imports, correct them, or decide whether a structure is protected; those judgements belong to the corrosion engineer and to the operator's programme under AS 2832, AS 2885 and its own procedures, and no compliance certificate is issued here. It does not replace the technician, the instrument or the annual integrity assessment. No compatibility claim is made for any monitor brand. An offline capture proves what was captured on a device, not that the device was at the post.
Claim ceiling — C0, monitoring and records
cathodmon measures and reports what its sensors see. That is monitoring, not a compliance or safety certification: the log is evidence of what the equipment recorded, and nothing on this page, in the quotation or on the invoice certifies your site, your process or your equipment against any standard.
Price and quotation
One product page S5 owns. The subscription is A$79 per machine / month. The hardware and the scope are quoted against a site assessment, and the quotation carries that figure. Nothing is sold directly from this page: the listed price is recorded through a written quotation, and the quotation states the lead time, the freight and the payment terms for your site.
| Piece | What happens | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Quotation | A written quotation is issued for this page and the configuration shown | Issued on request |
| Buy now | Opens the quotation page: the listed price is recorded against a written quotation, no order, no payment | A$79 held |
| Lead time and freight | Stated in the written quotation for your site | Confirmed in the quotation |
| Commercial quote | A quotation reference is issued for this page and configuration | Instant, same page |
| Subscription, from year 4 | The first 3 years are inside the quoted price | Not charged today |
Get instant commercial quote
One email address and your configuration, and the quotation for this cathodmon build is issued against this page. No account, no sales call required.
Frequently asked questions
Direct answers to the questions buyers, installers and AI search tools ask about cathodmon.
What does cathodmon actually record on a cathodic-protection route?
It records attendance: which test point was scanned, when, with what photograph, note and signature, and which points on the route were not reached. Readings already logged by the installed monitors are imported against those visits as supporting evidence. It does not record a new potential of its own, because it has no measuring circuit.
Does cathodmon control the cathodic protection or adjust rectifier output?
No, cathodmon is read-only and has no control path to any part of the CP system. It cannot energise, interrupt, adjust or poll a rectifier, and it cannot change a monitor's settings or its logging interval. Any adjustment to protection remains the corrosion engineer's decision and the technician's work on the equipment, outside this product.
Does cathodmon replace a close-interval survey?
No, it performs no survey of any kind. A close-interval survey measures potentials along the pipe at short spacing to find areas of inadequate protection, and that needs an instrument on the line and a trained surveyor. cathodmon records that a person attended a fixed test point; it does not sample the pipe between test points and cannot report a potential profile.
How does cathodmon work where there is no mobile signal on the route?
The capture runs entirely offline: the scan, the photograph, the note and the signature are held on the phone until a network appears. Times come from the device and are reconciled when the route uploads, so the sequence of a walk is preserved rather than rewritten at the end of the day. A route that never regains a network keeps the evidence on the device, which is a limitation worth knowing before a remote route is signed off.
What does the signature on a cathodmon route record prove?
It proves that the named person asserted they attended the points listed, at the times recorded, and captured what is shown. It does not prove the potentials are right, the structure is protected, or that the visit met every requirement of the operator's programme. Those remain with the operator and the corrosion engineer, which is why the signature is scoped to attendance and evidence rather than to compliance.
Does cathodmon measure pipe-to-soil potentials itself?
No, it has no reference electrode, no voltmeter and no connection to the pipe. Potentials come from the monitors and surveys the operator already runs, and cathodmon imports them read-only so a visit and a reading can be seen together. A route with no working monitors still produces attendance evidence, but it produces no potentials.
Can cathodmon read the monitors that are already installed on my route?
It imports readings those monitors already export, as a read-only copy, and makes no claim of compatibility with any particular make or model until an export has been tested. Where a monitor's file cannot be read, the point shows as having attendance evidence and no imported reading. cathodmon never writes to a monitor, so an unreadable export costs you the reading, not the instrument.
How is cathodmon priced?
The subscription is listed on this page, per machine per month. The route work is quoted, because it scales with the number of test points, the number of routes and whether an existing monitor export has to be mapped; nothing beyond the listed subscription is charged until a quotation for that work has been issued and accepted. Send the route length and test-point count with the quote form and that part of the figure is built from them rather than from a package tier.
How much does cathodmon cost, and what is included in the price?
cathodmon is quoted per site for the hardware and the scope described here. The subscription is A$79 per machine / month. The quotation is issued against the site assessment and states the delivery, invoicing and payment terms before anything is committed.
What hardware do I have to buy or install for cathodmon?
cathodmon ships as a kit: a set of weatherproof QR labels for the route's test points, the offline capture app for the technician's own phone, the read-only import connector for the monitors already installed, and the first 3 years of the subscription. The route work is quoted per route; the subscription is listed. No S5-designed radio enclosure is required, because the site gateway is a finished product bought off the shelf. Installation is a guided self-install, and the site needs mains power or the supplied battery option at the gateway location.
How is cathodmon quoted, and what does the written quotation state?
cathodmon is quoted against a written commercial quotation. The quotation states the configuration, the price, the lead time and the freight for your site, and sets out the ordering, invoicing and delivery terms before anything is committed.
How do I get a price for my site, and what happens after I submit the form?
Use the “Get instant commercial quote” form on this page, which needs only your email address and your configuration choice. The store records the request against the cathodmon subdomain and issues a quotation reference, so the enquiry is traceable rather than lost in a mailbox. You receive the quotation for the configuration and price shown; nothing is ordered and nothing is charged until you accept it, and the Request a quotation button is what records your interest.
What happens if cathodmon reports a failure or goes offline?
A cathodmon failure is recorded as evidence and handed to the operator, not silently retried. The record keeps the measured values, the time of the event and the limit that was crossed, and the response is a documented action by your team, not an automatic decision by the device. A missing reading is treated as a missing data point, not as a pass.