B-Line 13104RS5003 Comet Series Tubular Photoelectric Sensor

It is built for it. The 13104RS5003 carries NEMA 1, 3, 4, 4X, 6, 6P, 12 and 13 plus IP68 and IP69K, which covers high pressure, high temperature washdown and temporary submersion. The lens is polycarbonate, the body is structural polyurethane foam and the cable jacket is PVC. Operating range is -40 to 158 F (-40 to 70 C), so freezer aisles and unheated outdoor mounting are both in range.

Background suppression means the sensor sees a target up to its sensing range and ignores anything past the cutoff range, so a shiny conveyor rail or a wall right behind the product will not false trigger it. The 13104RS5003 is specified against a 90 percent reflectance card: it detects that card at the sensing range and ignores it at the cutoff range. Use it where you can only mount on one side of the target and there is clutter behind it. If you need long range or you are detecting clear or dark, low reflectance objects, a through-beam or retroreflective pair is the better choice.

Not directly on anything drawing real current. The output is rated 300 mA maximum on AC or DC. That is fine for a PLC input card or a small interposing relay coil, but a contactor coil, a valve bank or a lamp load should go through a relay. On DC the output is NPN open collector, so it sinks to common rather than sourcing, and your input card has to be wired for sinking.

There is a red LED on the sensor that shows output status, so during alignment you can watch it toggle as the target passes instead of metering the output. Pair that with the background suppression behavior: the LED should come on with the target present and drop out when only the background is in view.

The 13104RS5003 has latching short circuit protection. A short on the output shuts the output down and it stays latched off rather than cycling, so maintenance has to clear the fault and power cycle the sensor to bring it back. Keep the load at or under 300 mA to stay inside the rating.