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A magnetic cylinder sensor detects the permanent magnet fitted to the piston, sensing it through the cylinder wall from the mounting slot — so it is the natural method for standard pneumatic cylinders with piston magnets, giving contactless, wear-free end-position feedback without any external target. An inductive proximity sensor detects a metal target and cannot see the piston through a metal wall; it suits cylinders without piston magnets where an external metal flag or machine part serves as the target, or aluminum-body cylinders where the sensing geometry works. Choose magnetic sensing when the cylinder has a piston magnet (most do); choose inductive sensing when it does not or when the detection target is a machine element rather than the piston itself. KJT Sensors supplies both families — magnetic sensors in groove, rice-cylinder, circular-cylinder and pull-cylinder mounting types — with switching point, hysteresis and output confirmed for the specific model.
The deciding question is one word: magnet. Does the cylinder contain a detectable piston magnet? Yes → magnetic sensing through the wall. No → inductive sensing of an external metal target.
Magnetic sensing is contactless through the cylinder wall: KJT Sensors magnetic sensors detect permanent magnets "of all strengths mounted on all common cylinder pistons," wear-free, short-circuit-proof, IP67 (manufacturer-stated).
Inductive sensing cannot see through metal. An inductive sensor detects the piston magnet's field only by coincidence — its own principle requires a metal target in open air; sensing through a steel cylinder wall is not its operating mode.
Mounting type is a cylinder property, not a preference: groove (C-slot/T-slot), round-body tie-rod, circular and pull-cylinder formats each need their sensor mounting — KJT Sensors offers all four types.
Switching point and hysteresis must be verified per model: they determine where the switch actually trips along the piston's travel and how much magnet movement reverses before it releases.
For a sensor already switching twice or losing the end signal in service, that is a diagnosis problem with its own treatment ({{URL_T14}}).
A magnetic cylinder sensor (reed or Hall-based) is mounted on the cylinder body — typically in the groove — and detects the permanent magnet ring carried on the piston as it passes. KJT Sensors' magnetic sensors "work electronically and can precisely detect permanent magnets of all strengths mounted on all common cylinder pistons," and are wear-free, short-circuit-proof, durable and rated IP67; versions exist for welding areas, explosion-proof areas and with analog output (manufacturer-stated, Magnetic Sensor).
The KJT Sensors magnetic range covers four mounting formats — groove type, rice-cylinder type, circular-cylinder type and pull-cylinder type — each matching a cylinder family's rail or body geometry (confirmed live on the category page). Hall-effect variants extend the same magnetic principle to rotation and speed detection of magnetic targets, but for cylinder duty the magnetic switch is the workhorse.
Two engineering quantities govern the result:
Switching point: the piston position at which the sensor output changes state. It depends on magnet strength and position, sensor sensitivity, and the wall between them.
Hysteresis: the difference between the switch-on point and the switch-off point as the piston reverses. It prevents output chatter when the piston parks exactly at the switch point.
Both are model properties to be verified on the actual cylinder — which is why KJT Sensors' selection guidance for cylinder applications asks for the cylinder brand, groove type, magnet-ring condition and an installation photo.
An inductive proximity sensor generates a high-frequency electromagnetic field and detects the eddy currents a metal target introduces. It is the standard non-contact answer for metal parts — and the subject of its own comparison for metal versus non-metal targets ({{URL_F02}}).
For cylinder end-position feedback, inductive sensing is the choice when the detection target is not the piston magnet but an external metal feature: a flag on the piston rod extension, a clevis, a cam on the mechanism the cylinder drives. Its constraint is equally clear: the sensing field does not pass usefully through a metallic cylinder wall, and the sensing distance is defined against a specified metal target in open air. On a standard tie-rod cylinder, an inductive sensor watching for "the piston" through the wall simply does not operate; on a rod-extension flag or driven-mechanism part, it works exactly as its datasheet says.
