25 October 2023 - Tom Opio
Featured in: Product information and OPTEX tech tips, Tech Tip, Intrusion detection
A time-saving and simplified solution for installing free-standing and wall-mounted beam towers.
When it comes to meeting your exact perimeter security needs, we can pre-build active infrared (AIR) beam towers. Tom Opio, our Technical Engineer, who is responsible for building the towers at OPTEX Security EMEA HQ, talks us through the process.
It is good practice to mount the beams into towers rather than on to walls or poles. This enhances the security level as the housing protects them from possible vandalism and conceals the mounting location making it very difficult for potential intruders to determine the number and height of beams installed (maximum four beams).
Built to your specific requirements, beam towers can come in 1.0m, 1.5m, 2.0m or 3.0m in height, the number of stacked beams will be dependent on the height and the beams are optional to your specifications and dependent on the distance you are protecting.
Accessory options
Fan
Each beam is installed alongside a fan for cooling purposes in warm conditions.
Motherboard
The connection hub for power and all the sensors and switches in the tower. Configuration depends on installed options.
Heater
Each individual beam in the tower is installed with a heater to provide heat in colder climates.
Top tamper
Each beam tower is installed tamper button, should the tower opened from the top.
Can the beams be affected by cross talk?
When stacking beams in towers we are stacking beams there is potential for cross talk, but this can be easily ruled out in the installation setup. The beams have four different frequency settings. Selecting different frequencies for each beam eliminates the risk of cross talk.
Are the beams affected by direct sunlight and reflection?
Sunlight and reflection can affect the performance of infrared beams. The materials used for the OPTEX beams black cover is specifically designed to reduce the effect of sunlight. The SL models feature two additional layers of sun protection, including a light disturbance compensation circuit.
How easy is it to install and align a 100m or 200m beam set?
Long range beams can be difficult to align for one person without any tools. The SL Quad beam series provide a number of easy alignment tools to make it as easy as possible.
The BAU-4 OPTEX can be used to independently align top and bottom beams for each set. Make sure you choose which beams you are tuning by selecting top or bottom.
All SL models have a vivid colour and a sniper viewfinder (magnifying) lens to help with visual alignment.
For higher-end models, these are equipped with sound signals and LED features to indicate how strong the signal is between the transmitter and receiver.
What tools will you need?
As the beams are all ready pre-built and configured you will only require standard tools for mounting and a volumeter for power.
Power and Connectivity
Our OPTEX beam towers can come as wired, wireless or PoE in some cases, this should be determined in the specifications. If you decide on wireless connectivity, we recommend our battery box is used and should offer up to four years of life without having to replace them.
