26 November 2021 - Aude Desbrieres
Featured in: Product information and OPTEX tech tips, Product bulletin, Intrusion detection
For most Northern hemisphere countries, the change of season has been noticeable in the last couple of weeks – it’s darker in the morning and evening, trees are shedding leaves, temperatures are dropping and the humidity level is up.
All of these changes can affect outdoor security devices and it is important to check that intrusion detection sensors and other security equipment can adapt and perform in tougher weather conditions.
Operating temperature
The operating temperature can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, from one product series to other for the same brand, and even within the same product line. It can be different for the wired model and wireless model, so it best to check for the sensors already installed or to be installed.
Typically, the operating temperature for our OPTEX short range volumetric (VX, WX etc) and curtain sensors (BX) will vary from -20⁰C to +45⁰C to -30⁰C to +60⁰C.
For our REDWALL long range volumetric sensors, we offer heaters that can operate below their standard -25⁰C down to -40⁰C degree.
Our REDSCAN RLS-2020 operates from -40⁰C to +60⁰C and new REDSCAN Pro can operate at the same temperature when using the lens heater.
Ingress protection (IP) rating or Protection class
Ingress Protection or Protection class is an international rating system that measures the dust and water protection for devices. The first digit relates to the solids ingress and the second to water. The higher the digits, the better the protection.
IP54 = 5 means 2-to-8-hour dust protection with limited ingress of dust
4 means resistant to splashing water at any angle
IP55 means the water resistant is significantly higher, it resists water jets against the enclosure at any angle.
IP66 means the enclosure is dust tight and can be subjected to powerful water jets and temporary immersion.
In an area with risk of dust being blown in by wind, or heavy rains or humidity, it is important to check the IP rating of the outdoor sensors.
Here is the IP rating of OPTEX sensors at a glance:
- BXS, VXI and VXS, WXI and WXS are all IP55 rating
- Our AX beams series are IP 55 and SL beams series are IP65
- Our REDWALL-SIP are IP65 for the main unit and IP55 for the chassis
- REDSCAN 2020 and REDSCAN Pro are all IP66
Sensing analytics
As well as changes in temperature and humidity level, autumn and winter also bring the challenges of environmental changes: leaves are falling from trees and can twirl across the detection area of the sensors, heavy rain can splash on the sensor lens, and vegetation can sway with the wind. All those elements could trigger nuisance alarms if the sensors are not equipped with sensing analytics to ignore them.
All our OPTEX outdoor PIRs sensors feature the patented SMDA (Super Multi-Dimensional Analysis) logic, which provides temperature compensation, noise cancellation and specifically beneficial for winter months: frequency analysis. The latter means that the SMDA Logic adjusts the sensitivity level to avoid catching vegetation sway, but not to miss human movement.
Components
The quality of components also plays an important role on how long the sensors can resist adverse elements. While information about components used in products is difficult to obtain, it is still important for installers to think of durability for both customers’ satisfaction and for greater sustainability. OPTEX takes great care to choose components that will last for many years. For instance, the microwave modules used in our dual technology sensors (PIR/MW) are gold or white gold plated as this gives greater performance and durability than tin plated modules.
If winter conditions are tough where you are installing your outdoor intrusion detection system, it will be a peace of mind to select sensors with adequate operating temperature, the right IP rating, some good sensing analytics and built to last.