25 May 2021 - Rick Wakeham
Featured in: Product information and OPTEX tech tips, Tech Tip, Intrusion detection
In order to get the best performance from OPTEX outdoors sensors, considering the correct mounting height is crucial.
Low-mount sensors
OPTEX low-mount volumetric sensors, the 90-degree VXI, VXS and 180-degree WXI should be mounted at 0.8 to 1.2m from the ground. They are ideal sensors to detect intrusion in a clear area – where no structure or outdoor furniture obstruct the detection layers and create a blind spot behind the structure, and where small to medium size animals, such as cats, dogs and foxes may walk in the detection area.
They all feature double layered detection with a low and high detection layer allowing to create a double confirmation when a person is detected and ignore small to medium size animals. The lens has also been designed to create multiple different detection zones and algorithms are calculated based on those zones to distinguish between wildlife and human.
If the sensor is mounted below the recommended height it would mean the two detection layers are getting too closed and the animal tolerance will decrease. Taking the example of the dog on the diagram below, if the sensor is mounted too low the dog will trigger the alarm.
If the sensor is mounted higher than 1.2m, then the detection zones are not grounded properly, and it could either miss alarms due to human targets walking between the layers or nuisance alarms from environmental conditions as the zones are not grounded.
High-mount sensors
OPTEX’s volumetric high-mount sensors, the LX-402 and HX series, enables detection of an open area even if there are some obstacles. For instance, when protecting a driveway, it can still detect movements around a parked car.
The degree of animal tolerance depends on the model, with the HX-series providing more tolerance than the LX series.
In a similar way to the low-mount sensors, the design and technology are specifically designed to provide best performance at the recommended height, the HX-series should be mounted between 2.5m-3m.
Multi-height sensors
OPTEX also has a range of sensors that can cater to both low and high-mount. Our multi-height sensors are the WXS and QXI.
The WXS can be mounted between 0.8m-1.2m in low mount, or at two metres in high-mount. This can be effective in avoiding vandalism or masking of the lens. In high-mount position, the detection is fixed at 9m and the settings need to be changed as highlighted in this video
The QXI can be mounted between 0.8m-1.2m or between 2.2m-2.7m. At high-mount, the sensor will not detect small animals, however if you are in an area that may be affected by larger animals you can lower the sensor creating a pet alley detection pattern.
This would require the mirror to be repositioned as per instructions below, and the detection area to be terminated by a solid structure (wall/solid fence) to avoid any over ranging.
QX Infinity Series - Pet Alley settings