26 July 2018
Let your pets run wild with our outdoor sensors
Consumer watchdog ‘Which?’ conducted a survey in 2017, asking burglar alarm owners some of the key issues they faced when it came to false alarms; one of the top reasons was the alarm being triggered by pets. And this was mainly related to an indoor environment, so isn’t too far fetched to assume that people feel false alarms caused by pets are even more likely to occur with outdoor sensors.
The stability of an intrusion detection system obviously depends on the reliability of the sensors used. One of our colleagues, an animal lover living with many cats and dogs decided to prove that an alarm system can operate in harmony with pets. He connected our VXI short range outdoor PIR to an Axis camera using the ACAP integration and recorded how our sensor was behaving. He armed the system and let his pets enjoy some fresh air. As you can see in the CCTV footage below, the test was a complete success as the sensor detected him without setting off any false alarms while the animals were running around the detection area.
If you too think pets and intruder alarms can live in harmony, join our ‘Let Them Run Wild’ social media campaign!
LX-402 a versatile outdoor PIR series still running strong
A well-designed product can last many years and be as useful now as it was when first released – OPTEX’s LX-402 is the perfect example of older products still going strong.
Built with a double conductive shielding to resist extreme sunlight, the LX-402 provides a detection range up to 12m long by 15m wide. It features a day/night function to adjust to the lighting and its sensitivity adjustment can be easily changed to low, medium or high depending on the site’s specifics and environment.
The great benefit of the LX-402 is its versatility. It can be mounted at 2.5m to provide a volumetric detection, or mounted at 1.3m to create a pet alley to ignore animals moving around the property. Compact and discreet, the LX-402 can be used for residential as well as commercial applications for triggering a light, a pre-warning system, or a camera.
Masking strips are provided to adjust the detection area and optional wall or ceiling-mount brackets can be purchased to adjust the angle of detection by 45 degrees horizontally and 20 degrees vertically. It is mainly deployed to protect garages, small parking lots and delivery doors.
To protect an alley or the back of a building, another sensor from the same product family, the LX-802 provides 24m by 2m detection. If you would like to discover or re-discover the LX series, contact us.
Beam tower alignment – think 45 degrees
The key success of a reliable active infrared intrusion system relies on the accuracy of the beam or beam tower alignment. If the transmitting ‘beams’ and the receiving ‘beams’ are not well aligned, there is a risk of severe environmental interference from fog and sunlight, even more so if the beams are 100m or 200m apart.
When installing beam towers around a perimeter there is the tendency to think that the towers should be at a 90 degree angle from each other. Actually, a 90 degree angle can restrict the view for the signal due to the tower extrusion lip. Our technical team recommends mounting the beam towers at a 45 degree angle on the ground, this allows the beam mounted inside the tower a clear view and gives the installer some flexibility for alignment.
If you are using a floor mount enclosure, the same principle applies: you should dig a 45 degree angled square in the ground to install the ground bracket.
