| Redwall SIP sensors are passive infrared devices that can intelligently detect motion |
As copper prices continue to soar, electrical substations throughout the U.S. are targets of copper thieves. Many sites are robbed for just a few dollars of scrap copper, but are left in potentially dangerous conditions and thousands of dollars of damage repairs.
Sec-Tron (sec-tron.com), a Cincinnati-based full-service security integrator, works on many electrical substations for a large, national energy company operating in this region. Sec-Tron’s customer required the detectors to monitor larger areas and alarm a new central station to prompt live video surveillance. While Sec-Tron had successfully used Optex (optexamerica.com) AX photo beam sensors and BX short-range PIR detectors for smaller substations; the new, larger, and more vulnerable sites presented a new challenge in coverage.
Optex recommended the Redwall SIP passive infrared detector. Redwall SIP sensors are passive infrared devices that can intelligently detect motion. The units are also equipped with anti-rotation and anti-masking functions to detect vandalism or tampering with the unit.
“After seeing demonstrations of the Redwall SIP and how easy it was to install using the new setup tools, we quickly adopted it as our mainstay technology,” says Tom Reigler of Sec-Tron. “The Optex system enables a wireless architecture, which saves us thousands of dollars and hundreds of man-hours by eliminating the need to trench communication cables.”
“The Redwall SIP detector and its wireless capability is ideal any outdoor commercial application, but especially for solar power farm, municipal or utility projects,” notes Alan Paterson, Optex’s product manager.
More than twenty sites have now been equipped with Redwall SIP passive infrared sensors that wirelessly communicate alarms through the local head-end to CCTV operators at the remote central station. Forty more substations using Optex sensors are planned for 2012. To further ensure protection and security surrounding the substation perimeter, there are plans to use fiber-optic fence-mounted sensors from Fiber SenSys, an Optex subsidiary.
“For the type of detection the application requires, and the need to confine it to a specific space within a chain-link fenced area, the Optex/Fiber SenSys sensors work perfectly,” states Keith Cohick, CPP, CSPM, security system design engineer for Security Management Consulting, Inc. of Raleigh, NC.