South Australia Water has chosen infra-red (IR) illuminators in a perimeter security upgrade of their water treatment plant in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia.
Initially, the tender called for visible lighting to provide a specified 3 lux for the cameras around the fence line. However the security designers and integrators AG Security Group proposed a different way, that won the tender; putting forward Raytec IR CCTV lighting.
Wayne McKenny, Project Manager of AG Security Group, said: “We had previously deployed Raytec lighting on similar projects and the products were reliable with a competitive price point and comfortably covered the range we needed with excellent night-time images.” The IR lighting delivers zero light pollution, the UK manufacturers point out. AG Security highlighted that some residents may have had an issue with light pollution from traditional visible lighting. There were also installation cost savings due to the fact that the IR could be installed onto the PTZ camera poles and cover around the perimeter from the minimum number of locations. Visible lighting would have required more lighting units to achieve the same coverage resulting in more lighting columns and power reticulation costs (such as cabling, trenching and circuits). The IR could also be triggered on alarm to provide lighting only when needed, resulting in further running cost savings.
Wayne McKenny adds: “The innovative infra-red solution and associated cost savings went a long way towards a successful tender bid.”
And as for the remote monitoring the site, as a stand-alone unit separate from the camera, there is a reduced risk of spiders, which are attracted to IR, creating webs in front of the camera and causing false alarms. Hence the latest British Standards for remotely monitored CCTV sites (BS8418) states that ‘IR illumination should not surround the camera lens on external cameras’.
Wayne McKenny says: “South Australia Water were extremely pleased with the outcome of the installation and the high quality of night vision and huge cost savings due to the innovate solution provided by the Raytec Infra-Red lighting.” Visit www.rayteccctv.com.
