Light Beam Sensors....

[Wyoming]

Folks...My institution has several hundred feet of exterior wall, surrounding a courtyard that offers access to several art galleries. An old light beam intrusion device is supposed to provide an alarm if someone goes over the wall, but the system has been out of service for many years. I am urging management to replace the old (13-years +) system with something new and, hopefully, functional! Do any of you have experience with similar systems? I would appreciate any advice. I imagine that there must be superior hardware (lazer based?) that you could clue me onto. Thanks.

[N. A. Corbier]

Passive Infrared, Microwave, and Ultrasound come to mind. I'm sure that the installers and resellers will have more information.

Whatever you recommend, see if you can get a dual-technology device. That way, both devices have to go off for a valid sensor read. Ie: PIR detects a hot spot, but Microwave doesn't detect movement. This way, you'll get less false alarms.

[integrator97]

What you need is outdoor photo electric beams. They make dual and quad beams, so birds won't set them off, etc. They have ranges of 30' to 650', maybe more. A good security company should be able to get what you need, but the manufacturers are Optex, Pulnix, and others.