Raytec energy efficient Infra-Red LED lighting technology is being used to ensure effective 24-hour remote CCTV surveillance of the historic Tunnel Dam, on the Niangua River in Camden County, Missouri, USA. Covert RAYMAX Infra-Red light has been deployed instead of visible White-Light because the dam is located in an area of outstanding natural beauty and the system designers wanted to avoid unnecessary light pollution.
Raytec energy efficient Infra-Red LED lighting technology is being used to ensure effective 24-hour remote CCTV surveillance of the historic Tunnel Dam, on the Niangua River in Camden County, Missouri, USA. Covert RAYMAX Infra-Red light has been deployed instead of visible White-Light because the dam is located in an area of outstanding natural beauty and the system designers wanted to avoid unnecessary light pollution.
The IP-CCTV surveillance system was recently installed by Will Electronics to improve security and safety at the site, and Raytec's IR lighting plays a major part in the system's performance, energy and cost efficiency. Raytec's RAYMAX 300 series of ultra wide angle illuminators light the entire area up to 1200 feet away, with the capability of providing angles of up to 180 degrees. The units allow the site surveillance system to capture crisp, clear CCTV images at night, but because the IR light is invisible to the human eye the scene looks totally dark.
Traditional lighting, such as halogen and metal halide, often accounts for a large proportion of electricity consumption, running and maintenance costs in any security system. Raytec's highly efficient LED illuminators are offering a welcomed change for the dam. Raytec illuminators employ state of the art SMT LED technology to deliver a significantly lower power consumption, lower running costs, longer life (minimum 10 years) and zero maintenance, compared to alternative lighting technology. In addition, all Raytec units are extremely reliable, robust and fully vandal resistant. They also feature a cool running thermal management system which prevents the technology from overheating like other older style units, ensuring fail-safe 24hour operation and a high level of security.
The Tunnel Dam, built in the 1930s at Lake Niangua, is a hydro-electric gravity dam run by Sho-Me Power Electric Cooperative. It has a relatively small generating capacity by modern standards but does generate a useful amount of top-up power during peak demand periods and is considered an important facility.
“There were also concerns that any visible light in this isolated forest setting might attract unwanted attention from people taking gunshots or be tempted to vandalise the security system”, says Jeff Byrd of Will Electronics. “The high performance, discreet IR solution from Raytec allowed us to overcome this problem”
“I've been in the security industry for over 20 years and have used several forms of IR lighting in my past but haven't found any product on the market that will stand up to level of performance that the Raytec illumination does,” comments Jeff Byrd.
“Furthermore, with their new offerings in visible white lighting, Raytec allow us to offer better quality of color video surveillance and security to our customers that we never had before.”