5 minute read
Essence Group – MyShield
PRODUCT TEST
The Essence MyShield unit is promoted as a 5G enabled Security Fog Generator Device and is aimed at home and small business owners. It incorporates a PIR detector and HD camera and when triggered allows the property owner or central station to confirm an intrusion and if required to remotely deploy fog (also referred to as smoke). The easily replaceable MyShield smoke canister produced smoke that is non-toxic, non-stick and non-lingering.
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What’s in the box? MyShield PIR camera Fog canister Quick guide Getting started
The Quick guide gives a limited amount of information, but sufficient for a simple installation. This consists of removing the unit’s base and rear cover which both slide off. The curved rear cover has six drill-through points that can be used for flat wall or corner mounting to suit the location. A pair of spirit level bubbles within the rear cover assist with levelling. It should be fitted at a height of 2 metres to the bottom of the unit. For the electronics module, a suitable micro-SD SIM should be clicked into the readily accessible socket before fitting the battery pack. The battery holder is removed by pressing a retaining button in the main cavity for the fog canister. This holds 6 x CR123A 3-volt Lithium cells arranged as two series connected sets of three, giving two 9-volt feeds to the device through its 3-pole connector.
With the battery pack fitted into the unit, there is a short time for initialisation which is completed once the LED stops flashing.
Access to the device is through the Essence, MyShield app that can be downloaded from the iOS or Android stores to suit the mobile device being used. An Android device was used for the testing as a “User not found” message was presented when attempting connection from two different iOS devices; this was possibly due to the configuration of this demonstration unit and it is likely that Essence technical support could quickly resolve this issue.
Once the device has initialised it is added to the mobile app using the QR code on the device’s top plate or by entering its serial number.
Once connection is confirmed the unit can be slid onto its wall-mounted rear plate. The fog canister is then slid into the unit and its handle rotated to secure it in place. Finally, the bottom cover is slid back on to complete the installation.
Essence Group - MyShield
Status and settings
The app home screen gives an overview of the unit’s Armed / Disarmed status and access to basic menu options, including battery and signal level plus any status notifications. The device name and firmware version is shown with settings for speaker volume, motion detection announcement on/off, and Fog deployment warning on/off switches.
Once logged in to the app, the menu options are arranged in the following order: Home: Property Armed / Disarmed status with activation button and access to drop-down menu list. Account: Name and e-mail details, password change option and log-out. Devices: Confirmation of available devices and when selected, status information and audio settings.
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Users: Details of the user and their account details. History: Activation and tamper reporting with Date and Security / Technical filtering options. Media Gallery: Video clip and still image gallery. Settings: App protection options for PIN access and Language options. About: App version and licensing information.
Hardware
The overall dimensions of the unit are 208mm x 132mm x 78mm (H x D x W) with a weight of just over 1kg.
The fog canister has dimensions of 132mm height including contacts x 65mm diameter (71mm including locking ring lugs). The canister contains a pair of CR123A 3-volt Lithium cells to power its own electronics and a solenoid that activates a flap in the housing base and releases the fog. A voltage across the two terminals is used to momentarily activate the solenoid and trigger an on-board sounder.
The app advises that once the fog has been triggered then the main unit batteries must be changed. The specification details that these batteries should have an operational life of up to three years in normal use.
Tamper monitoring is used to detect removing from the wall, canister removal, and battery compartment access.
Operating temperature range is given as -10°C to +55°C and the casing has an IP21 rating.
Performance
The camera has a very wide-angle lens giving an angle of view of 140° horizontal x 79° vertical with a useable coverage up to 12 metres. The image is HD at 1920 x 1080 pixels with H.264 video encoding. For night-time viewing internal white (visible) LED lighting is used. This is specified to 6 metre coverage.
When the device is armed, a 5 second countdown is given on the remote device then the unit is armed.
When the PIR is triggered, an alarm is sent to the operator’s mobile or workstation within a few seconds. In practice this was found to be within 4 seconds to reach the mobile device and a siren warning occurs within around 12 seconds. The device issues an audio warning on site “Protected area, leave immediately” and this is repeated three times. During this time a video clip of the intrusion is created and sent through to the operator. This normally may take up to a minute to be received at which point the operator can decide to deploy the fog if the audio warning fails to deter the intruders when there is a verified intrusion taking place. An additional “Swipe to deploy” slider control is used to prevent inadvertent activation of the fog deployment. Once activated the device issues a further site audio warning, “Deploying fog, clear the area” that is repeated as an additional deterrent as the fog is released and a scene image is taken to confirm the action. The fogging is specified for rooms up to 100m3 and releases for approximately 30 seconds. A notification is then sent through to the operator and a reminder that the canister has been used is issued. The short video incident clips have basic replay controls and play speed adjustable from 0.5 times to 1.5 times in 5 steps.
Conclusion
An interesting battery-operated remote security device with long operational duration that is easy to install and operate.
