PSISeptember2017

TEST<br />

PRODUCT TEST<br />

ESP GuardCam LED<br />

What’s in the box?<br />

GuardCam LED unit<br />

Instructions<br />

4GB SD card & USB card<br />

reader<br />

Allen key<br />

Fitting screws<br />

PIR angle reducing stickers<br />

8.0 out of 10<br />

External lighting is widely accepted<br />

as one way to deter burglars so if<br />

you can combine this with a camera<br />

and PIR you have a much more useful<br />

tool at your disposal. Back in February<br />

2015 we looked at a low energy LED<br />

security light called NightHawk LED from<br />

ESP which featured a floodlight output of<br />

1100 lumens with a detection rate of 10m. This<br />

month we’re looking at its bigger brother the<br />

feature rich GuardCam LED available in the UK<br />

from distributor CEF.<br />

Installation<br />

Fitting the unit to the wall follows the procedure<br />

for the NightHawk LED, screw the mounting plate<br />

to the surface and feed the cable through the<br />

bush and wire up the unit. Attach the light to the<br />

mounting plate angling the unit at the back so<br />

that it slots in neatly and screw the two parts<br />

together. Put the tools away, that’s it. However<br />

the fun is now about to begin as while the Night<br />

Hawk essentially had just two types of settings<br />

(light time, sensitivity) the GuardCam has more<br />

features than you would expect from something<br />

in its price range.<br />

The first settings to determine are the usual<br />

time and sensitivity controls using two small<br />

knobs on the rear of the PIR. Time ranges from 5<br />

seconds up to 7 minutes with detector range<br />

sensitivity from around 2m to 10m for the 160°<br />

PIR. A walk test setting allows you to adjust the<br />

time to the desired period with a marker at the<br />

20secs point for reference.<br />

Next you can choose which overall working<br />

mode you require. These are three modes that<br />

vary in the on/off settings of the three main<br />

functions, the light, the camera and the speaker.<br />

The speaker itself can be on or off and has five<br />

options these are:<br />

1. Default - “Warning you are being recorded by a<br />

security camera” message<br />

2. Dog barking<br />

3. Self-recorded message 1 (max 10 secs)<br />

4. Self-recorded message 2 (max 10 secs)<br />

5. Off<br />

The final stage of set-up involves the on board<br />

recording facility, which begins with inserting the<br />

supplied SD card and setting the date/time by<br />

using a scrolling LCD display on the side of the<br />

unit. Under the same cover is button to choose<br />

video or photo recording.<br />

So that you know that you’ve done everything<br />

correctly there is a status light showing red for a<br />

problem and green for all being fine and that the<br />

unit is recording.<br />

In use<br />

Detector sensitivity during the day would appear<br />

to be at around the 8m mark with video footage<br />

identifying the person in the image. The video<br />

recordings last for 20 secs and are saved onto the<br />

SD card as AVi files. These were easily viewed by<br />

inserting the card into a PC and clicking on the<br />

specific file. The record rate is 15fps at 1080 x<br />

720P and the daytime image is shown bottom left.<br />

At night the PIR seems more sensitive,<br />

activating at a higher distance, with video footage<br />

clear enough for close identification.<br />

Conclusion<br />

The LED floodlight works well easily lighting up a<br />

large area at night and video is clear enough. The<br />

audio level of the announcements is loud and<br />

option 1 on the list should initiate the desired<br />

response in most applications!<br />

In today’s world remote access is a popular<br />

feature, but this unit doesn’t satisfy that demand.<br />

If live monitoring is important to your customer<br />

then the wireless transmission model with 7”<br />

screen would be the one to go for.<br />

18 www.psimagazine.co.uk