Check the Motor!

His hair may have been a little darker and fuller, the smile lines at the corners of his mouth – like tattoos of happy memories – a little fainter, but there can be no doubt that the man in the photograph wearing the smart navy-blue shirt and piebald tie is CENTURION MD and founder Pat Dickens, a man who, as a fresh-faced young engineer from Kimberly, dared to dream at a time when dreaming was all but outlawed. 

Could the man in the photo, taken from a sizeable stack that marketing director and Pat’s brother-in-law Richard Rohman lovingly keeps in his desk drawer, have known that, some day, his gate motors would be used on virtually every electric gate in South Africa? And would he have believed it if someone had told him that, in the near future, his solutions would automate the entrances to apartment complexes, office parks, airports and palaces? There’s no way of knowing for certain, but the man in the picture has a fire in his belly, a fire that he would not allow financial hardships, economic recessions or the hordes of naysayers that told him it couldn’t be done, to extinguish.

As CENTURION’s co-founder and someone who has been with the company virtually from the very beginning, Richard Rohman appears in many of the grainy old photographs, sometimes mustachioed and sometimes sans facial hair. Now in his fifties, Richard is as much an energetic firebrand as he was in those early days. He has since traded in his box-shaped Volkswagen Jetta for a vehicle that epitomises Richard's love for adventure and the outdoors, and nowadays one is more likely to find him poring over an Excel spreadsheet than fiddling with a multi-meter, but Richard was absolutely indispensable in securing CENTURION’s legacy as the undisputed leaders in gate automation and access control. 

Another picture shows the SupaSlida, the seminal sliding gate motor that laid the foundation for future successes such as the D5, of which there has been some 700, 000 sold to date. With the release of the D5-Evo – the evolution of the D5 footprint which added an intelligent LCD interface and sophisticated motor control, among other features – CENTURION achieved superstar status within the world of access automation. The original D5 slider built upon a bedrock of reliability, and the Evo’s addition of futuristic technology launched the brand into the stratosphere.

From the lush mountains and valleys of the Mpumalanga province to the vast open planes of the Free State, from Tswhane to Table Mountain, South Africans – and people the world over – simply love the green CENTURION motors. So the next time you’re out and about, be sure to #CheckTheMotor!

New Head Office Demo Area

Oh! We have such sights to show you! Such marvels, such wondrous innovations!

And they are all on display in our brand new demo area at CENTURION’s Head Office in Kya Sands, Johannesburg.

As many of you who have visited these premises will know, we boast quite an impressive sales area featuring a wide variety of our access automation products, many of them working models. After all, who buys a car without first test driving it?

But it wasn’t enough, and an innovation from our service department came to expand the demo area into the repairs section where customers waiting to have their gate motors tested can occupy themselves getting to know the devices better, especially the mechanical features.

For example you may have heard us referring to the revolutionary planetary design of the VECTOR2 gearbox, or the novel centrifugal brake found in the same operator, but how many of you have actually seen it?

Well, now you can! The new demo area features a static “cutaway” model of the VECTOR2 linear swing gate operator, affording you a rare glimpse into the groundbreaking mechanical design of this product.

Also on display is a working XTrac garage door operator paired with a fully functional SMARTGUARDair wireless keypad, and static models of the D5-Evo, D2 Turbo and D10 sliding gate operators.

But, as the popular saying goes, a picture does paint a thousand words and with that in mind I leave you to feast your eyes upon the following snapshots of the new demo area at head office.

CENTURION Remains a Favourite at IFSEC West Africa 2013

So Brandon and Scott – our resident globetrotters – have just returned from IFSEC West Africa 2013, a little worse for wear but nonetheless eager to regale us with tales of adventure from the heart of the continent.

This has been the third consecutive year that CENTURION has exhibited at this show and, thanks to the support of our Lagos office and staff, we are really seeing a rapid increase in the gate automation market in Nigeria. In fact, so overwhelming has the response been that we will be returning there in April for a full week of comprehensive access automation training presented by our well-known and beloved training manager, Chris Grobler.

According to Brandon, seen below looking every bit the part of the suave debonair, the markedly positive thing about this year’s exhibition and the people visiting was the enthusiastic response to the name and brand “CENTURION”.

From left to right: Exports Sales Representative for Africa, Brandon Horn; Exports Manager, Scott Wilson; CENTURION West Africa Branch Manager, Ademola Okulaja.

 

He went on to say that clients are now specifying that they want CENTURION equipment as it has local product support and backup.

There were close on 70 new trade clients and interested homeowners and businessmen wanting CENTURION products guarding their homes, businesses, etc. And, as always, we’re more than happy to oblige!

The CENTURION Stand

 

All in all, the show was a great success, generating many new clients and reassuring our existing clients of our powerful presence in Nigeria and West Africa in general. Thank you to all who visited our stand, we really enjoyed getting to know each and every one of you and look forward to seeing you all at IFSEC West Africa 2014!

The Virtues of the VECTOR2

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower” – Steve Jobs

The VECTOR2 linear swing gate operator is, to put it bluntly, a leader. It leads (confidently, one might add) in terms of design, in terms of intuitiveness and in terms of ingenuity. Let us not forget that not too long ago swing gate motors still relied upon micro-switches for position control and offered precious little by way of functionality. If you wanted any special features such as an extended automatic closing or a wider pedestrian opening, you’d have needed to order a custom-programmed microchip.

Archaic!, you say. Barbaric even. Be that as it may, until quite recently swing gate motors were mere pistons working mindlessly to provide only the most rudimentary of automation solutions.

Even in today’s intensely technology- and convenience-driven milieu, very few operators truly stand out in terms of intelligence.

The VECTOR2, however, is quite different as you’ll soon discover; for within its LCD controller – one that is no larger than an average hardcover novel – is housed the sort of intelligence that has the power to redefine an entire industry. Every facet of the VECTOR2 operator’s firmware has been designed to be intuitive to the point of precognition, even adapting its behaviour to accommodate any hardware variations that it encounters.

What follows are some examples of how the VECTOR2 makes life easier for installer and end-user alike.

It Practically Wires Itself

As a general rule, there is a hard and fast way that any given device needs to be wired in order for it to work and, when it comes to gate automation, incorrect wiring could very well metamorphose your beautiful wrought-iron gate into the world’s frilliest wall.

So, does the same bleak fate then await you, oh VECTOR2 owner, if you happened to inadvertently wire, say, your master motor’s sensor wires to the slave motor’s sensor inputs on the controller? Will the operator start moving drunkenly back and forth, unable to determine whether it is the master or the slave?

Nein.

The VECTOR2 controller is intelligent enough to pick up on this little miscalculation and rectify it electronically, saving you the time and effort of spending countless hours trying to trace the fault. It is entirely possible to mix channels in this fashion without adversely affecting the operation of the gate.

State of the Art Position Control

The VECTOR2 makes use of a double-redundant opto-electronic system for position control which, in layman’s terms, basically means that the controller always knows exactly in which position the operator(s) is/are. So intelligent is this system, that it even counts pulses if the gate is moved with the operator in the disengaged state.

But what is the benefit of this?, you ask.

Well, let’s say that a leaf delay of 20mm  is active because an electric striker lock or mechanical lip necessitates one gate closing before the other. This scenario in itself would not normally pose a problem.

But imagine, if you will, the following conundrum: your gates have somehow fallen out of synchronisation. Perhaps you were doing some maintenance on your master gate that necessitated disengaging the operator so that you can move the gate around freely by hand. The problem might now arise that the master gate is now closer to the fully closed position than the slave - and remember, with leaf delay enabled the slave always closes before the master.

Or at least, this would have been a problem were it not for the aforementioned opto-electronic system.  In a situation such as this, the VECTOR2 controller will keep the master stationary and move the slave past the master until there is a gap of precisely 20mm of piston stroke between them. Upon this gap being achieved, the master will be activated and the desired leaf delay will be intact.

Fully Intuitive Setup

Traditionally, the only way to get a motor to reverse direction (i.e. to change from, say, in an inward opening configuration to an outward opening configuration) was to swap the motor wires around; especially in a double-leaf swing installation, this made for rather a hairy setup procedure. Fortunately, the VECTOR2 controller possesses the ground-breaking intuitiveness to automatically detect in which direction the gate should be opening – as well as which gate it should attempt to open first during the setup – and reverse the wires electronically.

So space-age is the technology inherent in this controller, that if it is unable to move one gate in either direction, it will automatically detect that perhaps it is trying to move the incorrect gate and not only swap the motor wires electronically, but effectively swap channels! This sort of fully automated process saves valuable time onsite.

In conclusion, one can surmise that the VECTOR2 linear swing gate motor is truly a marvel of modern engineering and ingenuity; its sleek, slim line design, easy-to-install construction and fast operating speed rivalled only by the incredible intelligence housed within its controller.

"Access" Gets a Facelift

For those of you who don’t know, Access is the official CENTURION newsletter and, in the spirit of spring and all that is new and fresh, we’ve given it a shiny new coat!

 

If you’re on our mailing list (and if you aren’t, why on earth not?) you can expect the glossy new online version of Access to be hand-delivered to your inbox by the magical CENTURION email fairies.  The newsletter features all sorts of interesting titbits related to gate automation, access control, security and crime prevention.

In the first issue, we take in an in-depth look at the recently released SA Crime Statistics – discussing the latest crime trends and providing tips on what you can do to combat them. We also discuss the importance of specifying gate safety beams and get up close and personal with the wonderfully functional ChronoGuard timer functionality found on our D-Series range of controllers.

If you’d like to sign up to receive Access, please click here.

Happy reading!  

The Countdown to IFSEC 2012 Has Begun...

With just shy of two weeks to go before the biggest day on the security industry calendar kicks off, preparations in the CENTURION camp are in full swing.  Excited much?  We sure are!

IFSEC is the definitive security expo, playing host to possibly the largest collection of industry players in the Southern Hemisphere and, naturally, CENTURION will be there to showcase all the cool stuff that our engineers have been working on over the last couple of months.

You heard right.  In addition to all the CENTURION stalwarts you’ve come to know and love, we’ll also have some new ones on display at IFSEC 2012. And while we’re keeping mum about what they are, suffice it to say that we’re changing the face of gate automation and access control one groundbreaking device at a time.

Of course, fan favourites like the whisper-quiet XTrac garage door operator and the ultra-fast D10 Turbo slider will also be there doing what they do best:  automating the future.

So come visit us at the Gallagher Convention Centre from the 19^th to the 21^st of June, and see for yourself why, after 26 years, we’re still The Automatic Choice in gate automation and access control.

Comprehensive Gate Automation with the D10 Turbo

Everyone knows that life is about sacrifice and compromise.  Our existence is dictated by a sort of universal truth that states “you can’t have your cake and eat it”.  But CENTURION has taken this rather paradoxical statement and said, “What is cake for if not for eating?”

Thus was born the D10 Turbo.  We realised that there are absolutely no compromises to be made when it comes to home and personal security, and that a gate motor was needed that would offer the whole package without skimping on the essentials.

Like a fine, high-performance sports car, the D10 Turbo was originally built for speed.  With a top speed of 50 metres per minute, this expeditious operator opens and closes lighter gates at a velocity that can only be described as “lightning-like”.   The benefits to having such a speedy sprinter for a gate motor is twofold:  Firstly, there are few things in life more frustrating than coming home after a long day’s work and having to wait for an entrance gate to creep open at a pace akin to that of an aged sloth.  The second benefit has to do with seated poultry.  Yip; when we have to wait for a slow gate to allow us into the property, we become sitting ducks for criminals.  The D10 Turbo allows for ultra-fast opening and closing, leaving potential intruders in the dust.

So that’s speed covered.  But what about power?

Simply put, the D10 Turbo has plenty of it, and is able to run gates weighing up to a ton if the operator running speed is adjusted accordingly.  The table below denotes the maximum operator running speed with corresponding maximum gate mass.

D10 Turbo Maximum Operating Speed for Corresponding Gate Mass

Gate Mass (kg)	Operator Max. Running Speed (m/min)
240kg	50m/min
300kg	42m/min
400kg	36m/min
500kg	32m/min
600kg	29m/min
700kg	27m/min
800kg	25m/min
900kg	24m/min
1000kg	23m/min

 Even with an extremely heavy load, the D10 Turbo runs like greased lightning.

Finally, there is the issue of intelligence.  Suffice it to say, the advanced D10 Turbo electronic controller will score in the top of its class if it ever had to take a SAT test.  Its user-friendly LCD interface and easy-to navigate menus make it the smartest industrial gate motor by far.

Speed, power and intelligence – it’s all in a day’s work for our fastest operator yet!

The ghost of gate motors past...

As the year draws to a close and with Yule tide still fresh in our memories, we thought it might be fun to take a look at how home automation has evolved over the past few years.

Gate automation was born out of necessity.  The public at large were starting to become increasingly more security-conscious as stories of break-ins and house robberies haunted the media, walls grew taller and guard dogs grew larger and more ferocious.  A universal cry was uttered for some technological means of safeguarding ourselves against crime while at the same time relieving us of some of the burdens associated with suburban living. 

The very first gate motors – the great granddaddies of home automation, as it were – were mostly AC-driven behemoths that used limit switches for position control.  Although they undeniably filled a gap and tentatively lulled us into a sense of security, they often proved unreliable as power failures would cause them to stop working (remember, they were powered by the mains) and micro switches frequently failed.

The realisation that gate motors needed autonomy in the event of a power failure led to the advent of the now-familiar concept of battery backup being developed.  This crucial feature – one which CENTURION helped pioneer in South Africa – is today a staple of gate automation and one which helped keep homes secure even when the load shedding of recent years threatened to plunge us all back into the Dark Ages (pun definitely intended). 

With power failure protection taken care of, there was still the issue of accurate and reliable position control.  As we mentioned earlier, micro switches frequently malfunctioned back in those early days, and this meant that gates would either be sent hurtling into the endstops like runaway trains or the motor would stop working altogether.  This led to another bold step being taken, and the Digital Origin Seeking System, or DOSS, being developed.  This novel system allows the operator to “sense” the position of the gate by making use of an optical counter to count the number of pulses in each direction.  Many of you will be familiar with the gate-mounted origin magnet; this essentially acts as a point of reference for the motor, hence the name “origin magnet”.

Our very own D5 sliding gate motor – a tried, trusted and beloved stalwart of home automation – not only boasts battery backup and reliable position sensing, but has undergone a complete transformation in recent years.  The CP80 controller has been replaced with an intelligent LCD interface that makes setup and diagnostics exceptionally easy, and space-age features such as Intruder-detection Alarms and onboard timer functionality come standard with the aptly-titled D5-Evo.  When it comes to gate automation, this model is evolution at its most visible.

Of course, evolution does not only apply to sliding gate motors.  Try as we might, who can forget the days of garage door motors with clunking chains that sounded more like the ghost of Jacob Marley slowly dragging himself along to confront the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge?  Fortunately, operators now exist that are fast, reliable and whisper-quiet.  There will be no more imagining yourself in a Charles Dickens tale every time the garage door is opened.

Gate automation has become an integral part of our lives, and we trust in it as much as we do in our loyal guard dogs.  It offers convenience and peace of mind, and we are confident that it will keep evolving to suit our changing needs.

CENTURION revolutionises house-sitting

With the festive season in full swing, many of us will be trading our offices and cubicles for the seaside, our laptops for fishing rods and our suits and ties for shorts and slops.  We’ve slaved away for 12 long months and now it’s finally time to go spend that well-deserved Christmas bonus.

But what happens to your house while you’re away?  There’s nothing worse than having a 1000 kilometres of highway behind you and then suddenly realising you’ve forgotten to arm the alarm or switch off the geyser.  It’s a sinking feeling, and one that most people are all too familiar with.  On top of that, there is always the worry that someone may somehow gain access to your property by some devilish means or other.

Fortunately, past experiences, though sometimes unpleasant, often drive innovation – and what can possibly be more innovative than being able to monitor the goings-on at home even when you’re half a world away?  Rest easy, weary traveller, for CENTURION provides the solutions you seek.

Some time ago, we introduced the G-SWITCH-22, a GSM module with two inputs and two outputs for monitoring and controlling various electrical devices.   While many probably opt to use this novel little device for opening their gates at home – which, let’s be honest, is a great feature – the G-SWITCH can also be interfaced with common household appliances such as fridges and geysers, affording the user great peace of mind and convenience.  With the wind in your hair and the smell of the ocean in your nostrils, you need only give the G-SWITCH a missed call or send it a text message for it to take care of that one crucial thing that slipped your mind.  And the best part, perhaps, is that it’s a two-way relationship.  Your G-SWITCH can be set up so that it notifies you via text message when your gate is activated, the power trips, the alarm is set off, etc.  Whatever happens on the home front, you will be in the know.

But let’s not forget the all-important security factor.  What ways are there of safeguarding your property and preventing unauthorised access?  Well, you’ll be glad to know that CENTURION operators come standard with a unique Holiday Lockout feature that allows you to electronically lock your gate automation system and bar any remote controls other than the one that invoked the lockout, from activating the gate motor.  This means that, should a particularly crafty criminal somehow devise a way of circumventing the security measures already in place and learn his own transmitter into the system, he would still have no way of using it on your gate since only your remote will be able to disable the lockout.  If you don’t trust yourself to remember to enable the feature before you embark on your journey, you can always wire up your G-SWITCH to the lockout input and enable it from wherever you are, using your mobile phone.

So now, with everything taken care of back home, all that’s left for you to do is to kick back and soak up the sun.      

Add that extra level of security to your entrance!

In an increasingly security-conscious world, many home-owners choose to secure their automated gates with chains and padlocks at night for fear that intruders will pry the gates open using crowbars or by some equally nefarious means. This often has the unwanted side-effect of users forgetting about the padlock and consequently trying to activate the gate while the lock is still in place, causing consideraable damage.  Enter the ARMADA electric gate lock.

Gate automation is the final bastion when it comes to keeping criminals out of your property and safeguarding you and your family.  But how secure is your automated gate really?  Modern criminals will stop at nothing to get to your valuables, they have become smarter and more resourceful and a truly failsafe system is needed to ward them off.

The word “Armada” means armed.  It conjures up images of the proud and nearly indestructible Spanish naval fleet and it has always been associated with the military, with dedicated task forces, with defence.  But without the mettle to back them up these words are just that, words.  That is why the ARMADA gate lock, constructed from tough Grade 304 stainless steel and capable of withstanding up to 750kg of applied force – making it much stronger than the more traditional magnetic locks - is all the security your automated gate will ever need.  It has become all too easy for intruders to pry open both sliding and swing gates using crowbars or other instruments, and equally easy for them to simply lift your gate off the rail or bend the rack straight.   This has left many home- and business owners resorting to bulky padlocks and chains to secure their gates at night; a method that is not only unsightly and in most cases unreliable, it can also cause severe damage to  your gate motor if it is inadvertently left on and the motor activated. 

The ARMADA’s design allows for it to be incorporated into your existing swing or sliding gate, it is completely inconspicuous and as dependable as gravity!  The slam lock action means that the lock engages the moment your gate is closed, and all it takes to release it is a short pulse from your existing remote control.  Besides the amazing security and peace of mind offered by the lock, it offers a host of other features and benefits:

• It only draws current when activated, which means there are no expensive electricity bills
• The lock is supplied with  a key operated, failsafe manual override incorporating in case of a power failure
• Fitting the ARMADA to sliding gates eliminates the need for anti-lift brackets
• Stainless steel construction - ideal for coastal regions
• Not reliant on automation – also suited for manually operated gates
• No additional interfaces or relays necessary
• Unlocks just before the gate is opened and re-locks when the gate closes
• Bolt action ensures secure locking of double leaf or single leaf, swing gate systems
• High-volume capability, so it is ideal for both residential and commercial, as either new or retrofit installations
• Low-force lock engagement ensures reliable operation even at the tip of a wide gate
• Models available for swing gates and sliding gates in both left hand and right hand configurations
• 12V DC operation with optional power failure protection
• Instant security as lock automatically engages when gate is closed
• Optional mounting box for easy installation onto gate frame

Installers used to be wary about installing any sort of solenoid lock because of their rather dubious reputation for burning out when exposed to a long pulse, but they can now rest easy knowing that the ARMADA comes with a current limiting interface already installed. 

Armada Electric Gate Locks are available from CenturionSystems and leading security distributors.

A word of welcome

Hi there

This is a platform where we will discuss everything you ever wanted to know about gate motors, home automation and security in general but was afraid to ask.  Or maybe you just didn’t know who to ask? 

Everything, from current trends in automation and perimeter security to new products being introduced to tips and tricks for getting the most out of your gate motor, will be discussed here, on the official Centurion Systems blog.

We’ve taken the wealth of knowledge gained from our dedicated technical support team and, armed with this, we intend making this the definitive source of information for anything related to gate automation and access control. 

Even if you don’t have a gate motor, chances are you have a recalcitrant intercom at home or a garage door that just doesn't want to cooperate – whatever the case may be, be sure to check in here for the latest news and guidelines.  After all, the sole intent of automating a gate is to make life easier for you, and it is in keeping with this ethos that this blog was created.

We like to think that we need no introduction, but for those unfamiliar with Centurion Systems, allow us to tell you a little bit about ourselves.

Centurion Systems is a leading South African manufacturer of gate automation and access control equipment.  We offer our clients, in over 50 countries worldwide, unparalleled service, and a wide range of award-winning products for domestic, light industrial and industrial automation applications.

These include:

·         Swing gate motors

·         Sliding gate motors

·         Intercom systems

·         Remote controls and receivers

·         Traffic barriers

·         Inductive loop detectors

·         Garage door motors

·         Proximity card readers

·         GSM modules

·         Keypad access control.

Over the past 25 years, CENTURION has established itself as The Automatic Choice in access automation. Our ethos of “continuous improvement” is at the heart of our company, we are committed to bringing our valued clients products that offer unmatched physical security and convenience and service to match.

Also, don’t forget to leave your comments, suggestions and queries in the comments section.