2016 in Review

2016: what a year. What. A. Year.

Last month, the eyes of the world were firmly fixed on the U.S. presidential elections as former first lady Hillary Clinton fought tooth and nail to become the nation’s first female president, but was ultimately defeated – in what can only be described as a bizarre twist worthy of an M. Night Shamalayan film – by real estate mogul turned controversial politician Donald Trump.

Critics of the “the Donald” reeled with shock and disbelief, while his many proponents rallied in support of the outcome, which has once again come under close scrutiny.

2016 will also be remembered as the year that we lost a number of greats from the worlds of screen and stage, including genre-defying transcendental musician David Bowie and British actor Alan Rickman, perhaps most famous for portraying the character of Severus Snape in the popular Harry Potter series of films. If, like me, you enjoy the Brits' particular brand of caustic and unsentimental humour, you will be particularly saddened by the loss of Andrew Sachs, who played Manual alongside John Cleese in the absolutely brilliant but sadly short-lived Fawlty Towers.

The late, great David Bowie By Photographer: Photobra|Adam BielawskiDerivative work: Y2kcrazyjoker4 - David-Bowie_Chicago_2002-08-08_photoby_Adam-Bielawski.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

But there was also good news aplenty to be had in the Year of the Monkey. Most notably, for Team CENTURION, at least, the high-profile acquisition of the company by global access automation powerhouse FAAC S.pa, whose far-reaching influence and significant resources promise to be beneficial for employees and clients alike. 

The NOVA remote has been updated with a stylish carbon look

From a product perspective, our focus in 2016 was on improving and enhancing our existing offering, especially from the point of view of making life easier for CENTURION installers by streamlining the installation process. The highly successful 5x Better campaign saw us take to the road to showcase the myriad improvements made to, among other products, the NOVA remote control and the RDO roll-up garage door motor.

Finally, 2016 saw CENTURION celebrate 30 years of providing peace of mind through industry-leading access automation solutions. From the humblest of beginnings, the company has grown to a global empire with 10 fully-fledged branches (including two beyond our borders), a vast global footprint spanning more than 70 countries, and a staff complement of just shy of 400 dedicated, talented and exceptionally passionate employees. Three decades have passed since CENTURION MD Pat Dickens toiled tirelessly in a modest wooden shed determined to bring his vision to life, and the fruits of his past and present labours could not be sweeter; the shadow cast by his enterprise so immense that competitors have no choice but to reside in it.

It is your continued loyalty and support that have enabled us to not only survive, but thrive, for the past thirty years, and for that we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Here’s to the next 30 years and beyond.

Have a safe and secure festive season. 

NOVA: A New Feeling of Reliability

We’ll cut straight to the chase: pressing a button on the newly-revamped NOVA code-hopping remote feels good. There’s a moment of chemistry between man and device just before the silicone button submits to one’s touch; one could almost call it a moment of reassurance.

Yes, come to think of it, that’s exactly what it is.

In that one breathless moment just before kinetic energy is transduced into electrical energy, and electrical into radio, the button vows never to let you down. And with its tough, durable silicone body – made to withstand a lifetime of pressing – and the remote’s updated carbon look, what choice does one have but to believe its solemn promise?

In the some 15 years of its existence, NOVA remotes have become so ubiquitous that keychains seem wholly incomplete without the easily-recognisable blue and grey (NOVA’s colours before the carbon overhaul) remote cheerfully dangling from it. It’s come to embody something of the spirit of home, of family and of security.

It makes perfect sense, when one gets right down to it. The remote is more than a collection of buttons of electronics: it’s the key to your world and, whenever you press that magical button, you’re either opening the gateway to your sanctuary, or you’re securing it until your return. In this way, the remote is almost like a totem, a trinket signifying peace of mind and a little piece of home that you can take with you wherever you go.

The NOVA remote is one of the five products that have been improved as part of the 5x Better campaign currently being launched through a series of roadshows and product days countrywide.

To find out when the roadshow will be hitting your town, click on one of the links below:

Johannesburg

Pretoria

Nelspruit

Cape Town

Durban

Free State

Eastern Cape

5 Ways That the NOVA HELIX Will Make Your Life Easier

The NOVA HELIX range of remote control receivers is putting a fresh spin on an access control staple.

While the original NOVA range has enjoyed – and continues to enjoy – widespread popularity due, in part, to its role as a pioneer in the use of code-hopping technology, the NOVA HELIX was designed to serve the installer at least as much as the end-user.

This latest incarnation of the trailblazing NOVA receiver has retained its ultra-secure code-hopping protocol (and is in fact backwards compatible with the blue and gray NOVA remotes), but its feature offering has been beefed up considerably by the addition of a number of fantastic new features aimed at making life easier for the installer.

Here are five ways that the NOVA HELIX will make your life easier:

1. The pulse time is adjustable

For the first time, it is possible to adjust the time that the relay remains energised, making it possible to activate, for example, electric locks without needing to fit additional interfaces such as pulse-stretchers. Output timing is native to the NOVA HELIX.

2. Timed Autolearn

This is an incredibly useful feature that enables the user to specify a time-period (for example 24 hours) during which all remote buttons that are pressed in the vicinity of the receiver will be programmed into memory. This is useful in instances where a large number of remotes need to be programmed but it’s difficult to have all the remotes present at the same time. The Autolearn function automatically times out after seven days.

3. Robust, interference-free remote learning

Has a customer ever phoned you up and complained that, despite him being 99% sure that his property is ghost-free, his gate frequently opens on its own? This seemingly poltergeist-related phenomenon is generally caused by a neighbour, or neighbours, with the same remote control system pressing his or her remote at the time of your confused client’s remote being programmed. This causes the neighbour’s remote to be inadvertently learned into your client’s system, causing all sorts of havoc and hijinks.

With the NOVA HELIX’s five-second-press feature, the remote button has to be pressed and held in for a period of five seconds before it is learned into memory.

4. Master and Link Learning

The NOVA HELIX gives you the option to choose between the ironclad security of Master Learning, and the convenience of Link Learning. With Master Learning, the Master remote has to be present in order to create “offspring” remotes, making for a very robust and secure remote learning methodology. However, for sites where security is not an issue, remotes can be effortlessly programmed by simply bridging the link pins and momentarily pressing each button that you wish to code.

5. Function jumpers can be disabled

The beauty of the NOVA HELIX really lies in its flexibility. If you want to enjoy the time-saving convenience of Link Learning but your client is concerned about security, you can set his mind at ease by disabling the function jumpers so that the system can’t easily be breached by would-be intruders wanting to program their own remotes into memory.

What Would You Do if You Had More Time?

Ever since the ancient Egyptians first divided the day up into 24 more or less equal parts, people have been wishing for more time. Just one more hour to meet that impossible deadline. Just a few more to finish that assignment. But no matter how desperately we may wish for the sand to fall more slowly through that hourglass, time is the one thing that, thus far, Mankind has failed to manipulate.

What would you do if you had more time? Spend more time with the kids, perhaps. Or get more work done to really impress the boss. Or maybe it’s something as simple as finally finishing Call of Duty.

While we can’t give you more time, we can provide you with the tools to use the time you do have more effectively.

CENTURION’s 5x Better campaign is a unique drive aimed at making installers’ lives easier through user-friendly and intuitive access automation products. We took five of our product, made them better and, over the course of the next two months, we’ll be launching the new and improved offerings through a series of roadshows and product days hosted across the country.

Each product improvement focuses on a specific benefit to the installer.

Smarter – the SupaHelix

Designed as a replacement for the SupaNova multi-user receiver, the SupaHelix offers everything you could wish for in an access control solution: from intuitive and robust remote control programming, to a capacious memory (up to 10 000 individual remote buttons) and advanced onboard diagnostics and logging. It’s a complete access management toolkit!

Simpler – RDO II

The compact and reliable RDO roll-up garage door operator now comes with an onboard multichannel code-hopping receiver, making for supremely easy learning of individual remote control buttons.

Stronger – NOVA remotes

With an updated carbon look and durable silicone buttons designed to withstand a lifetime of pressing, the award-winning NOVA range of remote controls is likely to hold onto its title of South Africa’s favourite remote control.

Quicker – the Pinion SPYDER

The Pinion SPYDER is CENTURION’s innovative new solution to help installers get the all-important gap between the gate rack and the motor pinion just right, ensuring smooth and reliable operation and saving them valuable time onsite!

Easier – NOVA HELIX

Featuring link and master learning, lightning-fast response time and a built-in timer (to name but a few features), the NOVA HELIX range of remote control receivers puts a fresh new spin on an access control staple. Available in single- and multichannel variants.

Visit our website to find out when the CENTURION 5X Better roadshow is coming to your town.

Adding a CENTURION Remote To Your D-Series Gate Motor

in·tu·i·tive \in-'tü-ə-tiv, -'tyü-\ adj (ca. 1645)
1 a : known or perceived by intuition : directly apprehended  b : knowable by intuition ‹~ truths› c : based on or agreeing with intuition ‹~ responses› ‹makes ~ sense› d : readily learned or understood ‹software with an ~ interface›
2 : knowing or perceiving by intuition
3 : possessing or given to intuition or insight ‹an ~ mind›
— in·tu·i·tive·ly adv
— in·tu·i·tive·ness n

 This is the word that best describes the CENTURION D-Series interface.  Intuitive.  When you get right down to it, there’s really very little thinking to be done on the part of the user – the controller does it all for you!  From setting the limits to learning additional remote controls, setting up your gate motor using this advanced platform is like having a friendly robot holding your hand and guiding you through each and every step.

But, just in case you don’t know just how easy it is, this tutorial will guide you through adding a CENTURION code-hopping remote control to a D-Series gate motor’s onboard receiver.

1.        Enter Programming Mode by pressing and holding the oblong (centre) button for approximately two seconds.  The words “Setting Limits” will appear on the LCD display. 

2.       Press the up arrow once – the words “Remote Controls (Tx)” will appear on the screen.  Press and release the oblong button (this button serves as an “enter” or confirmation button of sorts) to enter the Remote Controls menu.

3.       “Add Remote” will now appear on the screen.  Press and release the oblong button.

4.       The controller will now ask you what you want to use the remote for, for e.g. triggering the gate, opening for pedestrians, activating the Holiday Lockout feature, etc.  Say, for e.g. that you wish to press the remote to open, stop and close the gate; you will then select “Trigger Gate” as the primary function.  Once again you will use the oblong button to confirm your selection.

5.       The next screen will display “Time-bar remote:  No”.  If you don’t want to enable time-barring for that particular remote, simply press the oblong button to confirm your selection as being “No”.  If you want to time-bar the remote, press the up arrow so that the screen displays “Yes”, and confirm with the oblong button.

6.       The unit will now ask you to press your remote button.

7.       Press and release the desired remote button(s).

8.       A unique ID will appear on the screen, indicating that the button has been successfully learned.

9.       Now press the round button twice to exit Programming Mode.

10.   Hey presto!  Your CENTURION remote is ready to be used!

Give your remote control an extra button...or two!

On this blog alone you’ve probably come across the word “security” a couple of dozen times – and there’s a very good reason for that.  In the early 1940s, the influential psychology professor Abraham Maslow came up with the now-famous Hierarchy of Needs, which depicts in pyramid-form the basic human needs in order of importance (with the bottom of the pyramid being the most important).  In this hierarchy, Safety – which includes security of body, resources, family and the like – is ranked as being one of the most important human needs, second only to physiological needs such as eating and breathing.  That’s how paramount security is.

The aim of this blog is to help you be more security-conscious by arming you with useful tools, tips and guidelines and by providing new and innovative ways of assuring your own safety and the safety of your loved ones and possessions.  In today’s post, we will be looking at a useful feature inherent in some of our remote receivers, the so-called “shift” function.

What it is

 The shift-button functionality allows the user to artificially increase the number of buttons on a multi-button remote control by using a two-button combination.  In other words, activating a certain gate motor function will now involve pressing two buttons instead of one.

The Benefits

Although the CENTURION NOVA range of transmitters uses secure rolling code technology which makes code-grabbing impossible, making use of combinations rather than single-button activations is bound to up the security ante even further.  In addition, the shift system allows a three button transmitter to gain an extra function and operate four functions and likewise a four button transmitter gains two extra buttons and can operate six functions. 

Another benefit of using the shift button system is that it requires both hands to operate the two button combination.  How many times have you not activated the Holiday Lockout function by accident and was left scratching your head as to why you suddenly can’t open our gate?  With the shift button system, this is far less likely to happen as it now takes two hands to enable the Lockout.

How to do it

With your receiver in Learn Mode, simply press and hold the shift button, and then press one of the other buttons to create a new button.  This combination will then be pressed whenever the associated function needs to be activated.

Do your remote controls provide you with the security that they should?

Today, we'll be looking at a rather contentious issue that's been garnering a lot of media attention lately, so-called "signal jamming" by criminals.

A recent article that appeared in an Mpumalanga newspaper and various emails that have been doing the rounds have been causing quite a stir.

The article detailed how some remote controls may interfere with vehicle remote controls, which arm the car’s alarm and opens and closes the central locking systems. It is claimed that these remotes are responsible for jamming the vehicle’s remote control frequencies, thereby making it easy for thieves to help themselves to the contents of a car once an unsuspecting driver walks away. The car owner presses his remote control to lock his car, assuming his car is locked and the alarm is armed. Only to return to find all of his possessions left safely in his ‘locked’ car missing.

There has also been a fair amount of finger-pointing at particular brands of remote controls as being the culprits. There is also a huge amount of misinformation and confusion surrounding this issue, so CENTURION decided to clarify the misconceptions and help you understand how these incidents may have occurred, and what to do to ensure that it never happens to you.

Let’s start by delving into the technology that resides inside high-security remote controls. Any modern high-security remote control should have rolling-code technology. Essentially, this means that every time that you press the button on your remote control it changes it’s code (or identity) and the receiver in the car, gate motor, etc. that it usually talks to, correspondingly rolls its code to stay in synchronisation.
This means that your rolling-code remote control for your car or access automation system cannot be copied or cloned – providing you with great peace of mind.

However, the vast majority of vehicle manufacturers, and other manufacturers of remote controls such as gate and garage automation, produce remote controls that operate on a frequency of 433MHz issued by ICASA, the regulator for the South African communications sector. This results in this frequency being very busy with many, many remote controls utilising this airspace.

Typically what can happen is if two remote controls operating on the same frequency are activated simultaneously and within range of each other, the signals that they are transmitting can interfere with one another. The result could mean that the receiver doesn’t recognise the ‘strange’ interfered-with signal from its know transmitter remote control. What happens? Nothing – the receiver simply doesn’t react. This is fine if you’re trying to open your gate – your home is still secure, and you just press your remote again and your gate opens.

Now you can imagine that in the instance of locking your car you would want to know that your car really is locked when you press your remote control. If a car owner in your vicinity presses their remote at the exact same instant as you, or for some reason is holding their remote button down, for example to automatically open all of their car windows before getting in to let all of the hot air out (nice feature!), then this will certainly interfere with your car’s remote control signal.

This doesn’t have to be another vehicle remote control; it could be any type of remote control operating on the same 433MHz frequency that can cause interference.

This is why most cars will give a visual and/or audible verification on receiving a remote control signal. Typically the indicators will flash, or the car will beep, once for locked and twice for unlocked.

The bottom line is that any remote control from any manufacturer is vulnerable to being jammed, or having its signal interfered with. Thieves may try to take advantage of this by flooding an area with remote control signals in the hope that you might simply walk away from your car without actually checking that it did lock and arm.

So please safeguard yourself and look for the telltale flashing indicators, or listen for the confirmation beep, which will reassure you that your car is locked and your goods are safe.

For further information or advice concerning remote control security please feel free to call any CENTURION branch or our customer service line on 0860 236 887.