With load-shedding impacting everyone in the country, the Herald spoke to Mapogo A Mathamaga Security about how it is affecting residents’ safety and security.
Operations Manager at Mapogo, Ben Willemse said currently load-shedding is everyone’s worst nightmare and indications are that the situation will become even worse as the constraints on the power network are worsening by the day.
Load-shedding isn’t only crippling our economy, it also has a severe impact on our personal safety. Criminals use these times in their own opportunistic ways, and target business and residential premises for break-ins.”
As far as load-shedding is affecting alarm systems, he explained that an intruder alarm system functions on the main power source of the premises and charges the alarm battery that serves as back-up in case of a power disruption. For this reason, the battery is the heart of an alarm system as in the event of a power failure it supplies power to the devices that transmit signals to the control centre monitoring the alarm system.
Should the alarm battery not have sufficient power during power disruptions, the intruder alarm system can malfunction or even power down as the battery doesn’t have sufficient power, and this can cause that no signals will be transmitted to the alarm monitoring centre.
“It’s very important to ensure that your alarm system battery is in a good working order and should be replaced when the battery levels are not sufficient to keep your alarm system operational for more than six to eight hours. If our monitoring centre informs you that the alarm system is transmitting a battery-low signal, you should have the battery replaced as soon as possible.”
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When the alarm battery is not in a good condition or the power levels are below the operational threshold it can cause the alarm system to transmit false-alarm and panic signals through to our monitoring centre. False alarm activations can be reduced if your alarm battery is in a good condition.
He stated that power interruptions can affect a security company’s service delivery.
Load-shedding is a reality and is becoming worse, and is beyond the control of any security company. When power interruptions occur across different areas and different times, cell phone towers are also affected. This can cause telephone communication with our clients to fail or become interrupted, impacting incoming and outgoing calls.”
Ben said because of battery failures, alarm systems tend to transmit false signals to the monitoring centre and this has a direct impact on response times to a premises as the signal volumes the monitoring centre receives drastically increase.
He recommend that clients consider the following aspects to ensure a better response service and to assist in the eliminating false alarms:
• Replace old or faulty alarm batteries as soon as possible. This not only will help to reduce of false alarms but to safeguard premises.
• Invest in alternative solutions like solar and/ or inverter systems or UPS backup to ensure that the battery remains in a healthy condition.
• Contact the alarm monitoring centre in case of any known false alarm activations.
• Respect your alarm system as your safety might just depend on it. Don’t activate your alarm deliberately to test response times as you may risk someone else’s life.
