The Optex BoundaryGard range to be installed by home automation company Finite Solutions

BoundaryGard Detectors from Optex Europe are being installed by a home automation company to switch lights on and off, draw or close blinds and trigger CCTV cameras to start recording - all as part of an innovative security installation that gives the impression that someone is home.

Finite Solutions, based in Leeds, designs and installs top of the range home cinema and home automation systems, including media rooms, CCTV and security, lighting design and control. In properties worth hundreds of thousands, if not millions of pounds, the security of the residence, its contents and even the inhabitants is always a primary concern.

Most if not all of the houses they have worked on have external CCTV and lighting systems as part of the security solution, but have a further requirement for a detection system that would reliably alert them 24 hours a day on a tablet or smartphone as soon as anyone was on their premises.

The same detection device needed to be integrated with the Crestron home automation panel to control internal lighting. Anyone approaching the property would activate the external PIR, in this case a number of the VX402 and HX40 BoundaryGard detectors from Optex Europe.

This in turn activates the Crestron panel to switch internal lighting on and off and, where applicable, open and shut blinds and curtains and switch on elements of the audio visual system to give the impression that the house is occupied.

Finite Solutions chose to use the range of BoundaryGard Detectors following recommendations from one of their colleagues who had specified them while working at a previous company, as Matt Wayne, Design Consultant at Finite, explains: "Other external detectors were regularly producing false alarm activations due to environmental issues," he says. "Also they would activate whenever the client's pets were roaming around in the garden, or any other wildlife was present on site."

The Optex Boundarygard range eliminated all of these issues, with a smart, small animal immunity feature and double conductive shielding built-in to each device to prevent activations due to weather conditions.

Different tones were used to indicate activity in different areas, allowing the client to respond accordingly. The system also incorporated an automated part set, night set and an away set, giving the client fully flexible use of the system. Part set and night set activate additional internal sounders and switch lighting on in restricted areas, with night set incorporating external voice warnings and other audible warnings as a deterrent.

When the system is triggered and the owners are home, it will bring up the CCTV on the TV and control panels and give them the option to respond (turn on lights, go to their panic room, call the police) or simply ignore the activation and return to their regular viewing.

"The detectors are all working perfectly and we have no record of any false activations since the system has been installed," Matt adds. "We are extremely satisfied with the performance of the detectors and are in the process of expanding and promoting this business model to all of our existing and future clients."

Picking the Brightest, Most Efficient Bulb

The light bulb used to be one of the simplest hardware-store purchases. Now a walk down the lighting aisle prompts an assortment of questions. Is it energy efficient? Will it switch on fast? Can I put it on a dimmer? What is a lumen? How long will it last? Why so pricey? Why is it a weird color?

Here's a brief guide to some bulb basics, with help from Consumer Reports ratings, and a peek at what the future holds for the light bulb.

Bulbs can be divided into three main categories: incandescents, compact fluorescents (CFLs) and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). We're most familiar with incandescents, which make use of technology from over 100 years ago. These cost the least, but emit heat and use up the most energy. An incandescent lasts an average of 1,000 hours, or 125 days when used for eight hours a day.

More recently, halogen incandescent bulbs have become popular. The bulbs, which cost as little as $3 for two, look and behave like incandescents by dimming and turning on immediately, but use less energy. The Philips EcoVantage line, which became available in April, uses 28% less energy: A 72-watt bulb replaces a 100-watt, and a 43-watt bulb replaces a 60-watt. Halogen incandescents last as long as a traditional incandescent bulb.

Compact fluorescents, the spiral bulbs that became popular about five years ago, use less energy than incandescents but made a rough first impression. Compared with incandescents, compact fluorescents can appear harsher in color and most don't turn on immediately. They're made of glass, like incandescents, cost about $5 to $10 each and have an estimated average lifespan of 10,000 hours, or about 3 years at eight hours a day. They contain a small amount of mercury and can be recycled at stores like Home Depot.

LEDs, which look roughly like the incandescents we're used to, are the latest hit in energy-efficient bulbs. They're also the most expensive, costing around $20 to $60 a bulb, though this will drop in coming months as they become more prevalent. These bulbs, which don't contain mercury, turn on immediately, even in cold weather.

Some are made of a durable plastic and many can be dimmed. Their light-emitting surfaces remain cool to the touch. The hue of light from these LED bulbs appears more like that of the traditional incandescents. They are estimated to save up to 85% more energy than standard incandescents, with a lifespan of 20,000 to 50,000 hours, or 20 to 40 years. At seven hours a day, one bulb could last an average of 17 years.

For years, we've measured light bulbs by watts, which indicate how much energy a bulb uses. But bulb brightness is measured in lumens. Many of the new light bulbs' boxes list lumens and include helpful notes about how the bulb compares with the wattage you are looking to replace. An incandescent 40-watt bulb gets replaced with a 450-lumen bulb; a 60-watt bulb with a 800-lumen bulb; a 75-watt bulb by a 1,100 lumen; and a 100 watt by a 1,600 lumen.

Lighting Science Group also has paired with Google to create the Android@Home Intelligent LED bulb, which people will be able to control using an Android smartphone, tablet or a computer. The bulb, which is expected to come out before June, will have an embedded chip and works with a gateway box that hooks into a router.

By June, Philips Lighting North America will debut its L Prize Bulb, an LED bulb that was the first to win the Department of Energy's "L Prize," an award for energy efficiency. Designed to replace a 60-watt incandescent, the LED bulb consumes less than 10 watts, according to Philips. In rigorous testing, the Energy Department said, the bulb had a useful lifetime of more than 25,000 hours. The bulb will likely start out at about $50.

GE Lighting's Sylvester Says LEDs May Be 80% of Market by 2020

General Electric Co. expects most light bulbs, including the incandescent invented by founder Thomas Edison, to be replaced within a decade by light-emitting diodes that can last from a child's birth through college.

"People are starting to talk about LEDs for general lighting for indoors," Maryrose Sylvester, who was appointed head of the lighting unit in March, said in an interview in New York. "By 2020, about 70 to 80 percent of the general lighting market is going to be enabled by LEDs."

Siemens AG's Osram unit and Royal Philips NA, GE's traditional rivals, have both predicted similar growth rates as new regulations combine with declining LED prices to make the lighting systems more attractive to individual and commercial buyers.

To take advantage of that, GE's lighting unit has doubled its research and development spending on LED technology over the past five years, Sylvester said without providing a specific figure.

Munich-based Siemens is expecting the market to grow to $13 billion by 2013 and rise another 44 percent by 2016. Philips, based in Amsterdam, predicted in September that 45 percent of the market will be LED-based by 2015.

Because LED systems are more expensive on the front end, demonstrating to customers how the investment pays off with lower maintenance costs and energy savings is critical, Sylvester said.

"As we go into this technology shift, we're seeing customers much more aware today about energy consumption, much more interested in terms of improving their energy bills, whether they're a commercial building owner or business owner or a consumer," Sylvester said.

Though LEDs remain more expensive than other bulbs, prices have dropped as environmental regulations target less energy- efficient lamps. In the U.S., a 2007 law phases out 100-watt incandescent bulbs starting next year by setting efficiency standards they don't meet, followed by 75-watt lamps in 2013 and 40- and 60-watt bulbs in 2014.

Edison's 19th-century invention won a reprieve under a spending deal reached last week by Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress that would block the Energy Department from enforcing the law. GE said it's still obligated to comply with the legal standard, which remains on the books.

An LED bulb's efficiency is directly related to how it generates light. With an incandescent bulb, electricity heats a filament for illumination, with some energy spent on unwanted heat.

With an LED, connecting an electric power source to a lamp stimulates electrons in a semiconductor chip so that they move, giving off light.

Because efficiency lies in the LED package and how it's configured, GE is concentrating on system designs for its commercial customers rather than making the LED equivalent of an incandescent bulb. It's relying on suppliers such as Cree Inc. for the semiconductor chip.

"Our expertise is in how you put the whole application together and configure it for a key application," Sylvester said.

In the commercial lighting segment alone, LED illumination may make up 52 percent of the market by 2021, Pike Research forecasts. The market may reach $42 billion this year and peak at nearly $54 billion in 2012 before gradually declining to about $30 billion by 2021 as usage of the longer-lasting systems increases.

Flap over light bulb fires up many readers

A week ago today, I warned the government to keep its hands off the bright white 100-watt light bulb that I was about to screw into my brass desk lamp.

I was angered at bureaucrats who decreed that by October of this year, the manufacture of conventional 100-watt bulbs would be stopped in favor of more energy-efficient bulbs. They supposedly will cast a warmer glow, cost more and last longer.

My thoughts produced response and a gift of four dozen present-style 100-watt light bulbs.

As a spoof, the president of a Quad-City company, which I will not name, left off a box of 48 new 100-watt Sylvania Standard incandescent bulbs. He wanted me to be sure that I would never run out of brilliant 100-watt bulbs for my brass lamp.

If each bulb has a lifespan of 750 hours, his gift of those 48 100-watt bulbs will last for 36,000 hours. They should constantly burn, one after another, for 4.1 years. I will be lucky to live that long.

If any charitable group would like a box of 48 bulbs, call me within the next few days. Take all of them, not one at a time.

Here's what others who are irritated have to say about new light bulbs:

"I bought one of those corkscrew bulbs several years ago for the family room lamp. It made the room dark and dreary. I paid nearly $10 for it," says Juanita Schillig, Bettendorf. "It lasted only six months! It was to last five years. I had to dispose of it at a county recycle center because of the hazardous material contained in it."

"About the light bulb column, I couldn't agree more," says Mary Stebbins, Savanna, Ill. "With all the important issues of the day, couldn't our legislators' time be spent more wisely?"

"I have two problems with the newly mandated bulbs," says Terry Sullivan, Davenport. "First, I have a light fixture in which they will not fit. The other problem is the short-sightedness of a government mandate. I had one of the new bulbs burn out and it is sitting in my basement. These new bulbs cannot be thrown in the regular trash because of some of their contents. I am sure there are others like myself who have stocked up on the old bulbs. I have three globe bulbs, seven 75-watt bulbs, eight 40-watters, 14 three-way bulbs and what I use the most - 40 of the 60-watt bulbs."

"Your column reminded me of a search for 100-watt bulbs. I totally agree with you. Everybody in our house (with the new bulbs) look like they have yellow jaundice. Do you know a light bulb bootlegger? Not kidding," writes a 65-year-old grandma.

IDAHO HISTORY: Electric lights came to Idaho in August 1882

“The first electric light in Idaho was struck at the Philadelphia Company’s smelters an evening or two ago, and has since been giving satisfactory service.”

The town of Ketchum contracted with the smelter to use two lights of the six-light system on its main street.

A week later the paper noted, “Masters, the electric lighter, who put in operation the electric machine at the Philadelphia Smelter, has gone to Muldoon for the purpose of putting in a similar light in the Little Wood River Co.’s smelters.” W.F. Masters was next called north to Vienna in the Sawtooth Mountains to install electric lights in the quartz mill there. The Keystone said Masters “has become reputable in the Wood River country as a machinist and constructor of electric lights.”

None of these smelters and mills could operate at night without adequate lighting. With their new electric systems installed they could work around the clock. When the Philadelphia Smelter closed down at the end of November 1882, perhaps because the snow was too deep for the mule-drawn wagons to bring in the ore, the paper reported, “The town misses the nightly glare of the electric lights and rumbling of the rock-breakers at the Philadelphia Smelting works.”

The Idaho Statesman expressed the opinion in April 1886, that the things Boise City needed most were a water works, an electric light plant and a sewer system. “It would pay capitalists to invest in the two former.” (Apparently the paper thought a sewer system would be far costlier, and the technology harder to come by.)

In August 1886, Boise City began negotiations with the Sperry Electric Light & Motor Co. of Chicago to help organize a locally-owned light company.

On Oct. 4, 1886, the Boise City Electric Light Co. was formed, and in November the paper could report: “William H. Ridenbaugh has a large force of men at work on the reservoir for the electric light plant. The works will be located just under the bluffs this side of the cemetery on the south side of the river, and the dynamos will be run by water power. A large copper wire will be stretched across the river to connect with the network in the city, to the places of the various consumers. It will be quite an improvement to see the various places of business lighted with electricity instead of coal oil, and we hope to see the city lighted up at no distant day with lights at all principal corners.”

In February 1887, “The electric light contracted for last fall has been delayed but not lost. So far the contractor has done nothing, and the company he represented has failed.”

Despite this setback, the machinery for the plant arrived in April and light poles were being set up downtown. The Statesman thought “the policy of allowing the poles to be put up on Main Street may be questioned.”

Boise’s electric lights were turned on for the first time on July 4, 1887, “adding to the brilliancy” of the occasion. By August, lights had been installed in the Overland Hotel at Eighth and Main.

In September, “The City Council has signified its willingness to place a limited number of electric lights on the streets for the purpose of lighting the city.”

Potter's Lamps & Lighting closing its doors after 65 years in Muskegon Heights

At times, shopping at Potter’s was like shopping with your best friend, favorite cousin or confidante.

“I can’t tell you how many times customers have asked me: Which (lamp) do you like best? Which would you choose?” Schoonbeck said. “Well, it’s not my house, but I like this one.”

After 28 years on the job, Schoonbeck has helped people decorate three or four houses, easing them through the arduous task of finding just the right fit each time. Furniture stores and decorators from all over West Michigan have sent customers to Potter’s because of the quality of their lamps and their repair department: Mosher.

“I’ve never found a light I can’t fix,” Mosher said.

At the time he was working on a fluorescent light fixture that had seen better days, brought in by an elderly man who didn’t want a new one. He wanted this one fixed. Mosher went to work. Within an hour, the customer walked out happy, no cost for labor, only $6 invested in new bulb.

“To me, the customer service we’ve provided, that one-on-one service, set us apart,” Mosher said.

That’s what brought Ron and Louise Robidoux of Norton Shores into the store, unaware that the business was closing or a 25 percent-off sale was in progress at the time. They were in the market for a new kitchen light, but they’d left the paper with all the measurements on it at home. Schoonbeck helped them through: Did they have 8-foot ceilings at home? What size was the fixture they had now?

Before long, they made their decision — but not without a certain sense of sadness.

“I grew up in the Heights,” Ron Robidoux said, “so this (store) has been here my whole life.”

The store’s closing will leave a hole in the business landscape of Muskegon Heights, said Natasha Henderson, the city manager who is also heading up the city’s Downtown Development Authority.

“It’s very sad to hear they’re going out of business,” Henderson said. “When I heard about it, it was like an empty feeling. I see that building every morning when I go into work.”

In 1946, the store was located at 787 Apple, on the corner of Apple Avenue and Getty Street. In 1951, Potter and Howard moved the business to Peck Street in Muskegon Heights, where it has remained — until now.

“You don’t get that very many places,” Schoonbeck said.

After so many years working together, theirs is deeper than the usual employer-employee relationship. A small staff, they’ve been to weddings and funerals, birthdays and graduations together. They’ve worked long hours, side-by-side, waiting on customers, doing whatever needed to be done.

They are more like a “family” than a staff closing up shop, Schoonbeck said.

“Phyllis said to me, ‘Will you be with me to the end?’ and I said hopefully we’ll be able to walk out the door, lock it and say goodbye,” Schoonbeck said.

MEGAMAN LuxMeter iOS App for Lighting Tips and Levels

If you are finding your energy level usage are running rather high and own an iOS device there an application available that can deliver useful tips on the use of energy-efficient LED or CFL lamps along with delivering the ability to measure the light level in a room.

The iOS app is called MEGAMAN LuxMeter, an is a light measurement tool for checking if there is enough light in your workspace or living space and can also provide tips on which light bulb to choose and delivers light readings I the Lux measurement which are the units due to replace Watts as the standard measure of light bulb performance.

The MEGAMAN LuxMeter app works via the iPhone camera and will instantly measure the brightness of any room whether in the office, at home, in a shop, or school and is easily initiated at the simply touch of the “OK” button.

With the MGAMAN LuxMater iOS app, the Lamp Finder function identifies an economic replacement for existing low efficiency halogen of incandescent lamps, and the user can select the shape of the bulb or snap an image of it and the Lamp Finder will deliver a list of recommended LED and CFL alternative lamps for saving energy.

The MEGAMAN LuxMeter app also features Energy Saving Cal that helps identify energy and money savings by considering the cost of the entire installation and entering quantity of lamps, hours of operation, and electricity unit cost the feature will show the user how much could be potentially saved by opting for LED or CFL bulbs.

For those that wish to take advantage of this energy saving iOS app the MEGAMAN LuxMeter app can be downloaded to your device as a free application from iTunes.

If you have enjoyed this Phones Review article feel free to add me your circles on Google+ and I will of course add you back.