How long does a tower take to deploy?
About an hour on site. It arrives on a trailer, gets positioned where the sight lines are best, the stabilisers go down, the mast goes up and the cameras are aimed and tested with the control room while our engineer is still there. There is no groundwork, no power connection and no notice period with a utility, which is why towers suit a site that starts on Monday and needs cover on Monday night.
What happens in a dark British winter?
The battery bank is sized for it. The solar array tops up whatever daylight there is, the batteries carry the load through the night and through overcast spells, and the UPS covers the gaps. If a tower is in a genuinely bad position, under trees or between tall buildings, we will say so at the survey and either move it or put a hybrid supply on it rather than let it run flat in February.
Can a tower cover a whole site?
It depends on the size and the shape. One tower covers a compound, a gate and a stores area comfortably. A long linear site or one with buildings blocking the view needs more than one, and that is what the site survey is for. We would rather tell you at the start that you need two than sell you one and leave you with a blind side where everything walks out.
Are the towers a target themselves?
They are built expecting it. The cabinets are locked and armoured, the cameras are up out of reach, the tower is alarmed and it is watched by the same control room that watches your compound, so anybody interfering with it gets an audio challenge like anybody else. In the rare case a tower is attacked, it is our equipment and our problem to replace, not yours.
Do we hire the tower or buy it?
Hire. It comes with the monitoring on a month to month basis, so you are covered for as long as the job runs and it goes away when it does not. That keeps it off your balance sheet and it means you are not left with a trailer to store between projects.
Can the tower move as the site develops?
Yes, and it should. A tower parked where the compound was in phase one is not much use once the compound has moved to the other end of the plot. Tell us what is changing and we will reposition it, or add a second unit for the duration of the phase that needs it and take it off again after.
