Parking Structures Security Solution Care
Parking structures are harsh environments for surveillance cameras, access control solutions and fire safety solutions. Parking structures battle the exhaust gasses, the dirt that cars bring with them, humidity from the outside weather and more. While they’re still better than full on outdoor storms and extreme winters, parking structures present a very harsh environment for any electronic device. Proper care should be taken to ensure all your solutions continue performing at their best.
Yearly Parking Structures Cleaning
Most parking structures enjoy a yearly cleaning from all the dirt and carbon build up that will smudge up the entire structure. Oftentimes this cleaning is done with high pressure water and it is sprayed absolutely everywhere to remove the dirt. Unfortunately most electrical devices and wiring are not built to be sprayed directly, which can result in corrosion of connections, as well as water entering the casing of the component, which will fry the device. If it is a necessity to have the device washed directly with high pressure water the minimum IP rating the camera should have is IP68. Most cameras only have an IP66 rating because they are built for winter, rain etc, not extreme pressure devices shooting water at them.
When cleaning your parking structure, all devices should be covered. Any electronic device, which also includes pull stations and wiring connections should be covered. Otherwise you are risking corrosion or water entering the devices casing. These effects may not immediately surface either. It usually takes a month or two for the devices to start rusting and slowly corroding, which will then break the device. If the devices are out of warranty, these repairs can become extremely costly and are quite frankly unnecessary.
How to clean the devices
Since you are not supposed to shoot high pressure water at the cameras, card readers, pull stations etc., how do you clean them? We recommend having your security partner, such as ourselves come out at least once a year and maintain all your devices. Smudgy lenses, dust build up and more are not only aesthetically unpleasant, but can also hinder the devices from operating properly. If a camera lens is smudged up, the camera cannot capture the high definition images it is supposed to capture.
With regular testing and maintenance all the devices should also be cleaned. Checking whether your devices are operating properly is one thing, but having the devices cleaned is just as important. We offer regular maintenance services, where we also clean all your devices, such as servers, cameras, card reader and more. Without that regular maintenance you are risking premature failure and for dust or water to enter the devices, which can burn them out fairly quickly.
What to watch for
When purchasing security solutions for a parking structure it is important that the cameras have the proper IP rating. We have an article that explains everything about IP ratings here. IP ratings essentially provide an easy to identify rating for the water and dust protection that the housing of any given device provides. The first number identifies the protection against solids such as dust, sand etc. The second number is for the protection against water. Read the above article to inform yourself about the IP ratings, and ensure that your camera has an IP66 rating at the absolute minimum. Anything below that will not be a good idea for a parking structure.
The connections should also all be water resistant. This ensures that should water hit the connection, it won’t corrode the connection over time, unless the water is at too high of a pressure. This again is the reason why no direct high pressure water should be used. When installing cameras we always ensure to have the waterproof connector on the camera side, but even those cannot protect the connection in extreme circumstances. We recommend a regular check up on all the seals to ensure they have not been corroded or even worse broken by water or dust.
Get in Touch
If you are looking at upgrading a parking structure security system or are building a new structure, get in touch and we will get you a quote for a solution that is up to the task. If you have devices that seem to be failing on a regular basis, we can help you get everything under control and save you a headache.. Feel free to contact us with any questions or comments. You can call us at any time at (403) 477-4800 or email us at [email protected].
