TESTED – Ajax MotionCam Outdoor

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What’s in the box? MotionCam Outdoor Wall fixings and mounting screws Quick Start Guide

The Ajax MotionCam Outdoor is an IP 55 rated combined external PIR sensor with inbuilt capture camera for use with the latest Ajax Hubs that support visual verification.

The Quick Start Guide gives very limited information, but detailed manuals can be downloaded from the Ajax website. Links and QR codes are provided for accessing this information and following installation are readily available through the app, for each device on the system.

The rear mounting plate slides off the unit and has four main mounting hole knockouts with an additional four in the bevelled sides in case of corner mounting. The tamper switch actuator is formed on a perforated section for one main and side mounting hole to ensure that the tamper is activated if the unit is prised from its wall mount.

The unit is self-contained with batteries pre-fitted and ready to go. With the latest version of the Ajax app available on either an Android or iOS phone or tablet the unit is added to the relevant Hub’s device list using the “Add Device” option. When prompted you then enter a name for the unit and its unique reference number and allocate a room location. The unique reference can be entered by scanning the QR code on the rear of the unit if your mobile device supports this feature. Once the details are entered, turning the unit on starts the enrolling process that completes in a few seconds.

The proprietary “Jeweller” encrypted protocol is used for alarm communication with the additional “Wings” protocol (based on Jeweller) with its own dedicated antenna being used for the image transfer to the hub.

The recommended mounting height is given as between 0.8 and 1.3 metres. This is essential to ensure pet immunity and good human target capture.

The app lists the device real time status for Temperature, Jeweller signal strength, Battery charge, Lid (tamper) open / closed state, Delay when entering / leaving state, Connection, Wings signal strength, Photo Transmitting Channel, Sensitivity, Anti-Masking, Always Active And Temporary Deactivation state. The device’s name, Firmware version and Device ID is then shown at the bottom. The Cog or Gear icon shows the configuration screen, and this includes options to change the allocated Name of the device, the room it is assigned to, and set the sensitivity from its Normal default to Low or High. These are followed by On / Off switches for Antimasking, Always Active and Alarm LED indication. Next the image resolution can be changed from its 320 x 176 default to 640 x 352, the number of photos to send from None, or 1 to 5. Alarms with photo verification from 1 to 10 or always. Then Delay when Entering and Delay when Leaving settings from 0 to 120 seconds each in 15 steps, with 5 second steps to 40 seconds then 10 second steps to the maximum. “Arm in night mode” is next and is off by default.

“Alert with a Siren” commands cover “If motion detected”, on by default, and “If masking detected” off by default.

Final options are provided for Signal Strength testing of the Jeweller and Wings encrypted wireless signals, a Detection zone test, a signal attenuation test (to check suitability of location), temporary deactivation and access to the User Guide.

Alarms can be linked to an Alarm Receiving Centre using SIA DC-09 protocol with routing through the Ajax Cloud and a translator app for image verification.

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A clip-on hood on the top of the assembly helps protect the camera from snow and rain. The operating temperature range is from -25°C to +60°C.

The MotionCam Outdoor only works with the later produced Ajax Hub2 and Hub2 Plus units and currently is not supported by the range extender, however with a stated range of 1700 metres in free space, should suit most applications.

The rear panel has a detection distance slider control with 5 discrete settings from Near to Far. These represent from up to 4, 5, 7, 12 and 15 metres detection distance respectively and operate by physically moving the lower PIR module angle of detection. To reduce false alarms, the outputs of the two PIR sensors is compared using software for correlation and then frequency components. Animals up to 80 cm therefore do not trigger an alarm.

Access to the 4 x CR123A 3v Lithium batteries is by removing 4 cross head screws within the rear panel and separating the front and rear sections. These batteries are easily changed and in normal use are expected to last up to 3 years depending on alarm activations and polling rate.

It is important to mount the device at the right height to ensure accurate performance. Detection of Human targets is based on both PIR devices detecting movement and comparing results to match those of a human subject. Animals will only activate one of the two sensors, and so will not create an alarm condition.

The camera viewing angle is given as 105° horizontal x 50° vertical so ensures a sufficiently wide coverage to capture the full scene of the PIR’s 90° capture angle.

The detector has settings for the image resolution and number of pictures sent on alarm. It supports either 320 x 176 pixels images (its default) or 640 x 352. At the lower resolution it can supply from 1 to 5 images of the alarm event and at the higher resolution up to 3 images.

After dark the unit has two high-intensity infrared LEDs to provide illumination for the camera’s monochrome mode. These illuminate only on alarm, and it was found that the first image may be captured before the LEDs trigger, however, this had the advantage of showing an initial image from background illumination with subsequent images IR supported. The LEDs provided reasonably even lighting that easily extended to the limits of the PIR sensor maximum range. These LEDs are visible as a red glow for the short time they are enabled.

Although relatively low resolution, the images are sufficient to discern the subjects of the alarm event and allow appropriate action to be taken. The number of alarms supplying images can be restricted up to the first ten to prevent unnecessary repeat images being sent through, particularly where external bandwidth may be limited, this count resets when the system is disarmed. The alarm delivery time is stated as 0.15 seconds with the first image taking up to 9 seconds at default resolution or up to 20 seconds for 640 x 352. It is important to ensure that the receiving mobile device is appropriately set up to prioritise such notifications. Alarm images can be saved individually as .jpg or combined as an .mp4 sequence. Anti-masking alerts are indicated separately for the sensors and the camera.

A very simple to install and manage, extended battery life external PIR detector for Ajax based Hub 2 systems, with the advantage of visual verification.