Initially posted 8-27-2014
Bonsai Tree Safety Strategies. GPS, Chipping and Movement Sensors.
Safety has been a problem for a lot of bonsai artists, particularly these with beneficial bushes or those that have had bushes stolen prior to now. Many individuals have completely different strategies for safeguarding bonsai. This text will cowl a number of examined strategies we use. The strategies described may be applied with off the shelf elements.
#1, Movement Sensors.
Chamberlain manufactures a terrific movement sensor system, half quantity CWA2000. This method comes with one wi-fi sensor and one base station. You plug the bottom station into the wall and mount the wi-fi sensor within the space you want to monitor. The bottom station will assist a further 7 sensors, half quantity CWPIR. Two sensors run in a cross sample will cowl a bonsai backyard that’s 30×30 ft. Add extra sensors round your facility for added safety. Eight sensors will present good general safety for a half acre lot. The bottom station beeps one to eight instances relying on which sensors has been activated.
The sensors are good high quality plastic, have nice battery life and a spread of 1 half mile. The bottom station/receiver will run on batteries within the occasion of an influence failure. The batteries will last as long as 18 months. The bottom station and sensors require 4 AA batteries every.
False alarms from flying birds and swaying bushes do occur and ought to be a think about your set up. The sensors may be adjusted for 15 or 30 ft. They’re set at 30 ft from the manufacturing facility. False alarms are very uncommon at night time. If the sensor is activated at night time it ought to be taken very significantly.
General the system is simple to mount and program. In case you run into issues and or have questions please e-mail me from the contact web page on the web site.
TIPS:
- Keep away from utilizing rechargeable batteries.
- Don’t over tighten the battery covers.
- Windy days could trigger bushes to sway and false alarms. If this turns into annoying you
can decrease the station quantity or flip the machine off altogether till the annoyance passes. - Set up the sensors in a round route round your property in consecutive
order. Instance. Sensor 1, 2, 3… and so forth. It will help you simply
determine the placement when a sensor has been activated. Location one will
beep as soon as and site 8 will beep 8 instances. - In case you program the primary sensor and it has two beeps you want to restart the
course of. Two beeps means the unit already had a sensor programmed in slot
1 and can trigger points if you add extra sensors. - Check all sensors earlier than mounting them.
- Check all sensors on a bi-monthly foundation. They could change into deprogrammed or cease
transmitting. - Use good identify model non-rechargeable batteries. You will discover Duracell AA
batteries on Ebay for about 70 cents every. - Keep away from mounting the sensors instantly within the path of a sprinkler head.
- Paint the sensors to match the environment. If mounting on a pine tree you possibly can
use a pair squirts of grey, brown and maroon for nice camouflage. - The bottom station and sensor combo prices round $40. Extra sensors may be
discovered for $22 to $40 every. I’ve had seen the very best costs on Amazon. The
costs do fluctuate. It can save you a number of {dollars} in case you are affected person.
#2, RFID Tags.
These have been coated earlier than so I cannot go too far into element. They’re very small microchips which can be implanted into your tree or pot for distinctive identification. That is much like a VIN quantity for a automobile or a serial quantity for a cellphones. It helps show possession and tree identification with the usage of a pet scanner. A $20 cell phone and constant pets have figuring out serial numbers, why not your $500 Black Pine? The tags are bought by a number of corporations together with us. Bontag and BonsaiChip to call a number of.
#3, Bonsai Satellite tv for pc Monitoring Units GPS.
That is essentially the most thrilling safety measure I’ve come throughout. An organization referred to as Globalstar has a spin-off LLC referred to as Spot. This firm has a few nice merchandise together with the Spot Hint. The Hint is a s small GPS machine measuring about 2x3x1 inches. The unit is waterproof. Activation and setup may be difficult however the finish result’s a dependable unit. As soon as its activated you possibly can bury it in your bonsai soil about 1/2 inch deep and neglect about it. You’ll be able to program the unit to verify in by way of e-mail or SMS as soon as a day. The unit will notify you within the occasion it has detected motion and help you monitor your tree in close to actual time. It’s also possible to setup a “GEO fence”, an digital space to designated as residence. As soon as the tree leaves that space you’ll be notified.
Crucial characteristic is battery life. Earlier expertise has solely allowed for monitoring units to final about 3 strong days earlier than costs. It’s because GSM monitoring units are principally cellphones and not using a keypad. They should talk frequently with cell towers. This ends in extreme battery consumption. Different elements akin to variable sign, tower hand-off and machine monitoring may trigger further battery consumption.
No want to fret about quick battery life with the Spot Hint. This unit bypasses all the GSM cell phone tower issues and communicated instantly with outer area. Its actually a GPS machine. How cool is that! It conserves battery energy till wanted. It solely transmits a small packet of knowledge as soon as per day to verify in or when motion has been detected.
One other benefit is international monitoring because the machine communicates instantly with LEO satellites, not impartial cellphone carriers that may have poor sign areas or solely function in particular areas.
The battery will theoretically final 12-24 months as a result of a bonsai tree is stationary most of its life requiring minimal transmissions. Its essential to make use of the producer advisable alternative AA lengthy life batteries. These batteries value about $5 every. Spot requires two.
Spot affords nice technical assist. It is a new expertise for them. The interface may be considerably complicated. The preliminary setup can take a number of days to grasp earlier than you might be assured to bury your monitoring machine. Its well worth the wait. As soon as it has been setup and you’ve got absolutely examined the machine you possibly can bury and neglect about it. It would verify in as soon as per day and notify you when motion is detected. It would ship location updates in the course of the motion and notify you when the batteries should be modified.
Price is an element. The machine has a retail worth of $100. I’ve discovered them on sale for $75 and $80 every with mail in rebate. I might advocate you buy these instantly from findmespot.com or a licensed seller to make sure you obtain the correct guarantee and technical assist. Many retailers of this product have web site coupon codes that may additional scale back the worth. The opposite expense is the service. It runs $100 per yr or $8.35 monthly. It is a strong funding for collections that exceed $10 grand in worth.
Placement is essential. Only a few individuals have hundred thousand greenback collections and might afford a number of monitoring units. I might advocate you buy one unit and place it on a “bait tree”. This could be the tree more than likely to be stolen out of your assortment due to measurement, high quality and site.
General it is a good funding for the superior bonsai artist. Its not a whole safety scheme. If added to different safety measures it’s going to make for a sound funding.
In case you do buy this machine and have some Spot/bonsai associated questions be at liberty contact me from the contact web page on the web site. Common technical assist from Spot can also be obtainable.
Is essential to notice that this unit is marketed as waterproof however not assured towards water harm. Fundamental mechanical abilities are required when sealing the unit again up after a battery change.
Good luck and thanks for the continued assist.