Energy saving kit improperly installed in Exit sign almost causes a Fire

Once again we have a case of a Company which is suppose to be in the Life Safety Business putting a customer life at risk.This time it happened at my Dentist in Monroeville Pa. who co owns a building with an accountant. The Monroeville Code Enforcement officer was by recently to check the building and found several exit signs not working properly so Doc asked if I could fix them for him sure I said they make these new energy efficient LED Light kits about $25.00 each you can retrofit your signs with to save money instead of the 2- 40 watt bulbs they use now.
Well it ends up I open up the signs and what do I find in them but that the big Pittsburgh based
Fire Extinguisher and emergency lighting company he has used in the past had in fact installed retrofit kits which at time cost $135.00 each had been improperly installed and had burned out and almost caught on fire because the idiot installer left one of the 40 watt incandescent bulbs
in one of the sockets which made contact with the back of the kit and burned the LED Kit out and damaged the exit signs. The structure it self could have caught fire had the breaker not tripped out when the heat caused the insulation to burn off the wires and make contact with the grounded metal case. Had the case not been properly grounded or had it been made of all plastic like most new ones or had the breaker failed to trip the structure it self could have caught fire.

Well I installed the new kits( top left) and got the signs working again ( Top Right ) for Doc. Who is extremely upset with the way he was treated by the Fire Extinguisher company. Unfortunately this is a matter of fact around Pittsburgh and most of the country these so called Life Safety , Fire and Security company's hire the lowest common denominator they can find that they can pay a buck or two above minimum to go out and do mundane work and they can care less if the work is even done right they just keep billing big amounts for work half done and can care less. this is why you must do your home work when hiring life safety company's to do your work or you could literally end up burned.
Shame on these company's who do this kind of work.
A very sad comment on the Life Safety Community.

A Purse Snatching caught on High Resolution Equiptmet why choosing and designing a proper Surveillance System is so critical

In the above images you are viewing an actual Purse Snatching incident caught on the surveillance camera system I installed at Stanton Industrial Electric Supply In Wilkinsburg Pa.
last year after a minor vandalism incident.
As you can see from the wide angle 2.8 mm lens on the Nuvico 600 lines of resolution Camera which was recorded on a 8 channel Nuvico Apex Lite DVR the images are clean and sharp and even thou the incident has taken place 50 feet from the camera because a high resolution system was used Wilkinsburg and Allegheny County detectives will be able to enhance these images for extremely clear facial ids of the young men involved. Unfortunately the internet compression does not allow you to see just how sharp these images are
from this and 2 other cameras watching the lot. If this was one of those typical cheap camera systems you can buy at Costco or Sam's Club for your home or business forget it there would not be enough pixilation to be able to blow up the digital picture and ID a suspect, think of the difference between a 4 meg digital camera vs a 12 meg and you would be out of luck. It is essential when installing cameras to use professional equipment to get professional results. this includes having the DVR and cameras on a back up power UPS unit and
getting cameras with plenty of infrared LED's for night operation. The Nuvico cameras have 30 LED per camera cheap systems have 6-12 LED
Proper placement is also critical as you can see the wide angle camera is being used for a general overview of the lot while 2 additional cameras at the dock catch close up action . with these 3 cameras plus the camera watching the front walk any criminal activity is totally covered.
1 camera alone is not enough and you only get part of the incident. As you can see a professional system is worth every penny for your business or home if you can afford it and high quality kits are available on line for the DIY types which can also give good results if properly installed.

Update There have been arrests in this case and further suspects in several cases in area identified due to this video and others

Why spend big bucks for technology to be installed then not use it?

Often when installing and servicing High technology system I often shake my head as to what the hell where they thinking when they wasted the money to put a high tech system in and then not use it.
I see this with camera systems all the time they will go out and have the most sophisticated DVR/NVR recorder they can buy and ultra high resolution cameras and then it sits there because no one knows how to operate it. But that's Ok because often it is tax payer money being wasted in
Non Profit or government buildings.

They will never consider an economy based system which is easy to use and is 1/3 rd the cost because they have to have some big name outfit with all the prestige and charisma pull the wool over there eyes with all there so called technical skills only to put it in wrong and it never work correctly I see it all the times all this wizz bang technology sitting there and not being used.
They spent $80,000.00 for a camera system at a school for at risk children which i put the original system in for $5000.00 but that was not good enough even though it worked just fine they still went a head wasted the tax payers money for a system no one new how to use.
Saw this happen at County probation and health dept offices as well. they put in security systems that falsed all the time they stopped using it because it became a pain and you the tax payer pad for it. What a shame and what a waste.

Latest Burglary Stats.

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Burglary Statistics Illustration - Graphic & Marketing by Yellow Robin

Isolation Transformers Small transformers which help prevent big problems

There are many types of transformers in use with AC power to raise or lower the voltages but one of the more interesting ones is an Isolation Transformer which is used in circuits to reduce noise and isolate power loads and provide safety from line shocks. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isolation_transformer for construction details.
I use Isolation transformers all the time at the WAVL to help keep noise from getting into audio equipment especially when you have equipment tied to each other that are hooked into 2 different phases of the power which can produce an undesired circulating current and blow out equipment.
Keeping in mind what Isolation transformers can do with noise they also can help in other situations as well. I have Mini Storage facility in Richland Pa. which has 44 separate color-day/night cameras watching over the property and remote viewed over the internet .There are even cameras in the entry and exit keypads which take video of who is using the keypads and records there storage unit number on the video which is helpful should one of many commercial clients who store items here temporarily need to know which one of there employees accessed there unit during the day. all cameras can see in the dark as they have Infrared emiters and special low lux lens. and we used special Baluns which allows Cat 5 cable to be used instead of coax which offers additional surge and noise protection as the wire is twisted. It also cut down by 3/4 the amount of space traditional coax would have taken in the conduits.
With the property being so large we had to get power from 2 different sources because of the long lengths which caused voltage drops which presents a problem.Ideally you always want cameras all on the same phase of power so you do not get noise and ground loops etc which can effect cameras. But that was not possible here 2 different meters feed the property. So the solution install an isolation transformer unit ( right in picture) which you can see in the above enclosure which was being tested to make sure it worked before we buttoned all the wiring up. and made it permanent. By using the isolation transformer we had a clean 120 volts AC we could transform down to 24Volts (left in picture) with out the worry of a ground loop or circulating currents between the two different power sources. We also installed Ditek CCTV surge protection on each cameras input to the recorders and on each recorders AC outlet plus installed battery backed up UPS units to supply clean power to the recorders. in case of power failure We also made sure all the grounding was unified to prevent step voltage as well. In all the extra precautions cost around $900.00 but it is protecting $45,000.00 in cameras and recording equipment where lightning is always a possibility with all metal storage buildings sitting on a flat plain high on a hill.
So far the setup has worked and troubles are minimized compared to problems previous owner had before we added all the extra cameras and protection as they where always blowing out cameras from storm damage.

Dan's Deli Burglary from 80's Solved

I had a customer back in the 80's who had a Deli in the city of Pittsburgh which sat on the line with a suburb/Boro of Pittsburgh you walked across the road and where in another town . Dan opened it about 1980 and I did his refrigeration work . Dan sold the deli around 82 after seeing the hand writing on the wall and got a State Job after all the steel mills went down around 81-82 and sold it to Hank a layed off Steel Worker who used his pension fund to buy and run the Deli unfortunately thou He had to end up closing it around 83 and couple other people tried to make a go including couple different Pizza shops but no go the place has sat vacant now since mid 90' s
While Hank was trying to run it He asked me to put in a simple burglar alarm to protect the store since there where so many burglary's going on in the area. Which I did but no matter the thieves still some how got in and defeated the system. All along the theory was it was an inside job and some employee helped pull it off. But despite the police dept best effort no one was charged. How ever it has now come to light just how the burglary was committed and who did it.
While sitting in a class at fire school few years back I was shown a tool known as a K -tool
( See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-tool for additional info)
which is used to pull lock cylinders to get to the opening mechanism so minimal damage is done to a business if entry is needed to be made .The lock cylinder then can be reinserted and no one the wiser to it if carefully removed it leaves very small tell tale marks. During the class the fact we where being shown this in first place brought up the usual ? should we even be shown this, and the instructor went on to say how he has a lot of personnel liability insurance coverage especially after one of the depts firefighters he showed how to do this where responsible for a series of burglary's the same town across from the deli. At the time it did not click in but couple months ago I ran into Dan who owned the Old Deli and he starts on me about charging Hank an extremely high amount for the alarm and how he lost money because Hank went Bankrupt and never finished paying him and I just laughed I said you got to be kidding what the hell are you talking about. Not only did I not charge him a lot when he closed I sold the parts for him and got most of his money back on it. Dan just huffed and walked away looking like a fool.
Which got me back to that whole time when I put the system in and we never figured out who did it.
Well it ends up it was the very Volunteer fire dept. whose Boro's line is across from the deli who where involved and it was kept very hush hush about what happened and never shared it with the city detectives back in 80's. When over 20 businesses in the area had been burglarized and no one knew how entry was made and only money was stolen with no damage to the business.
So now after almost 30 years we know what happened. The few times I ever had systems beat it was almost always with inside info or an employee was involved and we proved it. Because systems properly installed are very hard to defeat without extensive knowledge. But Dan's Deli case always bothered me. But now we have answered what happened and this is one of the first things I look for is the tell tale marks the K- tool leaves on lock cylinders when there pulled and reinserted. Marks almost 30 years ago Police detectives could not explain when the lock was examined by them.
All these years have passed but at least now I have answer's and the statute of limitations has well run on these fool fireman a couple of who I knew and went to school with pulled off.
some who have passed away from making bad choices in there lives.

This Group home is on fire You need to escape .Can you figure out how to unlock this door?

Your life is on the line a fire has broken out in this group home and you must get out NOW ! you go to open the door but it will not budge there's been a magnetic lock installed on the door but where is the release button where is the motion sensor to release it why has it not opened when the Fire Alarm activated. Good question because you will be dead in 60 seconds from now the building is filling with thick deadly smoke.
Well its all a scenario but exactly what could have happened at one of my Institutional clients because they chose the lowest bidder and one who is not qualified to do this type of work .
So not only did they overspend our tax payers money who helped pay for the job they hired a computer firm of 911 nerds who has no business installing these locks.
In the state of Pa. as in many states there are some very specific rules and regulations when it comes to installing electrically activated locks especially when it comes to magnetic locks.
on group homes these locks are not even permitted under DPW Department of Welfare Act 43 Rules. But of course the State inspector with his head up his ass has been on campus several times now and has never caught these improperly installed magnetic locks. Which also brings up the question why are we bothering to pay for inspectors with there heads up there asses in the first place.

So what are the rules regarding Mag Locks as there commonly known.

Rule 1# the locks must immediately drop power and door unlock when a Fire Alarm activates

Rule 2# A clearly visible manual button must be installed to override power to the lock as you can see in picture you can barely make out the button is for releasing this door.

rule 3# there must be a motion sensor above a door to sense when you approach the door and automatically unlock it.

If a Motion sensor is not used than a special UL listed door releasing bar which has switches built into it must be used to release the door.

Additionally there can only be one mag lock in a pathway you are exiting from .

The codes require no more than one means of special knowledge to egress a building be used
in an exiting pathway.

But of course as usual how many property's I walk on and find the locks not meeting the codes at all. In fact on this property they installed the controls for some of these doors in an Elevator control room which again is a major code violation and nothing has been said or done and most of the locks do not even work properly so $50,000.00 they spent for a totally illegal and worthless locking system. A system I warned them had to meet very specific codes etc, and they just ignored my input and spent the tax payers money and have nothing to show for it and have once again managed to fire the local fire marshal temper up who ordered them to turn the system off.
Once again they can not understand why they are being picked on. maybe its time these administrators step down and people with common sense be allowed to run the place but then again this will never happen and they wonder why the state is not sending at risk youths to them
for treatment.
Yes your tax payer money is once again wasted and these students are at risk in the community and at just as much danger being institutionalized. When is Pa. going to wake up and smell the coffee as they say.

Illegal Recording of Conversations and no one seems concerned

It is Illegal to record any ones voice in Pennsylvania unless they give consent to do so. Pa. has one of the strongest anti wiretapping laws in the country .It is a criminal offense that goes to the felony level not a civil matter.
With this in mind you would think a professional big name Integration company based here in Pittsburgh would not have done it and advised against it. But this is not the case.
I was recently removing some video equipment from one of my Institutional customers schools I have several Different Institutional customers who service a wide spectrum from at risk to hearing impaired to Bi Polar Students I service when I came across this exact situation. You can see when they installed this expensive Honeywell based system they had speakers hooked into the DVR and audio hookup wires rigged to the back notice all the small round green cords. lying behind the unit. plus the SLR/XLR ports up front to hook microphones into it. So they can speak into certain rooms
The School along with the Integrators thought it would be OK to record audio because it was to protect the special needs students. Wrong they never should have done it and they should have checked with authorities before they did it.
But since there a school and there special it seems they can do no wrong or so they think.
Sorry but the law is the law . The only way they could have legally done it is thru the permission of the courts and that would be only if they could provide very substantial need for it and the application they where using for would not meet that definition.
This is a very serious matter school officials could very well have faced jail time over this and there just blowing it off like its nothing A school district a couple years back got into very serious trouble and had to sign consent decrees etc after they where caught recording voices on school bus cameras, because they used cheap camcorders in the buses instead of the correct cameras .
Most security business who install cameras in Pa. will not even talk about recording when customers bring it up and advise customers to consult there attorneys about it Period because of all the trouble it can bring. And the best part you the Tax Payer helped pay for this activity.