Welcome
To the Parabeam support page, here you will find useful information regarding the beams & installation, plus some general trouble-shooting and tips to keep your Parabeam working at peak performance for many years and keeping nuisance triggers to a minimum.

Overview
The Parabeam system is an outdoor alarm system working in real-time to protect perimeters and areas or zones from unwanted access to provide both property protection as well as effective personal security 24/7, alerts can also be provided if desired via 2/3/4G cellular alarm panel, or through an existing panel where communication capability exists. All units have a built-in sounder to alert users of a property intrusion.

A key strength of the Parabeam system is its proprietary Active Infra-Red emitter & receiver- unlike common Passive Infra-Red (PIR) based systems an active infra-red beam cannot generate a trigger on its own with the beam being blocked and can be aligned in a highly managed and precise linear way, the method used to determine a trigger event is designed to greatly reduce or eliminate small transient objects such as birds, leaves, rain, snow etc which are common causes of nuisance triggers (extremes excepted) in many systems, thus in the context of which the beams were designed for they will generally be triggered only by people or vehicles subject to appropriate installation positioning and environmental factors- see Environmental Factors below.

Design Features

• Compact & low power consumption: the technology design is notable for not needing large battery packs or physical wiring to the sensors making them amongst the most portable in the world
• Self Contained: No need for reflectors or additional light sources and cannot be beaten by hand held infra-red light, torches, or lasers
• Comprehensive anti-tamper defenses: can’t be deflected, moved, or cables cut without alarming
• Connectivity: Can be added to any standard alarm system using industry-standard sensor connections
• Low maintenance: means low cost of ownership

Maintenance Checklist
Some basic things you need to do to avoid potential annoyances and ensure reliable operation of the Parabeam system:

• Check & clean solar panels and sensor units monthly
• Ensure solar panel cabling is not accessible by livestock
• Ensure solar panel cable is well secured with any excess firmly retained
• Ensure solar panels remain in sunlight
• Ensure base receiver is never turned off- use the mute or output buttons to manage sounds and alerts, turning the base receiver off will cause batteries to drain at a rate faster than they are charged by the solar panels
• Ensure units or the mounting are not bumped out of alignment, if so realign as per instructions.
• Check mounting hardware is firmly attached, check screws, bolts etc typically annually however 6 monthly is recommended, or whenever an issue arises
• Ensure any solid objects or foliage do not interfere with the beam

INSTALLATION

It is recommended all alarm systems are installed by licensed and qualified installers to guarantee best performance and longevity. Also greater warranty benefits apply: 3yr parts & onsite labour (excludes km’s)

The Parabeam FSK-700 can be supplied in a DIY kit for personal use only or by licensed/registered installers when installing on behalf, however if purchased to be self-installed then the following official factory installation guide will provide some useful instructions & information that if followed will greatly assist in achieving a successfully deployed system:

Online Installation PDF:
http://www.parabeam.co.nz/installation-guides/online-installation-guide/

Installation video

BEFORE REQUESTING ASSISTANCE…
Please review the maintenance checklist, then:
Have the following information ready after referring to the brief chart supplied with the unit (or download PDF below):
Base Receiver
(refer to operation guide PDF below)
Power is ON
Note ZONE & LED colour status (flashing or solid; red or amber)
Units are clean and free of obstructions
Units are still aligned- refer to installation PDF or video above in unsure
Text alerts
If not receiving alerts please check unit is armed (LED indicator will be lit), if not arm via phone with PIN supplied
Check your account status online and top up as required if a pre-pay SIM

Further Viewing- BBC Report

Environmental Considerations- please review before purchasing

Before purchase, consider known environmental issues that may effect the performance of the system, some sites present unique issues and therefore may not be suitable for an installation (ie radio or telemetry clashing) and so will not be discussed here, rather the scope concerns those commonly encountered and are to some extent quite predictable & generally manageable. It’s important to note that any system deployed outdoors whether from retail stores to military-grade equipment are subject to environmental challenges unlike indoor systems where a stable and predictable environment exists. So it’s to be expected a small percentage of irrelevant or nuisance alarms may occur but always as result of the beam being broken according to it’s design parameters. The incidence of irrelevant night time triggers from the Parabeam are extremely low making it a highly trusted systems on the general local market today for nighttime use. Given that environmental factors may be beyond reasonable control, please read the most common types of environment issues encountered, and generally occasional daytime nuisance triggers are outweighed by the security benefits the beams offer:

• Sun Strike- low and intense sunlight entering the receiver, this can simulate a beam-break, it is characterised by a series of alerts occurring within a short time frame at the same time each day for up to a month and usually only for one or two periods in the year.
• Dense fog, light fog is normally tolerated- please advise if this condition applies before requesting an installation so an impact assessment can be made
• Solar panel shaded or completely covered- this will eventually drop the built in battery capacity after approx 3 days to a point where it cannot reliably maintain/receive the emitter beam. A status light will show on the panel long before action needs to be taken. Note: In some cases a “summer” or “winter” position is required- usually rotating the solar panel bracket is all that is required.
• Mud or similar splashing up onto the sensors may result in over-sensitive alerting, cleaning with a soft clean cloth will resolve this.
• A static object positioned between the sensors (ie parked car) will- after providing an alert- then issue a “beam blocked” recurring chirp, not really an environmental issue as such but can be remedied by managing the area concerned more effectively or re-positioning the beamsets
• Sometimes flocks of birds congregating on or around the beam ie chickens
• REMINDER: check all screws, bolts & mounting brackets are firmly tightened and affixed, especially when mounted on surfaces subject to movement, expansion and contraction or warping ie wooden fences or posts