Fail Safe versus Fail Secure
If you’ve worked around or dealt with access control locks at all you’ve probably heard of the terms fail safe and fail secure. These may seem to mean the same thing since safe and secure seem to be on the same side of fence versus unsecure and unsafe. Well, in the [...]
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Filed under: Access Control, Definitions
An HID proximity card is a card the size of your driver’s license or credit card. The card contains embedded information that will activate and open doors so that the holder of the card can enter. The card alone does not have the capability of accessing an area. The card must be combined with additional system components.
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Filed under: Access Control
Alarm contacts tied to security systems… whether they be burglar alarms, fire alarms, access control systems or even inputs on some video systems… are wired in either a “series” or “parallel” fashion. I found a good diagram of window contacts wired in series…
Actually if you just search for series or parallel wiring on the [...]
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Filed under: Definitions, General Security, Tips and Tricks
So what is an electric door strike? An electric door strike is a device that’s installed on a door to allow access with an access control system or some other type of remote release system. The door strike, unlike a magnetic lock doesn’t actually secure the door. A door with a door strike is being [...]
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Filed under: Access Control
Every now and then while working on access control or camera equipment, you’ll run across a bad power supply. Some power supplies merely plug into the wall and are fairly easy to replace. Supplies such as Altronix usually have high voltage electrical wired directly to them. It’s rather difficult to replace the supply if you [...]
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Filed under: Tips and Tricks
So what is security? Well, Wikipedia defines security as:
The word security is derived from the Ancient Greek “Se-Cura” and literally translates to “without fear”. ‘Security’ is therefore the state of being secure, or the actions employed to achieve that state, i.e. to be secure is to be without fear of harm.
I guess my definition would [...]
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Filed under: Definitions, General Security
