Metal keypad details

Metal keypads are a huge rage nowadays. One reason is that they are highly resistant to harsh conditions, contaminations and liquids. Their front panels are completely metallic. This makes them vandal proof as well. All the electronics are contained inside the housing of the keypad. Some of these may even have volt free relay contacts. This helps in the direct operation without any need to fit additional relay contacts.

These rugged keypads may meet meet the protection classes of up to IP 67 and IK 07. They can provide high operating convenience and also, a pleasant touch. The design options are also very large. They have a robust metal construction. Also, the backlit keys make them easy to use even in low light conditions. They are also used to flash different access permissions.

The installation of all the metallic outdoor keypads is almost the same and fairly simple. It contains several wires connecting it to power supply etc. Most of the cables exit centrally from the back, which makes it very simple for drilling and mounting them. They also contain a terminal strip making it ideal to be connected to the external wiring. The settings and the codes can be programmed via the keypad. Some may also have relay contacts that can be used for triggering devices. Many companies also offer the choice of choosing between metal mounting plate and metal surface mounting box.

Metal keypads are perfect for use in areas that are susceptible to vandalism. The metal housing gives a durability to the keypad that the plastic casing can never give. These are also supplied with security tools that help to prevent these keypads from being tampered. Theses keypads are ideal for use in delivery depots, construction sites, external gates or barriers and other vandal prone areas.  

Understanding PoEs

Power over Ethernet (PoE) can be used to describe any system that passes electrical power on Ethical cabling along with data. The system may be any standardized or ad-hoc system. In this way, a single cable can be used to provide both the data connection and electrical power. The devices that usually require both, data and electricity are wireless access points or IP cameras.

The best part about the PoE is that it allows long cable lengths. As compared to the USB (Universal Serial Bus) standard, this is better. Power may be carried on the same conductors as the data, or it may be carried on dedicated conductors in the same cable.

As for the POE Injector ; there are many techniques. However, IEEE 802.3 has standardized only two of them. For such a transmission, only two pairs are needed. So, the power is transmitted through the unused conductors of a cable. The power can also be transmitted by using a common—mode voltage. It has to be applied on each pair of the data conductors. But, does it interfere with the data transmission? No, it doesn’t as it uses differential signaling.

What about the common mode voltage? It is extracted using the center tap of the standard Ethernet pulse transformer. This can be compared to the phantom power technique. This technique is used for powering the audio microphones.

And, that is not all that IEEE standards do. It also sets the standards for signaling between the power source equipment (PSE) and powered device (PD). It also standardizes the practices for spare-pair and common-mode data pair power transmission. So, what exactly is done? The conformant device is detected by the power source. This allows the device and source to negotiate the amount and source to negotiate the amount of power required or available. Up to 25 watts is available for a device, depending on the version of the standard in use.

Most of the rugged keypads are vandal-resistant

Where reliability is concerned, we can’t use the sophisticated keypads that we daily use. They may serve our purposes but we can’t use them in all types of environments. For them, we need ruggedized keyboards. They are the safest bet for outdoor applications.

Most of the rugged keypads are vandal-resistant and suited for indoor and outdoor use in applications including banking kiosks, ticketing machines, access control systems and harsh public environments. Most of them come with very simple panel configurations and adaptable layouts to accommodate a broad range of client designs. Customers can specify any number of keys, as well as benchmark 4, 12 or 16 keypad layouts.

The characteristics may also include commanded illumination in red, yellow, blue, green, or white, multiple button forms and colors inside one keypad, and blank spaces for separation between keys in one unit. Other features may be anti-twist, anti-pull off, non sticking keys.

Rugged keypads have applications in several areas. Some of them are:

1.    Commercial applications
2.    Industrial applications
3.    Military applications

The commercial application may include:

1.    Oceanic vessel control
2.    Power plant control system
3.    Rugged mobile computers
4.    Water manufacturing equipments
5.    Telephonic operator terminals
6.    Retail lottery terminals
7.    High end VME systems

The industrial applications include:

1.    Advanced integrated display systems
2.    Tactical advanced computer system
3.    Tactical mobile rugged computer
4.    Advanced display system

The military applications include:

1.    Rugged military computers
2.    Coast guard tactical computers
3.    Airborne satellite control system
4.    Military aerospace management

Rugged keypad play the crucial role in all the major events of space as well. Man would not have been able to land at the moon without them.