Belgium based company Fog Bandit, exhibiting at Securex this week, is demonstrating the effectiveness of a dense fog to defeat criminals.

The Fog Bandit system is used widely in Europe and elsewhere to protect valuable content in businesses and homes. As its strapline states: “You can’t steal what you can’t see!”

According to South African distributor Bernard Marais, the fog generator fills 28 cubic metres of space per second of fog expulsion. Its filling capacity exceeds 500 cubic metres for each device in only 18 seconds.

“The fog is not harmful to humans or pets,” Marais explains. “It consists of water and glycol with a minimal amount of an olfactory agent like peppermint for fire rescue teams. However, the dense fog presents a safe security layer complementary to other measures like alarms systems.”

He says the reaction time is 0.1 second between an alarm signal and fog ejection. The device can be integrated into an alarm control panel or used fully autonomously as a stand-alone device.

In case of interrupted power supply, operation is guaranteed: 24 hours for the electronics and 2 hours for the fog generator.

Marais explains that the Fog Bandit has 24/7 self-diagnostics, which instantly reports stats changes to the alarm panel. An error LED provides quick and easy identification of the failure for rapid resolution.

“After a fogging incident, the unit automatically cleans itself, so that no liquid remains or leaks out,” he explains.

The standard Fog Bandit 240 is a versatile and compact unit measuring only 270 mm wide by 365 mm high. Its triple fog ejection nozzle can project a 60° wide plume of fog 6 meters in the first two seconds.

A new compact Fog Bandit 320 was designed for smaller environments, both commercial and domestic, offering the same uncompromising performance and reliability of the Fog Bandit 240.

Marais says the Fog Bandit is totally manufactured in Belgium and meets European CE and EMC standards. It is generating increasing interest in South Africa, with security system installers offering the system. In the Western Cape enterprises like Delaire Graff wine estate was one of the first prominent users.