Dear [SALUTATION]

Welcome to our first newsletter of 2010. In this issue we unveil Guthrie Douglas’s compact, easy to fit and more reliable alternative to the traditional hard-wired safety edge.

We also look at the Condor sensor in action with Asda, and at the new NVQ module that can accredit you to install door-wiring systems.

If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to cover, please email your ideas to guthriedouglas@guthriedouglas.com.

Andrew Collett Director 01926 452452

PS Please take a minute to add our email address to your list of ‘safe’ addresses so that our next issue in April lands safely in your inbox.

Guthrie Douglas now has a complete compact alternative to the traditional hard-wired safety edge. It’s easier to fit, more reliable on high-performance doors, and less likely to be vandalised – keeping your customers’ doors working and increasing their satisfaction.

The Wireless Safety Edge uses a bi-directional radio connection. This replaces the conventional spiral cable between a door’s safety edge and control panel.

The Wireless Safety Edge comes into its own on high usage/high speed doors, where wear and tear can cause spiral cables to fail within the warranty period, resulting in repairs having to be made at the door installer’s expense.

The Wireless Safety Edge is also ideal in public places, such as car parks, where spiral cables can be vandalised preventing entry shutters, grilles or gates from working. On the high street the edge could see the end of unsightly cables dangling across your customer’s shop front. The radio system also allows very tall doors to be automated when a spiral cable would not stretch far enough.

What if there’s another radio device nearby? No problem. Compared with other wireless edges, the Guthrie Douglas system, operating at 2.4Ghz, is less susceptible to radio interference, due to its high operating frequency.

Multiple adjacent doors can use the system without risk of interference as during set-up the system checks for other radio signals and adjusts its frequency if any are detected.

Wireless Safety Edge Plug-in receiver

When used with our TS970 or TS981 control panels and Opto-electronic Safety Edge, a control signal auto-tests the safety edge before each movement of the door. If a problem is detected the door will only work in dead-man operation until the fault is rectified. Safety is further ensured by a signal sent between transmitter and receiver every 400 milliseconds to check the radio connection and battery status.

Guthrie Douglas uses only the best quality components and suppliers so we’re pleased to be partnering with GfA to supply the Wireless Safety Edge. It will be available at the end of March and is compatible with our Opto-electronic Safety Edge and contact edges with end of line resistance.


You can arrange to see a Wireless Safety Edge in action at our Warwick facility. Please email us to register for a datasheet or call 01926 452452 to find out more.

Asda’s South Shields superstore has joined Tesco and other supermarkets in using the Condor sensor.

The Guthrie Douglas team provided pre-sales consultancy advice to our industrial door customer and Asda’s representatives on a solution to keep personnel safe in the loading bay.

The site has two roller shutters on the loading bay doors, interlocked with dock leveller systems. The challenge is to prevent employees falling from the raised dock leveller floor by ensuring the doors are always closed, unless a lorry is unloading.

The Condor’s dual technology meets all requirements. Its motion-detecting radar activates the doors only when vehicles approach. Traffic travelling away from the loading bay or parallel to the opening is ignored.

The Condor’s presence-detecting infrared then keeps the shutters open while the lorry unloads and is detected in the motion/presence zone. The door closes on an auto-timed operation, as soon as the lorry has safely pulled away from the presence-detected area.

In other words, unless a lorry is present, Asda’s employees are kept safely behind closed doors.

Installers of the Condor were also kept safe with all parameters set from ground level via remote control. Presence zones were accurately set using the spotfinder.

Find out more about the Condor sensor. Or call 01926 452452 for honest guidance on the right product for your needs.

Skilled technician at work

A bespoke control panel has solved an emissions problem at a building that has no exhaust extraction system.

The building houses a number of vehicles that drive frequently in and out causing a potentially harmful build-up of exhaust fumes. Our industrial door customer asked Guthrie Douglas’s technical team to help find a way to vent the building.

The solution involves the doors closing part way while fumes disperse. A CO₂ monitoring system then signals the door control equipment to fully close the doors only when CO₂ is within permitted levels.

This could only be achieved by the technical team designing a unique interface between the monitoring system and our TS981 control panel.

If you have an unusual challenge, talk to Guthrie Douglas’s technical team on 01926 452452. If there is no ready-made solution to hand, we will build one. 

A. Not always.

There are a number of safety brakes that do need to be replaced once activated, as they cannot be reset. Indeed, that applies to some of the early GfA brakes supplied by Guthrie Douglas.

This is NOT the case with the full range of original Timmer Safety Brakes available from Guthrie Douglas. These can be reset a number of times. Our technical support team can give you detailed instructions on how.

However, it is important that you analyse the reason for the activation and ensure there is no other fault in the door itself. The event should also be recorded in the door’s logbook.

If you cannot identify the brake manufacturer then it is essential to change the brake. The Guthrie Douglas technical team will be pleased to help you choose the new brake. Just call 01926 452452 with the roller barrel diameter, shaft size, door dimensions and curtain material.