General Alert offers versatile monitoring

Small, cheap and robust, the General Alert (GA) is a versatile control system which can be tailored to almost any production set-up and is engineered to run in the harshest of conditions.

Primarily, the GA is an alert system, reporting to producers when a device or process acts outside set norms, such as when a water or feed supply stops. But with simple modification, the unit can easily become a rudimentary automation system, allowing producers to operate devices within their sheds and monitor the outcomes.

Communication to and from the farmer is through mobile phone text messages, or via the internet. The GA uses a roaming SIM card, picking up whatever network is strongest, meaning it will work where many mobile phones will not.

Inside the GA, there is space for 12 different control chips (POD), which receive signals from sensors. But this can be expanded to 48 by linking sensors of the same type together in a ‘daisy chain’, to monitor a larger operation.

“If you have a sensor, we will have a POD to suit it,” says GA chief executive David Welch. “Solids, liquids, anything physical you can sense, General Alert is a platform to detect it.”

Currently, the control boxes are being used to monitor everything from water flow, feed levels, auger operation, opening or closing of nest boxes/pop holes and temperature levels.

For all these different sensors, a producer can set ranges at which they will be alerted. It is also possible to set a range of alerts, meaning different people can be warned of a problem based on the severity of the issue.

“For example, if you had a temperature sensor in a shed and it is one degree out, it will send a message to the farm manager,” Mr Welch explains. “But if it’s 200 degrees out, then you’ve probably got a fire, so then a second alarm would contact everyone listed.”

CASE STUDY: Alan and Jan Saville, Cornfields Farm, Thaxted, Essex

The GA device is currently in operation on Alan and Jan Saville’s Cornfields Farm in Thaxted, Essex, where they have one sensor monitoring their feed bin to detect when it is blocked.

“We often have problems with the feed being held up in the bin – almost always that last two or three tonnes,” says Alan. “If I go out on the tractor into the field, I won’t get back until six or seven at night, and if my birds miss a few feeds then production will drop massively.”

“When you’ve got 8000 chickens in there at around 90% production, and then it drops down to 80% for a few days, that’s a lot of money you lose very quickly,” adds Jan.

Less than two weeks after it was installed, the GA proved its worth, sending Jan a text message while on holiday in Turkey that the feed had stopped. Jan was able to forward the message to Alan, who went down to the shed and fixed the blockage.

Name: General Alert

System: Mobile-phone-based computer alert system.

Functions: Information accessible via website. Shed functions can be monitored and controlled by phone or via the internet. Solar power option. Phone package works in remote areas.

Company: General Alert

Cost: £800 (approx)