The Essence MyShield unit is promoted as a 5G enabled Security Fog Generator Device and is aimed at home and small business owners. It incorporates a PIR detector and HD camera and when triggered allows the property owner or central station to confirm an intrusion and if required to remotely deploy fog (also referred to as smoke). The easily replaceable MyShield smoke canister produced smoke that is non-toxic, non-stick and non-lingering.
Getting started
The Quick guide gives a limited amount of information, but sufficient for a simple installation. This consists of removing the unit’s base and rear cover which both slide off. The curved rear cover has six drill-through points that can be used for flat wall or corner mounting to suit the location. A pair of spirit level bubbles within the rear cover assist with levelling. It should be fitted at a height of 2 metres to the bottom of the unit. For the electronics module, a suitable micro-SD SIM should be clicked into the readily accessible socket before fitting the battery pack. The battery holder is removed by pressing a retaining button in the main cavity for the fog canister. This holds 6 x CR123A 3-volt Lithium cells arranged as two series connected sets of three, giving two 9-volt feeds to the device through its 3-pole connector.
With the battery pack fitted into the unit, there is a short time for initialisation which is completed once the LED stops flashing.
Access to the device is through the Essence, MyShield app that can be downloaded from the iOS or Android stores to suit the mobile device being used. An Android device was used for the testing as a “User not found” message was presented when attempting connection from two different iOS devices; this was possibly due to the configuration of this demonstration unit and it is likely that Essence technical support could quickly resolve this issue.
Once the device has initialised it is added to the mobile app using the QR code on the device’s top plate or by entering its serial number.
Once connection is confirmed the unit can be slid onto its wall-mounted rear plate. The fog canister is then slid into the unit and its handle rotated to secure it in place. Finally, the bottom cover is slid back on to complete the installation.
Status and settings
The app home screen gives an overview of the unit’s Armed / Disarmed status and access to basic menu options, including battery and signal level plus any status notifications. The device name and firmware version is shown with settings for speaker volume, motion detection announcement on/off, and Fog deployment warning on/off switches.
Read the full review in the July 2022 edition of PSI magazine
