CENTINELA anti-theft frame device

01 · CAMOUFLAGE

Just another frame in the brood box

The unit and its battery sit inside the frame's top bar, closed off with timber: there is no box, no aerial and no cable on the outside, and with the hive open it looks like the rest. The manufacturer describes it as a frame the bees work normally and that emits nothing while it is at rest. A thief in a hurry loads the whole box; what he does not do is stop to lift out frames one by one and inspect them.

02 · ALERT AND TRACKING

The alert arrives when the hive moves

As soon as movement is detected the alert reaches your phone, and from then on the position can be followed in real time wherever there is mobile coverage, from the Android or iPhone app and equally from a computer or tablet. Several users can follow the same unit, which is what you want when more than one beekeeper works the apiary. It is there to locate the hive and to report the theft with hard data, not to stop it while it happens.

03 · CONNECTION AND BATTERY

One SIM per frame and a recharge every three months

The alert travels over the mobile network: each frame carries its own data SIM on a monthly fee, separate from the price of the unit, and we arrange the sign-up — three frames mean three fees, which is exactly why a few well-placed units beat one per hive. The battery life stated by the manufacturer is 3 months, it is recharged at the apiary itself, and the system warns your phone before it runs flat: tie that recharge to a routine visit rather than leaving it to chance.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

The frame is built to the exact format, chosen when you order: three are stocked, Layens, Langstroth and Dadant. Watch the sizes that share a name — Dadant comes with two top-bar widths, 48 cm as commonly used in Spain and 47 cm for the Blatt used in France and Italy, and Layens runs both the usual 36.5 × 39.5 cm and the 36 cm Castellón variant. Measure one of your own frames first. The manufacturer builds other formats too — Lusitana and Hornachuelos among them — and can supply the frame with Hoffman side bars instead of straight ones: just ask.