The Ultimate Guide to Buying Full Height Turnstiles Online 2024

1. What is full height turnstile? 

Full height turnstile, also known as revolving turnstile or full body turnstile, which is a kind of turnstile gate with the highest security level. It is the greatest solution for buildings and facilities that require maximum security but without manned monitoring.
  
As a common type of pedestrian access turnstiles, full-height turnstiles generally have stronger security performance compared to tripod turnstiles, swing turnstiles, and flap barriers, due to their tall and sturdy housing.

Compared with ordinary gates, it is much more taller and wider, and there are many more stainless steel rotating rods than the tripod turnstiles, which effectively prevents the phenomenon of crawling and climbing.

2. What should be considered before buying full height turnstiles?

Fully enclosed gates such as full-height gates are very suitable for places with very strict security requirements such as gymnasiums, prisons, warehouses, and construction sites. If you don't know enough about full height turnstiles, it's likely to cost you more and the results won't be satisfactory.
In this guide, Macrosafe will walk you through what should be considered before buying full height turnstiles.

1. Traffic flow

Generally speaking, full-height gates have single lane full height turnstile, double lanes full height turnstile, and triple lanes full height turnstile. Before purchasing, you need to consider the number of people in the building, the flow of people and the frequency of use.
Take a construction site as an example. There are 100 internal employees and they need to come out completely within 3 minutes of the lunch break. How many lanes should I choose?
Ideally, semi-automatic full-height gates allow a maximum traffic flow of 30-35 people per minute. 100÷30=3.3min. If you need to leave all within 3 minutes, you need 2 lanes.

2. Material

We all know that full height turnstiles are mostly made of stainless steel, but many people don't know that stainless steel is also divided into 316, 304 and 201. In terms of anti-corrosion and anti-rust performance, 316>304>201. Similarly, in terms of price, it is also 316>304>201. It is necessary to consult the merchant in advance which materials to use, and avoid purchasing low-quality full height turnstiles at high prices.

Macrosafe uses 304 stainless steel to make full height turnstile, which is more cost-effective and has excellent rust and corrosion resistance. Of course, if it is used in places with frequent rainy seasons, high humidity or high air acidity, we recommend using 316 stainless steel.

3. Traffic direction

All full-height gates can be set up for two-way traffic or one-way traffic as required. It is recommended to have your provider set it up for you in advance.

4.Free exit when fire or emergency

In the event of a fire or other emergency, barrier-free access is the way to save lives. Make sure that the full height turnstiles have a fire interface so that people in the building can exit quickly and without verification.

5. Quiet operation

Based on the mechanical design of the full height turnstile mechanism, most full-height turnstiles on the market will make some noise when running. In order to make the operation of full height turnstile smoother and quieter, Macrosafe has added a hydraulic buffer to the mechanism, which greatly reduces the noise of the movement.
  
In addition, frequent operation will cause the movement to generate a lot of heat, which is a huge loss to the movement. Therefore, Macrosafe added two heat sinks to the movement, which can effectively reduce the heat generation, thereby protecting the mechanism and ensuring a longer service life.

3. How full height gates provide highest security?

● No Tailgating

Tailgating means that the person in front provides valid credentials, turnstile gate opens the door after verification. The person in the back does not provide a certificate, and takes advantage of the time gap before the turnstile closes to enter with the person in front, which is the trailing phenomenon.

Among the half-height turnstiles, the tripod turnstile has a relatively high level of anti-trailing. Its swivel only allows one person to enter per turn. Since the space between the two poles is limited, it cannot crowd many people, at least it can prevent unintentional followers. However, there is a drawback due to the movement structure design of the semi-automatic tripod turnstile. Trailers can reverse the pole before the lever is fully closed to trail in.

Fully automatic tripod turnstiles are recommended when you prefer tripod turnstiles and want to completely eliminate trailing. The motor drives the pole, which cannot be reversed by human hands, so trailing is impossible.

   

Flap barriers and swing barrier gates are only moderately effective against tailgating. "Moderately" here means that they cannot mechanically prevent malicious tailgating. Both gates are covered with optical sensors for unwanted entry detection on both sides, and they can accurately detect tailgating behavior. However, in order to protect the safety of the user, even if a tailgating is detected and an audible and visual warning is issued, the barrier will still be opened to prevent the user from being caught and injured. Therefore, in unguarded monitoring points, illegal entry cannot be completely avoided 100%.

The working principle of the full height gate is similar to that of the tripod turnstile, but its anti-reverse mechanism design can completely prevent unauthorized entry. The narrow space can ensure "one person one entry", avoiding multiple people entering at the same time with one card swipe.

● No Crawling No Climbing

Buildings or monitoring points that require high security, such as warehouses, construction sites, borders, prisons, military bases, etc., will choose full height turnstile as the first line of defense to prevent unwanted visits.Since its overall structure is based on an inherently closed stainless steel enclosure, people are not able to climb over the 2.2 meters height housing. Crawling is also prevented by the X- or Y-shaped hinges from the ground.

● No fear of Harsh Environments

Designed for harsh environments with high environmental adaptability. Even in the sun, rain, sand and dust, ultra-high temperature, ultra-low temperature, large temperature difference between day and night and other bad weather, the full height turnstile can work as usual.

There is a professional water guide inside the casing to ensure that the casing can discharge rainwater immediately even if it enters the water in thunderstorm weather. The sealed and seamless electronically controlled waterproof box can protect the internal circuit from rain. The internal parts are also made of stainless steel, which can prevent rust and corrosion.

● No high maintenance required

With over 10 years of professional experience in designing and manufacturing full height turnstiles, Macrosafe offers very mature and stable full height turnstiles. Industry-leading technology, modular accessories, and professional design enable Macrosafe full height turnstile to provide a service life of over 5 million times. Most importantly, it only requires extremely low maintenance, so you don't need to worry about after-sales maintenance and costs.

4. Common full height tunstile problems & solutions 

1. Reset too fast 

First, when using full height turnstiles, if the reset is too fast to pass anyone, check if it is accompanied by a loud noise.

If so, it is possible that there is a problem with the hydraulic buffer, which is not working, causing the turnstile to reset faster and hit the positioning device to make a loud noise. This method checks the condition of the hydraulic buffer and replaces the hydraulic buffer with a new one if necessary.

2. Reset too slow

The situation just mentioned is that the full height turnstiles are reset too quickly, and even people can't pass. In another case, the reset is too slow, causing two or more people to pass through, which may be due to a problem with the Hall switch.

Any problems with the induction magnet of the switch or the solenoid valve will lead to failure of normal reset, or the reset time is very long, so it is necessary to repair or replace these two components.

3. Locked even after swiping card

When using full height turnstiles, there is a situation where the card is locked after swiping. This is because the movement itself has an anti-reverse function, at this time, it needs to reset and swipe the card to pass again. The solution can be further set, or directly cancel the anti-reverse function.

4. Non-smooth operation

When the full height turnstiles are used for a long time, the rotation is not smooth, because the movement and other components need maintenance.

Under normal circumstances, the full height mechanism needs to be maintained once after three months of use, such as adding lubricating oil to the full height turnstiles mechanism.

5. How tall is a turnstile?
The turnstiles that people say generally refer to tripod turnstiles and full height turnstiles. The height of tripod turnstile is generally 980mm (3.2 feet), just like other half height turnstile gates. And the full height turnstile is 2200mm (7.2 feet) high. They offer different levels of security. Users can choose the appropriate style according to the degree of security required for the management area.

6. How many people can go through a turnstile in an hour? 

7. How much does a full height turnstile cost? 

8. Installation and Maintenance Considerations for Full Height Turnstiles

9. Customizable options available for full height turnstiles

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