Home Security Alarms

[alexhayes]

OK OK before breezeman etc says it, yes i have searched and i have already changed my mind from the lazy ass wireless approach, to wired.

We have typical 1940's semi 3 bed. Front and rear gardens, drive going down side of house to garage in the rear garden.

Reason for alarm: last year whilst on holiday we had a break in, they were caught in the act as one was on look out and popped his head out a bit too much on the drive.

break in will always come from the rear of the house as we have a wooded area behind our house that then leads down a slope to a main road about 200m away. Its too open for people to break in from the front.

Now we cannot stop people getting into the rear garden..(hedges all round the rear) if we fortify ours, they will just get in via a nighbours hedges etc.

so i need to install something before we go away to really cover the rear of the house and possibly the stairway/landing etc

House is a living bomb site as every room is in bits, so it seems the best time to sort something like this out. I have floorboards everywhere and every room is going to be skimmed or replastered.

i was thinking of a £250 budget, is this suitable? or could i get one fitted for around that price?

Any DIY kits to reccomend/ avoid? i`m reasonabley happy with doing it myself, plus my dad is an ex MEB sparky so if i get stuck he will always lend a hand. I dont want to be replacing batteries etc.. if i`m having to wire it in i want it done once, and right.

or anyone in worcetsershire area on here who is interested??

cheers

will keep reading though the search bits i need.

great site by the way

 

[Adam_151]

£250 should buy you some decent kit to do a DIY install with, it however won't be anywhere near enough for an professionally installed system

 

[alexhayes]

ok thats the one q down with... now to just find soem suitable gear.

cheers

 

[Adam_151]

ok thats the one q down with... now to just find soem suitable gear.

cheers

Have a look at the texecom premier panels, they look quite good to me (but they are supposed to be quite complicated to program, esp. without the laptop link software)

If you have a look at the premier 24, upto 24 zones on the main panel, 8 of them out the box, the rest with expansion cards, each remote keypad (which you need at least one of, the panel doesn't have a built in keypad) has two zones of their own IIRC )

Have a look at remote dialers, probably a welcome addition to a 'bells only' system


Texecom also do some more basic 8 zone panels if you don't think you're upto the premier (I can't tell you how hard premiers are to do, I've not actually installed one [or any alarm for that matter], well not yet anyway)

 

[oldspark]

Unless you are going for a fully monitored system its not really worth buying expensive kit, kind of defeats the purpose. I have installed the Optima panels were people just wanted a stand alone system 8 zones is plenty, remote keypad for the entrance ( and you can add others if you like) neat little panel for hiding anywere convenient to get your cables back to, and then cable out to the keypad, plenty of kit to suit your location ie patio doors sunroom etc. most outside sounders now have flashing led's so I suppose in your case you would fit to the rear of the property ( just check when buying) and a dummy at the front it can also be hooked up to a dialer that will ring you with a recorded message or someone else if you are away. Never had any problems with them yet, the batteries in the Panels and the outside sounders wil need replaced you might get 5 years maybe 10 out of them just depends, my own went in the outside sounder after 7 years when that happens just replace the sounder its not expensive.
Most suppliers do a kit for contractors with everything included right down to the cable clips.
oldspark

 

[Steve]

I was just thinking - i believe ADT monitored alarms now have a "listen-in" feature that allows the monitoring centre to listen to whats happening in the house and decide the best course of action on an alarm.

Do any alarm manufacturers offer this with their diallers - so it phones your mobile, tells you whats happening and then cuts to live sound from the house. I'd like this idea.

We had a guy at our shop today testing the alarm system, he had a secondary alarm keypad that plugged onto the circuit board of the alarm. Neat stuff Then he went downstairs and used the main keypad, and the display upstairs showed what it showed downstairs. Impressive for a crappy alarm system Then he phoned my favourite people at UK Monitoring

 

[Job_n_knock]

Im not advertising here but Senate Elec Wholesalers are doing kits at very reasonable prices. Basically you need to work out where your zones will be. Zone 1 is always final exit and entry point. It has a time delay when activated which gives you time to get in and disarm it and also to get out and close the door before it sets itself. Zone 2 is usually used for any other device such as a P.I.R. ( Passive infra red ) detector thats situated near the Panel, it also has a time delay so you dont set it off when approaching the panel to enter your code. If you also use the back door to gain entry, then you will need to put it's contact on zone 1 as well and also situate a secondary keypad there.
Wiring an intruder alarm is actually quite easy once you get started. You need to use 6-core alarm cable....2 for the power supply ( + & - ), 2 for the alarm loop and 2 for anti tamper loops. Each device will have 6 terminals for this and will be marked out accordingly. Obviously door contacts do not need a power supply so you can simply terminate the power pair together and continue on to the next device.
Each zone needs to have a loop. Now heres where you decide what to do... I usually suggest upstairs on a loop and downstairs on another all with PIRs, then door and window contacts on another loop, so as previously said an 8 zone panel will suffice. The advantage of upstairs and downstairs on seperate zones means you can set the alarm when you go to bed remembering to put the downstairs hallway loop on zone 2.
Also a P.A. button ( panic attack ) is provided, it usually goes near the bed on the side of the missus in case she hears a break-in while you are out. You can fit as many of these as you want as long as they are on the same loop. The P.A. loop has its own zone on the panel and will set the alarm off at any time when pressed when the alarm is set or not. Theres so many ways to wire these up into whatever configuration you want but the thing to remember is never ignore the instructions and read them in full. It will explain what connections to make on the bell/strobe box. I always fit a dummy box at the back as well. Burglars usually try to avoid making a noise so would prefer not to break into a house with an alarm fitted but they need to be able to see an alarm on the wall right ?
If you show your Dad what Ive written here and show him the instructions as well you will have no problem. I think they're called Rexel Senate now and they should be in the yellow pages.
Good luck

 

[RF Lighting]

I have to agree with Adam on this one. I have fitted loads of Texecom gear, and found it to be decent reliable stuff. (I even have a premier system on my house)

The premier system is very versatile, and easy to install, but a little complicated unless you have the PC software then it is dead easy. The premier can be fitted with and autodialer which sends you a text message (Including time of alarm, alarm type, zone etc)

I was just thinking - i believe ADT monitored alarms now have a "listen-in" feature that allows the monitoring centre to listen to whats happening in the house and decide the best course of action on an alarm.

Texecom do a plug on module and remote microphones to allow listen in from you mobile (but I haven't got round to wiring mine up yet so I'm not sure how well this works)

On domestic installations we normally fit the premier 24 panel now, but we used to fit the veritas panels for years without problems.

See Here

 

[pcboffinuk]

Do any alarm manufacturers offer this with their diallers - so it phones your mobile, tells you whats happening and then cuts to live sound from the house. I'd like this idea.

I can only offer my personal experience - I fitted a Visonic Powermax + system a couple of years ago which offers exactly that service. I now have a sim card built in (so no ties to the home phone) which will call me if there is an alarm, and I can then listen in and/or have a two way conversation through the control panel. I can also control it via text, and get text updates when its set on or off by parents when I'm on holiday.

It is, of course wireless which seems to be a no no in many people's opinions, but I can only say that its never given a false alarm, and the one time I forgot to turn off the autoset function when a builder was doing the conservatory, it certainly made enough noise

I haven't even played with the X10 feature automation feature yet, but it seems an impressive system to me - not especially cheap though...

Gavin

 

[fattony]

accenta 8, very easy to program and quite cheap.

Yes ADT can listen in but I was working in an art galley in Bond Street London and they had a break in (I took my tools off site, phew) the builders covered a window with a bit of plasterboard and that was their way in. ADT thought something was wrong so they started to listen in and thought it was the builders! (at 1am) They ignored the alarm signals for about 12 minutes before calling the boys in blue

 

[Job_n_knock]

Its expensive to have an alarm monitring station involved. I quite like some of the suggestions here...am about to install a new alarm in my place. Was thinking of going well OTT ( you only live once ).
How about a mains loop connecting 230V to chicken wire around the windows...then when I get back from holidays I can see the burnt,fox eaten and bird pecked remains of burglars hanging on the walls ONLY JOKING.
Seriously though the possibilities are endless.

Im so glad Im not a plumber

 

[alexhayes]

well cheers for the info, i have certainly learnt a lot already. I think i need to find somewhere that will just supply like a contactors kit with everything inc, as i really wont have a clue what i am buying..

"can i have one of the Who-who flashing boxes and another dummy one, a panel with numbers that beeps, couple of remote controls, lots of cables, some PIR sensors and some door/window sensors please"

"also can i get the alarm to give me a call when some **** is fingering through my pant drawer?"

so do people use battery powered "who-who flashing" boxes? and not mains powered? How about these ones with solar panels, surely they are not too great in our country? (forever the optimist)

 

[Adam_151]

A bell box is powered by the 6 core alarm cable from the main panel, the ones with solar panels are the ones for the wireless systems

 

[oldspark]

well cheers for the info, i have certainly learnt a lot already. I think i need to find somewhere that will just supply like a contactors kit with everything inc, as i really wont have a clue what i am buying..

"can i have one of the Who-who flashing boxes and another dummy one, a panel with numbers that beeps, couple of remote controls, lots of cables, some PIR sensors and some door/window sensors please"

"also can i get the alarm to give me a call when some **** is fingering through my pant drawer?"

so do people use battery powered "who-who flashing" boxes? and not mains powered? How about these ones with solar panels, surely they are not too great in our country? (forever the optimist)

The main panel is 230 V supply and runs the system, with a back up battery(rechargable) installed, that should run the system for up to 12 hours in the event of a mains failure. The outside sounder has a battery as well for back up plus if someone got at the alarm cable and cut it between the panel and the sounder the sounder battery kicks in and off goes the siren.
search for TLC wholesalers, not the cheapest but you can see the kit and buy what you want.

Oldspark

 

[oldspark]

Referances "the Pant drawer" this should do
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/DataSheets/Ade/TSSD_user_manual.pdf

Oldspark