Texecom Wireless Odyssey X-W Bell Box Permanent Power

[HenryGregory]

Hi there,

I have a wireless Texecom intruder alarm. I bought Kit-0002 Premier Elite 64-W. A fully wire free system.
I had wanted to install my control panel in the loft, but decided against it as several people on this forum suggested it would potentially over heat in the summer.

The bell box is an Odyssey X-W wireless bell box.
I can see from the instructions that you can potentially wire it up with 8 core alarm cable back to the control panel rather than use the 8xAA batteries it runs from.
This would have worked well if the control panel was in the loft, but it is in a downstairs cupboard now with no way of running a wire up to the side of the house.

Does anyone know if it would be possible for me to run a 12v supply from a transformer in my loft to the bell box on the side of the house? This would give the bell box a permanent power supply allowing for comfort LEDs to be set to on and also meaning I wouldn't need to gain access to the bell box in the future to replace batteries.

The only issue I can see is that if there were a power cut, the bell box would lose all power which would cause problems.

 

[scott1980]

I've never installed an X-W but from your photo, there doesn't appear to be anywhere to hardwire a permanent supply into.

 

[secureiam]

it can be wired into the power from the panel but it isn't recommended if you don't know what your doing and will void warranty.

sell it on ebay and buy a hard wired bell should have a few quid left?

 

[HenryGregory]

Thanks both.
To be honest, the money isn't the big issue. Running a cable from the downstairs cupboard up into the loft is going to be almost impossible as the builders don't appear to have left any access holes and the plaster board is right up against breeze block meaning channeling would need doing. Will be very disruptive.

Does anyone know much about the Ricochet Expanders?
Wondering if I could hardwire a wired bell box from an expander? Could put that in the loft as I have pleanty of power up there. If it is a Riochet Expander, it would talk wirelessly to the main control unit in the downstairs cupboard.

 

[scott1980]

Unfortunately, the ricochet expander is just a data connection back to the panel. It doesn't have any outputs to connect a wired bell unfortunately.

99% of houses will have some way of running in a cable. It might not go straight from A to B, but it's usually possible through use of built in cupboards, boxed in soil pipes, cavity walls etc. As a last resort, a bell cable can usually be concealed discretely up the side of a window frame etc. Here's one I made earlier! A bit of white silicone up the side and it's almost invisible

 

[dannyboi2003]

@HenryGregory - Yes you can wire the bell box to a mains supply. I contacted Texecom recently with the same question as i wanted to run the power for the bell box from a 13.8v alarm PSU with battery backup to save me the hassle of changing the batteries in the future, the bell box will be awkward to get to (albeit not impossible). Texecom said that would be fine and to just cut the cables from the battery pack and connect them to the power supply. I didn't ask about the warranty as I purchased my bell box through an eBay seller, its new but has obviously been in storage for a while. The cost saving was significant so I'm not too concerned about the warranty.

 

[HenryGregory]

@HenryGregory - Yes you can wire the bell box to a mains supply. I contacted Texecom recently with the same question as i wanted to run the power for the bell box from a 13.8v alarm PSU with battery backup to save me the hassle of changing the batteries in the future, the bell box will be awkward to get to (albeit not impossible). Texecom said that would be fine and to just cut the cables from the battery pack and connect them to the power supply. I didn't ask about the warranty as I purchased my bell box through an eBay seller, its new but has obviously been in storage for a while. The cost saving was significant so I'm not too concerned about the warranty.

Thanks everyone for your posts.
Dannyboi, that is interesting. What sort of PSU did you use with battery backup? I am tempted to go for this. It is up on the wall outside, but I kept it close to a gutter pipe, so could easily run some table down from the corner of the roof, along gutter pipe and into the bell box.

I have got to say, the Ricochet stuff is really impressive. Everything is showing full signal, really good. I also bought the box that connects to the internet and links to the main panel. It means I can use all of the engineer software without the USB cable. Really good stuff.

 

[dannyboi2003]

@HenryGregory - I used a PSU like this:

https://www.besafedirect.com/elmden...12-volt-dc-mains-failure-monitoring-html.html
https://www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/products/1626566-1a-12v-dc-boxed-power-supply-unit

I would go for an Elmdene unit if the budget allows as they are very reliable, google other suppliers as you will find them cheaper.

With regards your planned cable run make sure it cant be reached from ground level as if someone cuts that cable then your bell box is useless.

 

[HenryGregory]

@HenryGregory - I used a PSU like this:

https://www.besafedirect.com/elmden...12-volt-dc-mains-failure-monitoring-html.html
https://www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/products/1626566-1a-12v-dc-boxed-power-supply-unit

I would go for an Elmdene unit if the budget allows as they are very reliable, google other suppliers as you will find them cheaper.

With regards your planned cable run make sure it cant be reached from ground level as if someone cuts that cable then your bell box is useless.

Thanks, that's really helpful.
Second link looks the best to me. We have loads of those units at work. I will have an ask, there might even be a spare one knocking about.
There will be no issues with people getting access. It is right up high near the gutter, so they would need a long ladder.

 

[JonnyMercUK]

@HenryGregory - Yes you can wire the bell box to a mains supply. I contacted Texecom recently with the same question as i wanted to run the power for the bell box from a 13.8v alarm PSU with battery backup to save me the hassle of changing the batteries in the future, the bell box will be awkward to get to (albeit not impossible). Texecom said that would be fine and to just cut the cables from the battery pack and connect them to the power supply. I didn't ask about the warranty as I purchased my bell box through an eBay seller, its new but has obviously been in storage for a while. The cost saving was significant so I'm not too concerned about the warranty.

Did this result in the bell box being permanently lit or did it just give you a solution to not having to change the batteries?

 

[secureiam]

Like all things warranties are voided if you fiddle around with the unit. and it is no longer of the same construction, that said if you bought a connector I doubt it be an issue and a unit with battery back up is a good thing.

On Texecom wireless bells all it would do is allow the unit to function as a normal wireless bell and obviously the low battery warning would still function if the psu power dropped below the trigger voltage for low battery.

If you wanted to add a back light and have that controllable.

You could wire a separate 12V feed to the back light unit, and have a sensor wired in so that part would only function at night.