Hi,
Just about to decide on an alarm system for 3 bedroom ground floor garden flat. Should I go wired or wireless? What are the pros and cons? Could you please recommend a manufacturer? I am competent in electrics/electronics. Wireless are easier to install, but are they better than wired ones in terms of reliability, not interfering with any other equipment and being prone to interferences themselves?
Thanks
Rafal
Hi,
Just about to decide on an alarm system for 3 bedroom ground floor garden flat. Should I go wired or wireless? What are the pros and cons? Could you please recommend a manufacturer? I am competent in electrics/electronics. Wireless are easier to install, but are they better than wired ones in terms of reliability, not interfering with any other equipment and being prone to interferences themselves?
Thanks
Rafal
I bought 2 Fox wireless alarms from Maplin electronics, these are no longer made and operated on 418Mhz, I have had them going for years, they are incredibly reliable, I have never had a false alarm, however from looking at mine the downside is that all legal wireless alarms can easily be circumvented, but whether your average burglar would know that is another matter.I am happy with mine.
Another adavantadge is that there is no need for an entry delay with a wireless alarm.
If I had to do it again I would chose the same again but I live in a ground floor Flat in London which does not stand out, if I lived in a big detached house with two cars on the driveway and £30,000 of antiques inside I would go for a wired system.
I have never felt the need to have home contents insurance with my system and general security, consequently I have saved quite a bit over the years.
John.
Plus, they are typically operated in shared bands. Next doors microwave, wi-fi network, garage door opener, video-sender, ... can all interfere, and you've got no recourse.
No. Ask yourself, how could they be?
Next doors microwave and video sender operates on about 2400Mhz and Wi-Fi is a totally different frequency as well to a current legal wireless burglar alarm operating on 433Mhz.
My concern is not one of interference because on my wireless burglar alarm I have often monitored the 418Mhz frequency that it operates on and found no transmission that would interfere with mine because all these low powered devices use very low power and dont tend to penetrate a house to a sufficient degree to block another wireless burglar alarm.
My concern is purely that if a intelligent burglar knew you had a wireless burglar alarm then he could circumvent it relatively easily, this does not bother me because the type of burglars that would be interested in my home would most likely be Junkies/Opportunists.
However all legal wireless burglar alarms would be easy to defeat for a professional burglar as there is an obvious flaw in them which most people will realise when then buy one, however a lot of junkie/opportunist burglars hopefully will not be aware of this flaw.
Forgive me if I do not go into details for obvious reasons, if anyone wants to contact me by E-Mail I might disclose the flaw in wireless systems, many of you will already know what it is.
John.
Thanks for advice. I am going to get wired system, just in case
Rafal
I'd go for wired. Just avoid running wires along power cables.
Oh, and regards a manufacturer, I'd recommend Veritas.
On 3 Mar 2004 05:24:23 -0800, in uk.d-i-y snipped-for-privacy@iname.com (StealthUK) strung together this:
I wouldn't, I'd go for ADE. ..
SJW A.C.S. Ltd.
"Rafal" wrote | Just about to decide on an alarm system for 3 bedroom ground floor | garden flat. Should I go wired or wireless? What are the pros and cons?
The wiring for wired systems is pretty standard, as are the accessories, so you can usually mix the panel you like from one manufacturer with another's PIR with another's bell box. If you want a feature that isn't supported on your panel you can often change the panel with another whilst retaining all the detectors.
With wireless you're usually stuck with what one manufacturer can give you, and if that manufacturer goes bust or discontinues the range ...
Wireless also usually have fewer options in terms of multiple zone set, zone chime, etc - at least the consumer ones do.
On the upside, a wireless would have one advantage for your location - you could put the external sounder high up on some other flat's wall without having to run a wire. With wired, you may be limited to putting the sounder on your own wall and in a garden flat it may be vulnerable, and also less audible/visible along the street than one mounted higher. However, many people think sounder-only alarms a waste of time in terms of getting any useful neighbour response from them.
Owain
But you do have cover for fire damage, don't you?
Me to. And from someone with great experience in this area you should avoid wireless at all costs.
Strongly consider an iD system such as the ADE Accenta iD. That will keep wiring to a minimum as all alarm devices can be daisy chained onto a single wire and in theory you then only end up with four wires at the panel: o/s bell, internal sounder, alarm devices (iD line) and the mains supply cable.
what about going for a wireless pannel that also supports wired zones as well, I got a response one from B&Q recently it has 6 wireless zones and 4 wired ones ( use the wireless for the shed, garage, loft etc), plus have the wireless bell box at the back of the house and a wired one at the front
On Wed, 3 Mar 2004 17:35:21 -0000, in uk.d-i-y "PJO" strung together this:
The other advantage ADE have is ease of programming. I've fitted various makes of panel over the years and haven't found anything as straight forward as ADE.
Sorry, I meant Texecom. Veritas is a particular model range. I've got nothing against ADE but haven't had any trouble with Texecom stuff.
Read uk.tech.electronic-security. There is an odd Belgian there who seems to have a major gripe against wireless alarms.
Marcus
Could there be two IMM's? ;)
I imagine he would be if you beat him around the head with a blunt object.
PoP
On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 06:17:10 +0000, in uk.d-i-y PoP strung together this:
If there is I'm off usenet for good!
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