Just curious - flashing LEDs on burglar alarms

[Lurch]

On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 22:54:04 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)" scrawled:

That's what I thought you said! That's always been my theory too. ;)

[Jonathan]

It annoys me a bit that you can't even change the entry delay, but I guess it does mean that Honeywell have some control over the reliability of their installed systems.

Is there a Domonial-specific external box? The guy who installed my Domonial fitted the same external box as every other house on the road (apart from the LEDs), but I think mine is the only Domonial system he has fitted. Maybe I should try setting the alarm off to make sure it works. ;)

Lurch, you seem to know a bit about these alarms, maybe you could answer a couple of questions since my installer seems to be on an extended holiday (and I didn't choose him, which worries me). I have the remote keypad with the TAG reader, but the builder (who hired the installer) didn't give me any TAGs. Can I disable the TAGs? Also, the tone on full-arming the system (a fast two tone sound) only lasts about five seconds, and not the 30 that I expected. Does this seem odd?

[Lurch]

On 1 Oct 2005 03:12:00 -0700, "Jonathan" scrawled:

That's the general idea. It's not just Honeywell, there are many other alarms that are definitely not DIY and as such programming and installation info is restricted to trade only.

There is a specific Domonial box but there is a possibility that the installer has modified it to utilise a different housing, hence the lack of flashing LED's. Because of the way the system woreks and the endless different ways of fitting the box then it's hard to tell if the LED's on your box should actually flash. If you want to email me a pic of it I can ID the box to see what it is and whether it should\could flash.

Possibly, although the LED's might not neccesarily flash when the alarm is activated.

Although there is a reader built in it won't work unless the tags are first setup on the system by a current user\engineer. I'm not sure whether you can disable it, I'm pretty sure you can't, but you can control who sets what and what tags are registered so it's not just a case of someone getting any tag and walking in and unsetting the alarm.

No. On all the systems I fit the system sets within 5 seconds of the final exit door closing. I'm assuming that the installer has utilised this function on the Domonial, althogh having never used, seen or fitted one I don't know for certain if that is an option. To try it out set they system then leave and time the exit time but do it twice, first time quick as you can then 2nd time dawdle along a bit and see if the exit time extends. If it does then it is set for final exit.

[Jonathan]

THe box is the same one the installer fitted to non-Domonial alarms, and all the other boxes have flashing LEDs.

I think I'll have to contact the installer -- I guess it's possible he doesn't use the TAGs and doesn't set them up. But then why would he fit the keypad version _with_ the TAG reader?

The two-tone stops after five seconds (and the keypad stops flashing) even when the exit door is still open, regardless of what I do. I'll do some testing during the week -- don't really want to disturb the neighbour's quiet weekend!

[Lurch]

On 1 Oct 2005 11:06:09 -0700, "Jonathan" scrawled:

I've asked the question, and I don't think that the domonial box does have comfort LED's on it. Obviously for aesthetics the installer has fitted the workings into a normal box and as such the LED's won't work.

The other option is that the box is in fact not a live box at all.

I do the same on quite a few installations, it's an option that isa standard on some panels\keypads and not too much extra on others so rather than changing it later it can simply be programmed with fobs as required.

Sounds like it could be an error in the programming then which to change is an engineer only option. Looks like the installer is going to have to make a visit and he should be able to clear up the other issues too.