My old alarm control box was above the kitchen wall units. SWMBO now wants tall cupboards so the box has to be moved. As it is about 20 years old and quite large, I decided it owes me nothing so I have scrapped it - as I don't know where the replacement can go I also pulled out the wires as the room is being skimmed. (I had a remote in a switch plate box)
I want to look at wireless systems (I typically only used the alarm for holidays).
Any recommendations? Any pitfalls to look out for. I only hat 2PIRs and one door contact
Many will poopoo wireless alarms and to some extent I agree. However, I use an aged Response wireless system in my workshop and it's cr*p [1]. I also use a couple of Yale wireless systems and they seem pretty good. Good expandability and has telecomms. Setup quite straightforward. No false alarms when done correctly (touch wood). Need to change batteries regularly. Bellbox is pita. It's a couple of years since last installed, tech may/will have moved on.
HTH Nick.
[1] when it dies I will replace with Yale or whatever is good at time.
ESP Infinite are considered to be about the best of the wireless offerings, or at least they were when I was doing research for a system of my own a couple of years ago, according to the Security Installers Forum.
The Yale stuff from Screwfix seems to work well enough in my son's house. A deterrent to the kind of low end, brainless criminals that frequent his area anyway. I've often thought that those impact window/door alarms are a good bet because, unlike PIR or contact sensors, something starts making a noise
This thread makes interesting reading. Being a radio amateur, it was only a couple of days ago, in uk.radio.amateur, that I was asking for experiences of interference to burglar alarms.
I have had experience with a 420MHz wireless alarm, and various radio signals could be set it off (even when it was not set). With the external siren box connected (around 25' of wire), HF amateur signals (1.8MHz and upwards) would readily set it off. Rudimentary attempts to cure it failed, and in the end, for expedience, the system was operated only with the siren in the control box sounding the alarm. Signals from an Orange mobile phone (1700MHz, I believe) would also set it off when it was anywhere near the control box.
These days, wireless alarms nearly all seem to use the licence-free frequency of 433MHz. This is in the amateur 70cm band - a band on which I could run 400 watts plus aerial gain, and I can't see a 433MHz alarm being very happy with this. Even a modest 10 watts is likely to cause problems. There are a few alarms which use 866MHz - but as this is exactly twice 433MHz, again I foresee problems.
So, as well as recommendations for alarms themselves, does anyone have any recommendations for those which are less likely to suffer from RF interference problems.
Will it get enough charge in the winter just to run the electronics, let alone makea lound noise should it need to? How does it signal that the battery is flat and/or knackered.
I can't really see why the battery can't be placed in the loft. Not exactly easy to get to without passing through a protected zone...
Still going to have to replace the battery in the UPS... Presumably the panel has it's own battery or does it go off in the event of a power cut? If the latter no point in backing up the bell box with a UPS. B-)
A UPS uses, basically, a battery charger to keep the battery charged up, and always generates its own AC output using an inverter.
What most people refer to as a UPS as it relates to computers and electronic equipment is, to be more accurate, a Standby Power Supply, which again uses a charger to keep a battery charged, but only starts up the inverter when mains fails. They're cheaper, because the inverter only has to be rated to run for a relatively short period.
In both cases, though, the battery life is limited by the quality of the charge regulation and the number of charge/ dischare cycles due to mains power faults, so a three year life is normal, and anything over five, very unusual.
I installed the Yale alarm on my sister's house and found it to be a well w orked out, easy to use kit. As others have pointed out, the siren boxes are dependent on an internal battery (as are the PIR's, and door contacts - bu t they use AAA and button cells).
All the alarm systems for DIY fit seem a bit dated tech-wise. I would have expected by now the controller to have GSM for text alerts and/or hooking w irelessly to the home broadband router so that the homeowner can remotely c ontrol the alarm and check its status via the web.
e expected by now the controller to have GSM for text alerts and/or hooking wirelessly to the home broadband router so that the homeowner can remotely control the alarm and check its status via the web.
The telecommunicating panel-based one rings you /(one or a few numbers) if it goes off, and.or you can ring it for a status report, arm it/ disarm it remotely etc.
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