Has anyone installed one themselves, are the cordless ones any good? Can anyone recommend a system?
Thanks in advance

Andy

Noooooooooooooooooooooo don't do it go for a hard wired system it will save you a whole lot of trouble in the long run.

You can buy stuff online from RS CPC Maplin etc and it's not that hard to fit.


Huxley "In the Trade"

thanks Huxley, just being lazy and didn't fancy lifting the carpets etc to run the cable

I've fitted three hard-wired now, two which use "ID biscuits" and one of the more normal ones where every sensor has its own cable.

I think the hard-wired would be less hassle: you don't have to worry about batteries, interferance from God onlu knows what, and you know that it's working :) . If you fit it, you have the reassurance of knowing everything about how it's set up, and the engineer's code should you want to add sensors, change configurations, whatever...

The alarms themselves are disgustingly cheap if you find a good supplier.

Hardwired it is then - any suggestions on manufacturer.

I have a Comfort Alarm (http://www.cytech-technology.com). For just an alarm it is very expensive but can do a lot more besides. e.g. telephone answering machine with multiple mailboxes and home automation controller via X10. It also has outputs aswell as inputs(zones) so can be used to drive (via Relays) Lights etc. In fact I use it to drive my Central Heating/Hotwater. Later I'll be doing some extra outside lights via Relays aswell.

As we're redecorating I'm adding hardwired PIRs. I have a few in already but not yet fully wired.

[Thread Hijack]

in fact if (for exampl ;)) you had a room like this..
http://www.eatworms.org.uk/room.gif
what would be the best position for PIRs or door switches to fully protect it ? The patio door is a sliding door type and I could get a door switch to it. In fcat wiring to anywhere between the door and patio door is relativley easy. The outside wall (with the fireplace/chimney breast) would be hard work. but might be possible through the ceiling.

Deano

Huxley on Huxley chicks PC:D

I would put the detector facing away from the fireplace so it cant see the hearth opening the far left would be the best bet as it's looking at the patio door,"make sure that it has anti lift blocks on it"

Chiark

What control panel have you got? (Castle,ADE,Guardtech)
I'm just in the proses of getting a Castle Euro Meridian 28 Castle CareTech (http://www.castle-caretech.com/) with PC upload and download and SMS alerts as our old Meridian is 5 years old and out of date:eek: got to keep up with the times;)
I was out in me shed the other day and found at least 20 boxes of ID biscuits of different types plugin and wired:eek:, our alarm will also have a shunt zone setup on it when we pull up with the scoob and open the roller door with the clifford remote:D LAZY;)isolates the garage so you can drive in the you can shut the alarm off with the tags.

If you want the SMS feature on your alarm look on the castle site as they do a stand alone unit for retrofitting on any alarm system.

Huxley

Now thats cool:cool:

Yep Cool and Lazy:D:D:D:D:D


Huxley

We have a cordless Yale alarm, purchased from B&Q. At the time we installed it back in about 96 everyone was saying don't do it, go for a hard wired proffesional installation but we couldnt bear the tought of all the upheaval, wires etc. The Yale has ben absolutely brilliant, no problems whatsoever, no false alarms ad works perfectly to this day, would recomend it to anyone.

Les H

Avoid ADT as a professional supplier - they tell you the contract is only for a year, it's actually 3 years wand you pay £25 per month for monitoring ...

And the ADT system never belongs to you and a Live External alarm box is optional as the normal is a decoy one:eek:


Huxley

We've got a Castle tech one, meridian I think. Any options I should add :D ?

SMS sounds fantastic! I'll look into that, ta!

Go for galaxy 18.cheers jon from adt

I wouldn't trust the 3 letter company as far as I could throw them they have tactics like pressure sales on old people and the like then they go up to house owners and say that they have taken over the company that fitted their alarm then get them to sign the paperwork for it then put their own stuff in on a rental basis, the customer has already paid out for an alarm to be fitted then they have to pay rental on a new one, and as for their installation quality some of it's crap and they have installers that say they are Nacoss but are not they are on the fast track system which allows them to say they are Nacoss but wouldn't have a clue how to fit an alarm to the relevant standards, I can give an example of this as a friend that I know was a car salesman, with absolutely no electrical or alarm knowledge at all, is fitting alarms on the fast track scheme and as for the equipment fitted it leaves something to think about - most new alarms fitted by this big company have no live external bell box but an sas on the inside of the house this leaves the system very very weak to say the least

I am not saying this as a bitch but just as a warning to go careful on what you get fitted, shop around it could save you money in the long run and don't go for a rental system buy one outright, just because it sounds cheap to get a rental system you will always pay more in the long run, as an example a mate of mine has a system fitted by them and they will not allow them to have what they call a remote reset system which they could of done with a couple of weeks ago because one of them walked straight into the office and set the alarm off - hey it was his fault but no they had to come out to reset it, it cost them £135 for the privilege most good companies have a remote reset system that they can use, if they allow this they would lose shed loads, this company that has their alarm fitted is now changing companies due to the fact that they have cost them so much money that they could have paid for a new alarm!!

As for the Galaxy 18 it's a good panel if it's used to its full capability.

We are just about to fit our new Euro meridian 28 with SMS and a lot more new Pet friendly detection equipment as well


If anybody wants more info or advice email me off line!

Huxley

Try the cordless Yale Alarm from Homebase. Easy to fit and I've had no false alarms or any problems at all. Even have a sensor in the garden shed and in the wifes car on the drive.

The last cordless one I had was terrible, always going off for no apparent reason.

The wireless Yale alarm is currently on offer at Homebase (i forget the savings, but something like fifty quid off) so you might want to pop down to your local store for a look!!!

mb

Hi Huxley , most of our res customers are very bright with nice houses ,and are not the type to be fooled .I dont see harldy any old people and i cover mainly res customes with dealership jobs,Inside siren are far better than outside if monitered,I worked for telecom security for 8 years b4 moderns bought them, and only had int sirens, no problems at all ,who atteneds to a outside siren?. Remote reset has been built into panels for about 15 years now ,must be a v.old system .Callout is around £60. As for pet dectection its as crap as b.g.d's and vipers. we dont fit them due to lots of false alarms and loss of police responce from some systems..:) jon

i used the Yale one- superb, easy to instal, all the features we'd want (remote arming, arming via phone, etc)

only had one upset when the dogs got out of their room over xmas andd set of the PIR's in other rooms- the Yale called me and said i had an intruder, i set of home (i was only 10 mins away), i got called by the neighbours who said "your alarms going off and we looked in the window and can see your dogs living it large on the sofa"- so i called my alarm system back and switched of the siren!

T

ps- got home and kicked the crap out of the dogs but thats not Yaes problem ;)

Ask your "mate" to speak to the area FLM "field line manager" ,galaxys should have remote enabled as standard (saves us and customes time) and the on board comms mod should be uploaded to resolve in manchester so codes or programming can be done online saving callouts at 3am!!lol.jon:).

I got mine fitted by a local guy who was recommended.Basically i have two movement detectors in the living room,one in the hall and one in the kitchen,all pointing at the doors and windows.Every entrance is covered.I was told door sensors can be a problem so i dont have those.
Had it 5 years no problem at all.My sis has the same one.Cost £275 fitted.
Recently had it serviced,that cost a bit more than i expected though.Make sure you ask about service costs/callouts when sorting out the price.

Jonny32 the local a$$hole service guy says they cannot have remote reset as it wasn't signed for on the con of a service contract they have:eek: and they won't add itimages/smilies/mad.gif I now have the local engineer code for the alarm:p

At the moment i'm trying to persuade them to come over to us with a new system that works properly;) then I can sell the galaxy for some pocket money:D I have just sold the last 500 one we took out for a few bob;) and run that yellow bell box over:D such joy:D


Huxley

Hi Jon
Pet detection is crap, ADT must be using crap detectors then ;) We fit in excess of at least 45 Ds835i/820i a week, between the group of us we have next to no problems at all with them. You might get one or two that fall over, just as an example we all do callout and not one of us has been out in weeks so you say they are crap me thinks not.

As for my friend's alarm it's that old I can't get the instructions for a Galaxy 500 ;) with no remote reset as you say it must be old ;) and I have a copy of the invoice for £135 good old **Timages/smilies/mad.gif

Chiark you have mail

Huxley

[Edited by Huxley - 4/10/2003 8:18:54 AM]