PeterJames

My new house was built in the 70's (its a bit like living in an Austin Allegro, the doors have come off a few times) but it is its full of Asbestos,

I had an apprentice leave because he refused to test smoke detectors where the ceilings had asbestos stickers after the engineer he was working with told him there was no danger. I had done the UKATA with him and we provided PPE but whats the danger?

I get it, you purchased a house with a burglar alarm and thats what you expected to get. Instead you got a house with a faulty burglar alarm, I feel your pain I just purchased a house with solar water and electric and a few weeks in the solar water stopped working. Thats the way the cookie crumbles I supposed, you pays your money and you takes your chances. Im fairly handy and no engineering codes are required to fix it. I will be paying someone else to fix it though, I understand my limitations and I know that I can earn more money doing what I do, than I can save trying to fix it myself. Plus not fixing it properly will work out far more expensive. So when did you buy the house?

The cheapest best option: You may well find a company that are willing to default and re program the alarm for you, Banhams have quoted you a non-contract callout charge ( we charge the same) £25 pcm for maint is a bit steep our annual fee starts at £90.00 pa. If you want something you can look after yourself with no service then there is plenty of DIY tat on Amazon. As SWB decommissioning the Meridian is not the easiest of tasks if you dont know what your doing, you would need a ladder to get to the bell, and ideally to have a good understanding of electronics the stobe can give you a shock if you are not careful. You have a working alarm system installed by a pro company, so most likely a proper system that will work as its supposed to if the worst should happen (assuming you have set it) in your shoes I would work with what you have, so phone around some smaller co's (I recommend you use an accredited company NSI or SSIAB)

Theres a couple of flats on Brighton seafront with ultrasonics. IIRC one of them has them flushed into the wall which I thought was particularly cool

No point in getting excited, none of us are as famous as Gary Glitter , but welcome

Agreed wired is always better if the wiring is good, the existing detectors, contacts ect can also be utilised. You are only really looking at a panel change. But I would recommend that you consider a service agreement. It will ensure your system lasts, and doesnt let you down.

When did you last replace the battery ? Believe it or no false alarms are not always down to the detectors

Agreed with above, if the new replacement battery is only showing 7v then its not getting charged. Assuming that the replacement was new. The battery should be replaced every four years. The problem with not replacing it is that it will degrade, and as it does it makes the charging circuit on the panel work harder, and the longer it works harder the more damage that is caused, after a while it is no longer charging. So even replacing that old battery with a new one wont fix, it as the panel wont charge your new battery.

How did you select your installer? Most installers I know would not sell a system without a contract, why put your name to something that makes a lot of noise, if you are not going to make sure it doesnt become a nuisance.

Bills like what? Corporation tax? and VAT returns? Not sure that I would want to be doing what my accountant does for me, Im sure its probably not that hard, but if you make a mistake it would have expensive results. Do you have a bookkeeper?

What lights are on? Do the detectors light up as you move in front of them? When was it last serviced?

Do you have a multi meter? what happens if you boot on battery only?

QFA it wouldnt be a very secure security system if it was open for anyone to change the settings would it. You could buy a diy system if you wanted something that you could change yourself. It all depends on how bothered you are about it working if there was a breakin which is sort of the point in the first place

Hi and welcome

We carry all the test gear smoke and heat poles, MCP keys and all the basic kit you cannot get locally, stuff like addressable detectors, sounders, software and leads for laptops to panels ect. Most electrical factors will have stuff like series 65 or standard MCP., we still carry a limited amount of standard along with lots of batteries.

There are several camera protocols out there HDCVI AHD POC standard analogue, most recorders are able to work with any encode method but you need to choose the correct encode in the settings of the recorder. Auto encode rarely works. Start by removing all the cameras from the recorder down power all cameras but one and plug that one camera in the recorder, go to the encode settings and try each encode setting one by one till it works, then add each camera one by one using the same settings as the first. It may seem long winded but trust me if you try and short cut it will take longer.

They will only work with a "2G only" SIM good luck with finding one though, most new SIMs are 3G or 4g with 2G onboard they wont work no matter what you do. You may get lucky and find a phone shop with really old stock, I couldnt when one of my customers needed to change his SIM in his GSM entryphone system

Its a white box about A4 with a red light on it could be in a cupboard or in the loft follow the wires from the detectors

The uk and the eu security industry is far more secure than the us. There are touch screen keypads out there, but I would agree that many of the uk rkp's are not that aesthetically pleasing but Ive yet to see a rkp that is fantastic. Personally if you dont like the look of the rkp then put it in a cupboard, if you are having the system installed by a professional they will have alternative methods of arming and disarming your system you need the keypad from a programming point of view, but thats it nowadays you can use your smartphone, or a proximity reader and fob, or a wireless device, or even locking unlocking your door to arm/disarm the alarm.

Eee its cheep oop narth!

They already sound cheap to me, I would say replacement control panel would be between £500-£700 depending on expanders ect. I too disagree with their diagnosis the keypads are probably fine, its most likely just the panel thats gone. You wont find a 1990's panel in the wholesalers and the keypads wont work with the new panel so they have to be changed anyway. They are probably right regards the panel though. unserviced equals a knackered battery which will draw more current from the panel and weakens components over time, spikes in the mains when the power comes back on is also likely to cause damage on an old and weakened panel.

You may be better getting an engineer to come and decommission it if your not using it, otherwise it will just be another nuisance everytime you get a powercut. It all depends on if you think you might be burgled or not, as to wether you replace it

I cut my teeth on Regalsafe engineers of today dont realise how easy life is for them nowadays with eth yes no questions in full LCD text, and the upload download from apps and laptops