PeterJames

Just saying compared to the Sterling 10 everything else is a breeze to program use generally maintain, or even just come out of engineers mode

If you think the Sterling 10 was a great piece of kit you will be amazed by anything not branded Pyronix.

Id agree with that I used to be in a buying group so trade was even cheaper , but it still doesnt beat shopping around. I now import, and build my own CCTV, and some access, Intruder I buy from SW, Fire Ebay, and I have given some thought about importing Telephone entry. (Ebay was a joke BTW)

Even more so when they dont work

I wasnt refering to industry ones I meant apps like Homey Nest and Ring all now selling security cameras and wifi door contacts ect

The industry is changing, but I would say its actually going in a direction that it once was. Years ago it used to be only the bigger houses with plenty of contents worth stealing, soon followed by smaller and smaller properties. Now many of the smaller domestics are diying or using one of those app systems that dont really work(Sooner or later though someone will invent a reliable one that will work). I do not see this as a problem we dont get many small domestics anyway, we prefer the bigger jobs that are reliant on an approved security system for insurance purposes.

All ours are multi skilled, but we try to put round pegs in round holes. We have installation engineers that are able to do the odd service, and service engineers that are able to help out installing.

Again this is dependant on area company skill set ote ect, but there is a discussion in the trade are of this forum with reports of £50k+ I reckon our best engineer would be max £45k inc OTE and I recon thats a high estimate. Average would be in the region of £30k ish plus ote. Call-out for some companies is an earner for engineers, but we dont get that many calls out of hours nowadays.

do a postcode check on the NSI.org website and the SSAIB website, these are approved installers so theoretically should provide good training

Compared to 16 he is mature, especially as he previous career wasnt related to this history. Anyone over 25 is considered mature trainee, but is cheaper on vehicle insurance for older

It really depends on what the pay is in Essex for a good engineer. Expect anything between 16k and 21k as a trainee wage, you can pick it up quite quickly I have a mature engineer (28yrs old) started on £20k been with me a year/18 months and he is on £26k plus OTE (about £30k overall). His money started going up quite quickly once he started installing on his own. It really depends on how fast you can pick it up, couple of years I would expect to see a reasonable engineer. Some I know have been doing it from years and are still useless.

Send your CV out to local companies, if your happy to take a pay cut while training this is the best way to get into this industry. There are many things to learn in this industry that you will not learn from a text book or classroom. Panel wiring for instance originally it was two circuit per device then there was EOL and every manufacturers use their own combination of EOL then there is ID biscuit, and other manufacturers have their own ID type systems. There are hundreds of different panels out there and to be a worthy engineer you need to know what your doing with all of them, its no good turning up at Mr& Mrs Smiths and saying sorry this panel wasnt covered in the Tavcom course we need to change the panel. Most co's will take on mature trainees with a clean drivers license, you are more likely to turn up everyday and more willing to graft in most cases.

Sorry we cannot give defaulting info here, but it is in the manual LOL about Shaved monkeys and House Bashers

Both maintenance's seem steep but I am no where near you so, they may not be that steep, If its fully comp then its a reasonable charge in comparison to what I would charge ( I do not really do fully comp). You sound like you are quite capable, if you can change the batteries yourself, but you dont need to install a new one just default the codes and reprogram the one you have

There's your problem

I already knew this but the op didnt

What voltage did you get at the pa button?

Link it out at the detector, if it still keeps going off then its either the panel or the cable, if it stops then its the ultrasonic

I suppose they have become collectable now, like a classic car. I wonder what my 4 track 999 dallier is worth?

I havent read the full thread so I may have missed something here, but If the kit is faulty and not in warranty, it makes a difference, you own it not the installer so if it goes wrong its down to you to pay for it to be put right. If you purchase anything else and it was out of warranty you would pay for it to be repaired. Just because the co installed it and services does not mean that they should be looking after it free of charge forever. The same as you could drive out of your garage after having your car serviced and get a puncture, its not the garages fault.

Difficult to say either way, if you are right then the engineer should be looking for another job, working for somone he feels he can work for morally.

But its your alarm system

Sadly I would have to agree, quite often engineers are unaware of the details of the contracts and make their own assumptions. You could say that the engineers boss should make sure that he is familiar with all the contracts out there. But I would it his his job is to engineer and not terms and conditions, IMO he is trying and make himself look good in front of a customer, its true that the customer is the ultimate bill payer but £30pm wont pay his wages alone. Very few of my engineers are familiar with the terms of customers contracts mainly because we have several types of contract and it would be difficult retain all the ins and outs of every contract out there . We also have the one off deal where the installation is cheaper but the customer pays more per month, and one off deals where customer pays more up front but everything is covered. If the engineer is unsure of the terms he should say nothing, but presenting a completely opposite opinion to his boss is just putting his own job in jeopardy for sure.

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Hello and welcome and have a good evening