freshr

Great, I'll take that advice. Thanks all. I just want to give the local "opportunists" some difficulty. If Ocean's 11 comes along, I'm stuffed.

I guess you are saying any bells only setup is weak security? If so, I concede your point. But I just want my alarm to do two things .. 1) deter thieves and 2) make a noise if someone tries to break in. There are other households in the building who I trust to investigate or call me if they hear the alarm.

Ha ha! Very true. I'll have an internal sounder which should therefore trigger, and be loud enough to alert the other households in the building.

You mean an intruder will be alerted to its location by the keypad beeping during the entry countdown? I hadn't considered that. Based on what you have advised, I think I will have the following approach... - Keypad in hallway - Panel in cupboard - Cupboard door protected by magnetic contacts (which I hope can trigger an immediate alarm condition, even during entry?) Many thanks for the advice.

I can see that such an attack could prevent the panel from alerting a monitoring company. But from what you say, an attempt to destroy or disconnect the control panel should trigger a correctly installed bell (which I am mounting externally). That's great, as it will simplify my setup, and mean that I can put a cheaper keypad in the cupboard with the panel (rather than a designer one that is to be "on display"). My flat is not huge, and I am just trying to protect against petty thieves, as I doubt anyone more serious would find much to justify their efforts.

Hi, I have been reading some of the excellent advice on the forum and have decided to try and DIY install a wired Texecom Premier Elite 24 panel in my ground floor flat. (It will be bells only, as there are always other neighbours in the building.) There is an obvious place to site the panel in a cupboard my hallway. However, I have read about "smash and grab" attacks that can disable the panel before the entry timer has finished. So I have two questions: 1) If someone kicked in the door and reached the panel before the entry timer finished, could they prevent the siren from triggering? Or would pulling it from the wall or destroying the panel somehow trigger a failsafe in the external sounder (which will be wired)? 2) Would it be a possible to put a PIR in the cupboard with the panel, that will trigger an immediate alarm if someone enters the cupboard even during the entry countdown? (I would put the keypad in the hall for this setup.) Thanks for any advice.