Afternoon,
I am a new member to this site, but I have followed it for ages.
My house has a menvier TS900 installed with a node (10 zones)
When I moved in, the external garage had no alarm so I went ahead and purchased a G2-12 and a MK7 keypad.
The G2-12 was easy to install and program for a professional panel. It works very well (I'm an audio engineer and know my electronics very well). I have decided that its time to upgrade the TS900 and install something that's more future proof and not discontinued, I'd want the new panel to cover the house AND garage through the use of groups, but I have a few concerns and questions. I already know the workflow of the galaxy quite well even though its a professional panel.
First off, all the cabling for the TS900 is 8 core alarm cable, same with the galaxy...would I need to change the keypad/expander cables for Belden cable? the G2-12 seems to communicate with the MK7 keypad fine with standard 8 core cable.
Secondly, is it worth changing the internal loudspeaker for a hi-lo sounder since the loudspeaker only beeps in alarm?
Thirdly, How would I go about setting up the groups? I'm probably over complicating this, I'd like a group for the house, and a group for the garage, however...I want both groups to act as separate alarm panels. Can the garage keypad be setup to only control the garage group? The house keypads would have access to both groups. When the garage is in alarm, it has a Master Blaster installed and I wouldn't want the bellbox on the house to activate while the garage is in alarm. I wouldn't want the keypads or internal loudspeaker to make any noise when the garage is in E/E mode either.
Can that be done? I'm also worried that the system won't be user friendly when groups are setup as there would be a lot of different options when setting and unsetting.
Lastly, I'd need quite a few outputs from the panel to turn on lights and send various signals out etc. Is there a transistorised output board available for the galaxy? I can only find a relay output board, but I already have relays installed where appropriate.
Where can I get RSS from? Is it available for installers only?
Hope I've made sense. Sorry for the long post!
Thanks.