Charles Middleton

Afternoon all, First time here, so firstly "Hi!" and secondly, please be gentle! Ok, so when I first bought this house, some 16 years ago, it had a basic security system installed - c4 PIR's, control box, Texecom Veritas R8 control panel. Since i've moved in, I've : - taken the control box off to redecorate - taken the PIRs down The parts have been sat in the attic for some years, and of course I have no idea what the original code is! All units are wired (wiring's still in place), and we have the internal buzzer and external alarm / strobe still in place - the main control box is above the false ceiling in the downstairs loo. When the power cuts off (power cut etc) the alarm and strobe outside still go off - its definately all still there and seems to be working in that respect. So - I've now started thinking about putting it back together (namely for insurance purposes). Looking on line, these R8's seem quite cheap, and it does look rather "cheap" all round (I think the full kit for these is like £160 at B&Q...). I definately dont want to have to redo all the wiring. So, question for you guys - do I a) Put it back together myself - how easy / anyone got a manual? b) Pay an installer to put it back together, or c) It's so old and cheapo dont bother - pay (a bit!) extra and get a modern one while you're at it! One last - when I spoke to installers about this general idea today, they said that the "control panel needs to match the control box manufacturer" etc. Is this true - or are they standard, and I could just put a "better" control pannel / keypad on the existing control box and wiring? Thanks for any advice BTW - one reason I took this system out was that I was given a "BT Home Monitor VP1000" through work. AFAIR, this was some wirless system, that had a direct line to a BT monitoring service. I beleive this product was cancelled by BT themselves? As I now have Virgin phone - is this worth bothering with, or worth any thing, ££?