MarkJohnson

Thanks to all for your help

Al, hardcore as in not great quality?

Good morning gents! Well, somebody certainly had a fun Sat evening, I can tell you that much! Here is the end result. The system works fine. It doesn't look particularly tidy and I think the extension piece is a little long, but I prefer it to be lose and dangling (!) so there is no stress on the cables. 1. I stripped back the wiring 2. Slid on some 2mm diameter shrink wrap 3. Twisted each pair of wires together 4. Added a small bit of solder 5. Used a heat gun on the shrinwrap The only slight issue is that I was a bit overzealous with the gun in terms of temperatures and melted the plastic sheath of one of the wires, which has now exposed the metal in the cable so taped that up with a tiny bit of gaffa tape (I didn't have any electrical tape at the time). I have highlighted this with a blue square in the image. The cupboard will be up against the wall, with a gap between wall / cupboard of about 8 to 10mm so the wiring will sit there quite happily. Feedback (however critical) is welcome - can't improve ourselves without it!

Another point I omitted - the cut cable is not long enough to join via soldering. An extra 5mm or so in length is needed at points A and B as there isn't any extra pull available on the cable. As such, it looks like I am going to have to cut a small length of cable (marked X in image below) and use that to join cables A and B. Is that likely to cause issues with the sensor?

Ok so I went home and had a go at soldering. I think I am making a pigs ear of it as the CCA cable strands are really delicate and flimsy. Also, bearing in mind, this was done on a kitchen table with plenty of light. Doing this on a ladder high up, might yield even worse results. (a) Be brutal, how bad is my soldering? Image below shows the 3 steps - twist the wire, make a hook, hook onto corresponding wire, add solder to bond together (b) If my soldering is judged to be real bad, is using a crimp really not advisable?

OK great. I might have some electronics solder already. I know that I definitely have lead and lead free solder for plumbing use but that won't be suitable as mentioned above. Also it is on a large cumbersome reel. Last q - how do I put the system into standby / switch it off - the wiring is live, I don't want to short / damage anything! It's a Texecom Premier Elite 24.

Thank you for that - I believe there is an offcut of CCA lying about, I will have a go on that. Do I need any particular flux or solder? I have regular plumbing flux and solder, not sure if this is correct for this specialised application?

Thanks for everyone's input - are we thinking that a regular soldering iron will be able to solder the joint OK? I didn't think it would work. I do have a blow torch for plumbing duty but that is probably not right in this application.

Thanks for the replies folks. With regards to solder, I don't think it would work, primarily because it's basically aluminium cable (CCA) and also it is 2.4m up, so a bit awkward to solder on a ladder. But the CCA issue here is the real problem, otherwise I'd have soldered the damn thing already.

Just to clear up on the above, my choices (unless you guys have a better suggestion) at the moment to fix this mess are: (1)Lever splicing connector: https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/WA415.html (2) Some crimps: https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Cable_Accessories_Index/Crimp_Lugs_and_Tools/index.html (3) A small, 2a connector strip (two-way): https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/TLCON2.html

Morning gents! Based on a lot of background reading I did on this forum, a Texecom Premier Elite was fitted about 6 months ago and a great alarm it is too! Problem I have now is that when cutting off some cornice at the top of the ceiling, we completely forgot that the telephone and alarm cable was run through there. As such, we cut through the damn thing. I'd like to patch this up as it leads to a key patio door sensor. The bigger issue is that the cable is crappy CCA (copper clad alu) as opposed to quality cable. Don't ask how or why that was used. So I guess question is how do I connect this crappy cable back up again? Can't solder it. I can only think of something like this (a pack of ten is a couple quid and they are tiny): https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/WA415.html Also, as the system is 'live' and I don't wish to short anything, how would I power it down temporarily?

Nope, no rodents running around

Any recommendations?

Hello folks, I have gone with a wired Texecom Premier Elite system and have ordered the bits today. And, having done that, I realised that aside from the bell box, I need an annoying / loud siren inside the property. Any suggestions? Something uncomfortable enough for the burglar so he wouldn't want to spend much time inside. EDIT: found this, but don't know if it is any good? Installation is into a ground floor flat...Kinetic Sound Bomb 2 https://www.kinetic-group.co.uk/kinetic_security/products/internal_sounders/sound_bomb_2/

Got it. I guess it's one of those less is more situations! Out of interest, notwithstanding the wall and that it faces into the living room, wouldn't sensor 4 be able to pick up something if the door to the flat door is flung open?