Mrchips

Thanks for this really interesting thread, re Yale. I suppose the reason that I painted the siren box black was due to the relative cheapness of the system. I don't expect a cheap system, home installed, to match those put in by industry specialists. I did look about, and got some quotes for a replacement, but they seemed soo expensive to buy. I was offered 'savings' greater than the cost of the Yale, and then I was asked to pay quite a high maintenance charge to boot. My Defender cost me enough over the years, and I wasn't in the ball park for that sort of upfront, and continuing cost for my replacement. I suppose it is like everything else, you get what you pay for.

Many thanks. I think i now have enough advice to get on with the job. I appreciate the time and expertise spent on this query. I have already purchased, and installed a Yale EF Series alarm. I have sprayed the bell box black and added three letters to the front so that it isn't too obvious what alarm make it is. Hopefully this uncertainty will be an added incentive for someone to burgle elsewhere. Not that I have much of real value ... but the wife would be able to stand the thought of home invasion. Before I used it 'live', I had the siren in a drawer in a spare room and did quite a lot of testing with various scenarios. I haven't set it off accidentally, nor has it gone off on a false alarm. The images from the PIR camera are pretty poor ... but I had nothing at all with the Defender! . . . . and it is nice to look at the system on-line to answer that question. "Did you set the alarm?" Up to now it seems to being doing all that is being asked of it. Again, many thanks for your time and efforts on my behalf.

Wow ... that was quick ... and useful. thanks. If I disconnect the mains power from the control unit indoors, how long is the backup battery likely to last? If I leave it 2 or 3 weeks, could I get over even the 5 seconds of alarm ringing? Once again, thank you both for your rapid response to my query.

Wow ... that was quick ... and useful. thanks. If I disconnect the mains power from the control unit indoors, how long is the backup battery likely to last? If I leave it 2 or 3 weeks, could I get over even the 5 seconds of alarm ringing? Once again, thank you both for your rapid response to my query.

Hi there good afternoon. I bought my Defender 3000 in the year 2000. It has served me well since then but has lately started to give spurious alarms and I get the impressipn the spare parts are difficult to source. I decided to bin this one and buy some form of wireless alternative. I mentioned this to the guy who maintains it annually and he wasn't too happy about it. What I would like to know is what is the sequence of events to stop the alarm going off when I turn the mains power and start opening the box to remove the battery backup. I assume that if I just turn the power supply off at the mains, the battery will kick in and the alarm stay armed. What is the best way that I can go about taking the alarm down without annoying neighbours and defening myself. Given the few words exchanged with the maintaining guy, I am loathed to pay him. Any advice will be greatly appreciated