What Method Of Expansion Would You Suggest?

[amateurandy]

Hello folks,

As some of you have probably worked out, I have an ADE Accenta G3 that I installed myself almost 4 years ago.

It provides reasonable coverage to my house, but ideally I would like to add at least 2 more detectors and a 2nd remote keypad (upstairs).

Currently I have all 8 zones in use:

3 door switches (front, back and patio door) and 5 PIR's.

Two of the PIR's are in the hallway and on the landing with coverage that detects any movement from room to room.

The other 3 are in the lounge and the rooms with the back door and patio door.

There's also a PA button in the master bedroom and one incorporated in the keypad in the hall. The control panel is "hidden away".

Putting another keypad in doesn't appear to be particularly difficult; the wiring is simple and the route and position are fairly obvious (to me). But that's assuming I keep the panel....

However there are 2 downstairs rooms that have no detectors in them. I've not been too worried as they have no outside doors and the windows are secure (modern double-glazed units), have relatively high sills and are very visible from the road and nearby houses. Anyone who did get in wouldn't find much of value in those rooms and as soon as they tried to move to another room the alarm would be triggered. But I guess it's not ideal.

So, have control panels moved on much in the last 4 years? At least as far as a DIY installer is concerned.

Would you bother covering those 2 downstairs rooms, and if so how?

I know most of you are going to say one device per zone, but would some sharing be reasonable in this situation? If not what make/model of panel would be a good choice?

Thanks in advance

[arfur mo]

Hello folks,

As some of you have probably worked out, I have an ADE Accenta G3 that I installed myself almost 4 years ago.

It provides reasonable coverage to my house, but ideally I would like to add at least 2 more detectors and a 2nd remote keypad (upstairs).

Currently I have all 8 zones in use:

3 door switches (front, back and patio door) and 5 PIR's.

Two of the PIR's are in the hallway and on the landing with coverage that detects any movement from room to room.

The other 3 are in the lounge and the rooms with the back door and patio door.

There's also a PA button in the master bedroom and one incorporated in the keypad in the hall. The control panel is "hidden away".

Putting another keypad in doesn't appear to be particularly difficult; the wiring is simple and the route and position are fairly obvious (to me). But that's assuming I keep the panel....

However there are 2 downstairs rooms that have no detectors in them. I've not been too worried as they have no outside doors and the windows are secure (modern double-glazed units), have relatively high sills and are very visible from the road and nearby houses. Anyone who did get in wouldn't find much of value in those rooms and as soon as they tried to move to another room the alarm would be triggered. But I guess it's not ideal.

So, have control panels moved on much in the last 4 years? At least as far as a DIY installer is concerned.

Would you bother covering those 2 downstairs rooms, and if so how?

I know most of you are going to say one device per zone, but would some sharing be reasonable in this situation? If not what make/model of panel would be a good choice?

Thanks in advance

if push came to budgetary, shove i'd have the contacts all on one zone and use the so 'liberated' zones for the extra pirs, obviously not the 'pro' resolution as a bigger panel is the real way to go, but then it's you money v your acceptability you have to balance.

regs

alan

[antinode]

Ideal situation: upgrade the panel to accommodate your additional protection. It depends on your budget really. I personally think that one detector per circuit keeps things straight forward and if you do get problems with false alarms, the offending detector is easily traced with a minimum of trouble. You could stick the patio and back door contacts on the same zone freeing up a zone. You could keep the panel and put the new detectors on the same zones as other detectors but if you get a false alarm, which one went off? Unless the new detectors you fit had a latching facility, you wouldn't know.

In an average house I would be looking to cover every room downstairs and the landing as a minimum, the idea being to scare the scrotes off before they have a chance to move into a room that does contain something of value. I can't really comment on the type of detection as I haven't seen your house, but a good quality PIR in each of those rooms should be sufficient. As for panels, the only way from an Accenta is upwards. Have you looked at the Texecom Premiers? The Premier 24 would do everything you need and much more and they are easy to work on, but the cost of upgrading could prove a little costly for a couple of additional passives.

[amateurandy]

if push came to budgetary, shove i'd have the contacts all on one zone and use the so 'liberated' zones for the extra pirs, obviously not the 'pro' resolution as a bigger panel is the real way to go, but then it's you money v your acceptability you have to balance.

regs

alan

Yes, that could be a possibility. All the external doors are covered by PIR's anyway and as currently programmed only the hall one (covering the front door) is Time Inhibited. So for example - force open the back door, the beeping starts, walk in about 6 inches and the PIR picks you up and full alarm!

[FASTCAR]

Hi ,

Have a look at the Eurosec CPX , 16 zones , and a dialer as a bonus.

Regards.

[alterEGO]

Hi ,

Have a look at the Eurosec CPX , 16 zones , and a dialer as a bonus.

Regards.

i would not recommend a cpx for more then 9 zones for DIY. it is not a true 16 zones and involves zone doubling which is not much fun.

out of the gardtec range i would recommend the 595 for features inc built in dialler, but you would need an expander. or to save buying an expander the 816 as it has 16 on-board zones with no need[or extra cost] for expanders or zone doubling, although it will give you 32 zones with expanders.

[arfur mo]

Yes, that could be a possibility. All the external doors are covered by PIR's anyway and as currently programmed only the hall one (covering the front door) is Time Inhibited. So for example - force open the back door, the beeping starts, walk in about 6 inches and the PIR picks you up and full alarm!

for a bells only this is not so great a problem, and sometimes you want to come in via a side or back door. if not the 'reminder' bleep means you have a chance to stop if being a bit absent minded and so preventing the neighbours being disturbed for no reason.

it's always better to group door contacts on a single zone than pir's, although imo you always get far more false alarms of door contacts, key-holders simply will not check a remote door is secured prior to setting a system where as a oir will often 'live' with a draft from say a partially open window

regs

alan

[Guest anguscanplay]

gardtec 490x - if your leaving early in the morning the upstairs keypad would be silent too

[luggsey]

In days gone by (!) we used to use "latching" PIR's, the one that activates flashes it's LED and is cleared using a programable output that clears on reset. (Or as I saw a lot do hide a small non latching button that drops power to the PIR, not recomended though!)

Can you still get latching PIR's???

I also remember fitting zone expander units that had status LED's but that was a loooong time ago!

Hello Mr. T!

[tinnitus]

Hello folks,

As some of you have probably worked out, I have an ADE Accenta G3 that I installed myself almost 4 years ago.

It provides reasonable coverage to my house, but ideally I would like to add at least 2 more detectors and a 2nd remote keypad (upstairs).

Currently I have all 8 zones in use:

3 door switches (front, back and patio door) and 5 PIR's.

Two of the PIR's are in the hallway and on the landing with coverage that detects any movement from room to room.

The other 3 are in the lounge and the rooms with the back door and patio door.

There's also a PA button in the master bedroom and one incorporated in the keypad in the hall. The control panel is "hidden away".

Putting another keypad in doesn't appear to be particularly difficult; the wiring is simple and the route and position are fairly obvious (to me). But that's assuming I keep the panel....

However there are 2 downstairs rooms that have no detectors in them. I've not been too worried as they have no outside doors and the windows are secure (modern double-glazed units), have relatively high sills and are very visible from the road and nearby houses. Anyone who did get in wouldn't find much of value in those rooms and as soon as they tried to move to another room the alarm would be triggered. But I guess it's not ideal.

So, have control panels moved on much in the last 4 years? At least as far as a DIY installer is concerned.

Would you bother covering those 2 downstairs rooms, and if so how?

I know most of you are going to say one device per zone, but would some sharing be reasonable in this situation? If not what make/model of panel would be a good choice?

Thanks in advance

why dont you just double up the zones? you dont need confirmed.

hello luggsey!