Your Opinons On Equipment And Installation

[sullym6]

Hi

I have had some quotes and they are just way outside my budget so I have decided to install my self, luckily we have some sparks where I work so they will run all the cables for me and I can do the rest (hopefully)

I have read the DIY install guide and it says lay a continous cable, is it not better to run seperate cables to each point ?

When buying the equipment do you get ll info like the engineers code etc which will be required for programming.

I have decided on Gardtec 816 panel with gardtec shock sensors, passives and contacts, from what I have read this is good qulity equipment.

Finally from reading around it seems that there maybe a pc interface available to setup the system and since I work in I.T it may be the bast way to setup the system. The software required is this available to purchase etc I am guessing it uses a standard RS232 port for programming.

Thanks

Sully

[amateurandy]

I have read the DIY install guide and it says lay a continous cable, is it not better to run seperate cables to each point ?

I think that surely means a cable without joints or junction boxes, but a separate cable to each point.

[arfur mo]

Hi

I have had some quotes and they are just way outside my budget so I have decided to install my self, luckily we have some sparks where I work so they will run all the cables for me and I can do the rest (hopefully)

I have read the DIY install guide and it says lay a continous cable, is it not better to run seperate cables to each point ?

When buying the equipment do you get ll info like the engineers code etc which will be required for programming.

I have decided on Gardtec 816 panel with gardtec shock sensors, passives and contacts, from what I have read this is good qulity equipment.

Finally from reading around it seems that there maybe a pc interface available to setup the system and since I work in I.T it may be the bast way to setup the system. The software required is this available to purchase etc I am guessing it uses a standard RS232 port for programming.

Thanks

Sully

hi Sully,

tbh the G816 panel is now obsolete, if you require less than 8 zones go for the 490, far better value and can be expanded for more zones

many engineers prefer to run separate cables to each device in order not to spend time 'breaking into' cables and jointing, but this has to be within reason, and consideration as also made as to where the cables can be run without being seen.

if you buy new then all the instructions and default code's are in the box, but it will take you some time to 'get into' it. set you kit out on a bench, have a good look at run through how it is wired together only then set about installing it.

the pc software and lead are available to registered trade gartec installers only - for very good reasons, again tbh for one off system the cost is not worth while. the software trust me is not the most user friendly and you could easily change settings you have no idea about what the result will be, but adversly affects the system performance.

the panel has basic programming 'out of the box' which for many situations can be used as is and just need to change user/engineer codes, so read the book and look at the default settings, that way you only change those settings you need to.

regs

alan

[alterEGO]

hi Sully,

tbh the G816 panel is now obsolete, if you require less than 8 zones go for the 490, far better value and can be expanded for more zones

many engineers prefer to run separate cables to each device in order not to spend time 'breaking into' cables and jointing, but this has to be within reason, and consideration as also made as to where the cables can be run without being seen.

if you buy new then all the instructions and default code's are in the box, but it will take you some time to 'get into' it. set you kit out on a bench, have a good look at run through how it is wired together only then set about installing it.

the pc software and lead are available to registered trade gartec installers only - for very good reasons, again tbh for one off system the cost is not worth while. the software trust me is not the most user friendly and you could easily change settings you have no idea about what the result will be, but adversly affects the system performance.

the panel has basic programming 'out of the box' which for many situations can be used as is and just need to change user/engineer codes, so read the book and look at the default settings, that way you only change those settings you need to.

regs

alan

Right, the 816 is not obsolete, you keep saying this but it is not, and it is a far better panel then the 490, i use both alot. Beside which in another post the O/P said he needed about 30 zones so out of the range of the 490.

They are not going to get rid of the 816 for years yet, atleast 3. And tbh its not a great idea posting in public that a panel is obsolete when there are still companys selling and installing it on a regular basis. i don't think risco think its obsolete either.

I don't mean to have a go alen, its just that the panel if far from obsolete and i wouldn't like any of our customers to read this and think it is.

[sullym6]

arfur mo thanks for that, looking on the gartec site it seems the 490 in the newer panel, I assumed the bigger the number the better the panel.

I am having a friend of a friend pop round and give me some advise as he is an alarm engineer.

I think the main reason I wanted to run seperate cables is that if one is damaged etc then you only loose one sensor.

One thing I would like clarifying is the term zone what defines a zone.

What I wanted was a system with shock and contact on lower floor with PIR upstairs and then part set would just activate downstairs and full would include upstairs.

I am guessing that with zones you can wire all sensors in the kitchen to one zone and any triggers in the kitchen whould show up as kitchen zone triggered.

If that is the case how can the system identify if it was the backdoor or the kitchen window that caused the alarm, ideally I would like exact location of the alarm trigger.

Thanks

Sully

[arfur mo]

Right, the 816 is not obsolete, you keep saying this but it is not, and it is a far better panel then the 490, i use both alot. Beside which in another post the O/P said he needed about 30 zones so out of the range of the 490.

They are not going to get rid of the 816 for years yet, atleast 3. And tbh its not a great idea posting in public that a panel is obsolete when there are still companys selling and installing it on a regular basis. i don't think risco think its obsolete either.

I don't mean to have a go alen, its just that the panel if far from obsolete and i wouldn't like any of our customers to read this and think it is.

so tried to by an 816 expander lately (the 840 model don't work unles they modded it)?

trust me, it is being fazed out in favour of the G595, but hey you believe what you want i'm just stating what caroline (sales) told me early last year (but who has now left sadly sob! sob!).

must admit i have not seen the other post, but if 30 zones are intended imo far and a way to big a job for a 1st time armature installer, but perhaps he has reduced his spec?

have we all not done those calls where "i want every window and door done, if the cat farts i wanna know about it (like they must have no sense of smell )

so 3 hours later you give them the price and er! oh! we thought of spending about

[alterEGO]

so tried to by an 816 expander lately (the 840 model don't work unles they modded it)?

trust me, it is being fazed out in favour of the G595, but hey you believe what you want i'm just stating what caroline (sales) told me early last year (but who has now left sadly sob! sob!).

must admit i have not seen the other post, but if 30 zones are intended imo far and a way to big a job for a 1st time armature installer, but perhaps he has reduced his spec?

have we all not done those calls where "i want every window and door done, if the cat farts i wanna know about it (like they must have no sense of smell )

so 3 hours later you give them the price and er! oh! we thought of spending about

[alterEGO]

ps: i picked up 5 expanders yesterday, what made you think they didn't sell them?

they got rid of the 840 because it didn't sell and was a pointless panel, it only did a little more then the 816 and only a little less then the 872. so scrap it and just keep 816 and 872.

[sullym6]

So from the last lot of replies if I want to identify each point I have to wire it to a seperate zone, that works out as 14-15 zones with 23 sensors (some windows etc will have 2 shocks as the are bay windows with 4 openings)

So going for the 490 will almost be at max capacity for the kind of setup I am wanting. That leave the 595, 816 or 872 for the job with extra capacity if needed.

arfur mo you are right that I could easily just allocate a zone for each room but after the break-in I wanted to do the best that I could and had allocated a suitable budget roughly 1500 but the prices I got were well in excess of that. So I have decided to fit cctv and the alarm myself and I am sure if I take my time and connect each sensor at a time and test I will be o.k. I will have help on hand if I get stuck and hopefully some members of the forum will also help.

I am just doing fully perimeter downstairs so we can roam around at will with the alarm on and some PIR's upstairs for time when the house is empty.

Thanks to all who have replied.

Sully

[antinode]

It's not wise to totally rely on perimeter protection only. I would stick a couple of PIR's downstairs aswell just in case. Put every detector on it's own zone. Makes things 100 times easier if you get any false alarms in future. Don't forget to fit a PSU to power the detection devices aswell.