alarminglyconfused Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 Hi would really appreciate advice & opinions from as many seasoned! & up to date alarm experts as poss on a few points I want to fit a quality intruder alarm to my 3 bed extended semi after many recent local break ins & want proper equipment recommendations/advise before I buy rather than suffer c##p hardware later & the pain of a visiting engineer tut tut-ing that I could have got a far better for far less! I do have a friend who is a retired & ex narcoss fitter who said he should be able to give me a hand to fit & program it , But here's the problem have had a look about to see what's on the market now and totally confused what brand or system to buy! the last system I put in was a quite basic optima which worked fine for years in my last house but things have moved on optima is now Honeywell & I would like a solid proven reliable system with modern ad-on features inc a dialler unit, keypad remote from control panel etc, Have been advised by friend to get system which will allow a zone for each sensor to make for easy fault finding later which shouldn't be to hard for a domestic set up about 14 zones should do it & most seem to have a zone expander option, Friend also said take a look at scantronic which is now manvier as in his day these were as he put it the "rolls royce" of domestic alarms well made & hardly ever gave any trouble if put in & set up right , so is this still true ? when I tried to find the latest Manvier models from ADI-GARDINER they just tried to push me towards a Texacom system saying Manvier is ok but got totally sh*t technical back up / service & could be stranded for months before they get back to you if you do have a problem so find myself back at square 1, should also point out I have already got two working yellow ADT bell boxes that I want to incorporate which I've been told shouldn't be a problem as they actually contain scantronic workings which with a little termination juggling could work with almost any system which I also hope is true! That's the which system problem issue the next is which PIRs etc we have roaming pets & a hot & cold conservatory to deal with so obviously the doors & windows around the house can be covered by magnets & Vipers to secure the perimeter but would also like to have PIRs working inside have found various that say 'pet immune' Mercury EL5100 for one which says is fine for pets up to 50 lbs weight but don't know anybody who has ever tried them & most appear to be just PIR only & everybody seems to use & swear by Dual tec or Quad sensors as a minimum standard for a reliable set up also read somewhere that you can use a quality dual tec set to 2 or even 3 pulse to lower the sensitivity to allow for pets don't know if that's the way to go. Even then what make : Bosch, Risco, Eurosec, Texacom, Airtech, Honeywell, etc, Because the correct choice of sensors is so critical & have no feedback on any of them in use could really use some help here as I want to get the best for the job first time Many Thanks & sorry for the war & peace post!
Chorlton Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 Welcome to TSI. 1st thing to say is every installer/engineer has their own preference on equipment so no doubt advice will vary accordingly. Just to clarify for future replies, is this going to be a DIY install with your friends help or info before inviting local companies to quote? C.
alarminglyconfused Posted July 15, 2008 Author Posted July 15, 2008 Welcome to TSI.1st thing to say is every installer/engineer has their own preference on equipment so no doubt advice will vary accordingly. Just to clarify for future replies, is this going to be a DIY install with your friends help or info before inviting local companies to quote? C. Sure I understand there will be some personal preference involved but hope to be able to get some idea of what's generally thought of as good & respected in the trade for actually working in this situation not just what the brochure says it does, Practice in the field is often very different form theory ,And would like the real professionals opinion based on experience what equipment & what method actually works, Yes I intend it to be a DIY install along with the help of my family friend who was narcoss before he retired & I myself have been in building maintenance for many years so should be able to get my head around most technical & practical fitting issues with a little help & advice from here & have no intentions of treading on any local professional fitters/installers toes its just my own property I am trying to protect from what seems to be a local crime wave.
Gopher Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 Yeah the scantronic / menvier panels are rock solid, not actually had a problem with the tech support side, got back to be fairly quickly on any issues I've had, company does use Gardtec systems mainly. Options I see open to you are a either a fully wired or hybrid mix of wired / wireless. Most panels have 8 zones onboard, all other zones going into an expander or 2 depends on how many zones you have, you might want to not use all the zones in the panel it all really depends on how easy it is to get the cabling back to the control panel. Now there is wireless options which could be for just the look as no wires to run or it's not easy to get a wire back to an expander / control panel from where you need it. IF you go wireless you also get the option of being able to remote set / unset it with a keyfob much like your car alarm remote. Some panels come with a built in dialer so no need for a separate dialer and they also normally support dial-in so you can access the system remotely if / when required. As has been said previously everyone has their favourites such as Texecom, Galaxy, Menvier/Scantronic and the ones we use Gardtec some panels are aimed at the DIY market some aren't, some come with a good set of instructions some come with the briefest set possible. Might be worth your while calling a few local companies and getting a few quotes, you never know might just get a good deal out of it and they might be able to monitor your alarm system for a month fee for simple peace of mind. Intruder / CCTV / Access Control Technical Support Personal Subscriber to the "K.I.S.S" principle, that's Keep It Simple Stupid, are you?
hpotter Posted July 17, 2008 Posted July 17, 2008 As has been said, we've all got our favorites. Certain manufacturers will help DIYers more than others. I cant say the more professional eqpt firms tend to direct DIY queries towards getting an expert in because i'll get panned. I can say some manufacturers willingly help anyone with a problem either over the phone or email. Might be worth checking out manufacturers websites for FAQ's help etc before making a decision. Alternatively, get a couple of quotes from local firms, might not be as expensive as you think.
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