Newbie: Which Wireless Expander?

[imy877]

Hi all

I've decided to buy and install an alarm myself. I've been looking at the "Secware Texecom Premium Plus 4 PIR Complete Kit 2" which from what I've read on this site is a good quality brand.

As well as the wired door and PIR sensors I will need to put a PIR each in three rooms downstairs where I cant really fit any wires. I've been looking at some of the different wireless expanders and need some clarification as to how these actually work.

Firstly, can I use any brand of wireless expander or will certain brands work better with the Texecom prem panel? Also when it comes to configuring the zones, how are the wirless zones handled? - Are all the wireless sensors seen as one zone by the Texecom panel, or can you configure a zone per each sensor (normal alarm config).

The Texecom kit seems reasonably priced, is there any other brand I could consider for a mixed wired and wireless system? is it possible to add a text or dialer attachment at a later stage to this kit?

any comments or tips would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

[truesecurity]

Hi all

I've decided to buy and install an alarm myself. I've been looking at the "Secware Texecom Premium Plus 4 PIR Complete Kit 2" which from what I've read on this site is a good quality brand.

As well as the wired door and PIR sensors I will need to put a PIR each in three rooms downstairs where I cant really fit any wires. I've been looking at some of the different wireless expanders and need some clarification as to how these actually work.

Firstly, can I use any brand of wireless expander or will certain brands work better with the Texecom prem panel? Also when it comes to configuring the zones, how are the wirless zones handled? - Are all the wireless sensors seen as one zone by the Texecom panel, or can you configure a zone per each sensor (normal alarm config).

The Texecom kit seems reasonably priced, is there any other brand I could consider for a mixed wired and wireless system? is it possible to add a text or dialer attachment at a later stage to this kit?

any comments or tips would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Hi,

If you have't bought the Texecom panel yet (which is a good piece of kit) then maybe you should consider the Visonic Powermax+ panel ?

[arfur mo]

Hi all

I've decided to buy and install an alarm myself. I've been looking at the "Secware Texecom Premium Plus 4 PIR Complete Kit 2" which from what I've read on this site is a good quality brand.

As well as the wired door and PIR sensors I will need to put a PIR each in three rooms downstairs where I cant really fit any wires. I've been looking at some of the different wireless expanders and need some clarification as to how these actually work.

Firstly, can I use any brand of wireless expander or will certain brands work better with the Texecom prem panel? Also when it comes to configuring the zones, how are the wirless zones handled? - Are all the wireless sensors seen as one zone by the Texecom panel, or can you configure a zone per each sensor (normal alarm config).

The Texecom kit seems reasonably priced, is there any other brand I could consider for a mixed wired and wireless system? is it possible to add a text or dialer attachment at a later stage to this kit?

any comments or tips would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

i'm not a user of texecom, no issues but i just prefer Gardtecs offerings.you will no doubt get others stating their preferences.

i doubt with texecom you will be able to put more than one radio detector per zone, radio zones on gardtec occupy a different zone number range to wired zones, i.e. the panels on board wired zones are from 1 - 16, 1st wired expander zone from zone 21, radio from zone 91 and so on

you can buy a standard panel (any make but lets say texacom) and add a stand alone wireless receiver from lets say scantronic, you simply inter wire the receiver zones to the panel zones along with 12 volts supply and anti-tampers, but tbh better staying with one brand whatever you choose.

i would only do the bold on receiver as an add-on to an existing panel that did not support its own receiver, as the 'in house' stuff will give better monitoring of the radio sides performance with meaningful (to engineers) log entries, for batteries, signal issues and so on.

radio is obviously easyier to instal the detectors but more confusing with the programming of them, they have to be 'learnt' by the panel, expect to replace the batteries @ 12 months or less, depending on foot fall trafic, and always do it 2 weeks BEFORE your big family holiday.

concider this first please -:

wired is initially more labour intensive and cables for novices are more difficult to conceal, but against this no detector batteries to worry about so keep paying for, you can choose from liturally thousands of wired detectors to suit your needs be it coverage, performance or aisthetics.

with radio you are severely restricted to that make, line and models, what if is removed from sale in a few years? suffer a faulty item, you might have to change the whole lot to resore your security.

radio is good kit generally, but not a complete bed of roses

regs

alan

[imy877]

thanks for the replies guys,

Thats good advice, I havent ordered anything yet but I think I will just order the wired kit and try and take the decor apart a little to try and get the wires in the hard to reach rooms. It will just take a lot longer to do it using wires, but on the other hand I think I'd be much happier and confident using a wired system.

I'll let you all know how I get on! the kit I mentioned above seems good value, is there any other kit which might be worth considering for around the 100 - 150 pounds mark?

thanks

[arfur mo]

thanks for the replies guys,

Thats good advice, I havent ordered anything yet but I think I will just order the wired kit and try and take the decor apart a little to try and get the wires in the hard to reach rooms. It will just take a lot longer to do it using wires, but on the other hand I think I'd be much happier and confident using a wired system.

I'll let you all know how I get on! the kit I mentioned above seems good value, is there any other kit which might be worth considering for around the 100 - 150 pounds mark?

thanks

i lnow you will think i would say this, but start with the word 'security' THEN

[truesecurity]

Best of luck with your project !

I once went to a guys house to do an install. He didn't want the system but insurers demanded it.

He had built his own out of bell wire, copper strips, tin foil, batteries, a relay, headlamp flasher unit and a windscreen wiper motor ! (really)

It really did work although all circuits relied upon normally open detection loops.

I didn't disconnect it after our install, it was a work of art !

[arfur mo]

Best of luck with your project !

I once went to a guys house to do an install. He didn't want the system but insurers demanded it.

He had built his own out of bell wire, copper strips, tin foil, batteries, a relay, headlamp flasher unit and a windscreen wiper motor ! (really)

It really did work although all circuits relied upon normally open detection loops.

I didn't disconnect it after our install, it was a work of art !

hi truesecurity

frightenly more for you we are kindred souls,

a few years back massive house in hampstead lane, i got asked to look at a faulty system.

turns out to be a 'home brew', owner was in his eigthties, but in his youth he had installed his own designed system using ex GPO type open relays, in a 'coffin' (now called the end station). the 'keypad' was made of toggles switches on a highly polished box but they were hidden behind decorative glass lamp shade eliments which looked like shells, sort of thing you see in the old b/w gangster movies 'top of the worls ma!'.

all windows were protected by copper wire as used in transformers, strung across the frames 'lace wired' fashion but very neatly done. he was obviously proud of it and for its time was tbh effective

although i could have sorted it out and even concidered it out of a mix of admiration and pity for his feelings, but in the end no way as a pro could i reinstate it, but still, l felt a real guily ripping it all out.

regs

alan

[imy877]

Hi, just thought I'd report back.. as its been a while and I'm sure you're all wondering how I got on!

In the end I went for the Texecom kit, took a couple of days to install because I was neatly hiding the wires under floor boards etc.

I would definately recommend this alarm to any DIYer as the instructions were very clear, just (as with any electric install) be very very careful with the main electric supply.

The only problems I came accross were, understanding the different wiring diagram when connecting multiple sensors to a single zone - This was my own fault for not reading the diagrams correctly. And secondly the outside sounder box tamper switch needed adjusting as it was constantly reading open.

thanks for the initial guidance, very useful forum.

[Chorlton]

glad to hear it went well & thanks for getting back which is a much appreciated but not to common occurance.

C.