Start An Alarm Manufacturer

[Gabs]

8 hours ago, GalaxyGuy said:

Having designed compatible modules, my thoughts for panel / module / sensor design would be to leverage other modules/sensors that are out there already. If you have no experience in firmware and electronic design, then the more complex parts of the system will be a huge undertaking.

 

I would expect a control panel alone (enclosure / electronics / firmware / software / compliance / packaging) at current market level product expectations to take at least 100 man months of effort to go through concept, alpha, beta, release and ramp to volume.

 

To release a product within a couple of years would mean recruiting skilled engineers and probably cost in excess of 500k.  The volume sales required to recover the development costs are huge, so risk is very high. There's also ongoing support costs, as nobody wants to buy a product that has no long term support. Any investor willing to back such a venture would be looking at your own track record, your own investment and ability to bring it all together.

 

As others have commented, it's probably best to start very small before even thinking about something complex. The internal speaker is a good example. Take all current offerings, perform teardown analysis, voice of customer analysis and so on. Design something new. Send out free samples. Get feedback and iterate until you have an ace product that your customers want.

 

That said, it's still very difficult to produce something simple and make money. You may be able to design with a small team (ie.yourself) in the UK, but would find it very difficult to make profit manufacturing here. It's all a very nice thought of being able to create local jobs for people, but very difficult to justify if skilled/unskilled labour is available at 1/5 of the cost elsewhere.

 

 

Thank you GalaxyGuy, didn't think o the ongoing support that would be needed. Starting small, I could buy internal sounder speakers, and create my own siren driver circuit put that in, and sell it as a siren with the tamper added. That may be a good start. The shed alarm idea I had I am still working on. I will look at the engineer prices, although I can image they would be high. 

 

4 hours ago, PeterJames said:

Not necessarily there are temperature and humidity detectors available separately, there is no panel that could collate that info and adjust to the environment   

 

I would like to design a PIR that can be used anywhere with no false alarms, however the problem is it couldn't be used on the standard 6 core cable configuration, or be used with any panel, e.g.

 

Texecom Medusa PIR will work with an ADE Optima XM

 

I could produce those bell box dummy LED modules, do you professionals use them?  

[MrHappy]

@gabs an extension speaker in its basic form is just a speaker in a box

 

You need to have mould made & could use a 3rd party to produce a run of plastics

 

Speakers would be bought in, production would be putting leads on ect... assembly & packing

 

As a hobby you'd probably cover your costs... As a business you'd probably loose money

 

 

 

[Gabs]

30 minutes ago, MrHappy said:

@gabs an extension speaker in its basic form is just a speaker in a box

 

You need to have mould made & could use a 3rd party to produce a run of plastics

 

Speakers would be bought in, production would be putting leads on ect... assembly & packing

 

As a hobby you'd probably cover your costs... As a business you'd probably loose money

 

 

 

 

I understand that, I definitely wouldn't want to loose money, you got any ideas or suggestions? Want to get into manufacturing 

[MrHappy]

I was toying with moving over to these-

 

These are the small speaker the large speaker ones haven't turned up yet

 

In the flesh they not any smaller in profile than normal speaker

 

https://www.knightfireandsecurity.com/product/grade-3-internal-sounder-octone/

 

However starting small with something like the above would still be a significant project...

 

 

 

 

Edited March 29, 2019 by MrHappy

[Gabs]

17 hours ago, MrHappy said:

I was toying with moving over to these-

 

These are the small speaker the large speaker ones haven't turned up yet

 

In the flesh they not any smaller in profile than normal speaker

 

https://www.knightfireandsecurity.com/product/grade-3-internal-sounder-octone/

 

However starting small with something like the above would still be a significant project...

 

 

 

 

Thanks for that, well, everyone has to start somewhere. I am still looking for an idea, or something I can make, which will be an improvement to the security or electronic industry 

[PeterJames]

I have been doing similar things all my life too. I have found that the best place to start is with a problem. For example, we have a huge site that is armed by a security guard. Before he can arm the site he has to walk through each building to make sure that no-one is still working before he arms it, the problem is some of these buildings are so big that by the time he has walked through from entrance A to entrance B someone has come in from entrance A and is sat at their desk working when the guard is setting the alarm. The site has access control and there are time restrictions on peoples cards but they need the access to work in order to get out of the building. We could just restrict their cards not to work on the external doors after working hours, but there are many nights when the building is open and staff will require access after hours. So there was no easy way to restrict staff from coming back in. Our solution was a lock down fob, the guard now has a red fob that he swipes at the entrance a when he comes round to lock up, this disables all the external readers but not the internal ones so staff can get out. Only red fobs will now work at the external doors. The red fobs also work at the alarm keypad and so once he has checked the building and got everyone out he swipes the red fob at the alarm which arms the system. Only people with a red fob are able to enter the building (they are keyholders) and when the alarm is unset it automatically resets the access control so staff can get in. 

[Gabs]

23 hours ago, PeterJames said:

I have been doing similar things all my life too. I have found that the best place to start is with a problem. For example, we have a huge site that is armed by a security guard. Before he can arm the site he has to walk through each building to make sure that no-one is still working before he arms it, the problem is some of these buildings are so big that by the time he has walked through from entrance A to entrance B someone has come in from entrance A and is sat at their desk working when the guard is setting the alarm. The site has access control and there are time restrictions on peoples cards but they need the access to work in order to get out of the building. We could just restrict their cards not to work on the external doors after working hours, but there are many nights when the building is open and staff will require access after hours. So there was no easy way to restrict staff from coming back in. Our solution was a lock down fob, the guard now has a red fob that he swipes at the entrance a when he comes round to lock up, this disables all the external readers but not the internal ones so staff can get out. Only red fobs will now work at the external doors. The red fobs also work at the alarm keypad and so once he has checked the building and got everyone out he swipes the red fob at the alarm which arms the system. Only people with a red fob are able to enter the building (they are keyholders) and when the alarm is unset it automatically resets the access control so staff can get in. 

Is this something that you designed and implemented? it is a good idea, and would reduce false alarms. 

[PeterJames]

Its an example of problem solving. 

[MrHappy]

David Snook scanned from PSI Magazine-

PSI Apr 2019.pdf

 

kinda on topic...

[norman]

Good read and makes me feel old