Scantronic 9800

[bri]

A bold statment.....I feel a sort of Security type TOP Gear type programme with a Jeremy Clarkson to oversee quality control.

[newbec]

A bold statment.....I feel a sort of Security type TOP Gear type programme with a Jeremy Clarkson to oversee quality control.

59902[/snapback]

And on that bombshell, GOODNIGHT!

[Paul Giles]

As i mentioned before the DIY forum should only help people with information contained in their user book.

Bout time we changed the forum me thinks, might start a poll sometime!

[FASTCAR]

I disagree , I would rather the d-i-yers come here for advice than anywhere else.At least we can tell them the benefits of having maintenance contracts and there is a list of installers covering most areas .

If you don't want to help them , don't , not all of them are muppets.

[Paul Giles]

And how many have employed firms from here?

I will always help anyone but only as far as sensible.

User book for users and engineer manual for engineers, keep the advice to each one seperate and things will be fine.

Helping people install and programme systems undermines all of the years of experience and training let alone the costly errors that make you learn things throughout the years.

I have posted on here before about asking people first why they have not asked for quotes first before starting to think they can do it all.

Afterall quotes and advice are free.

I am not against anyone asking for advice but there seems to be a trend of 'dont need alarm engineers as alarms are easy'

To quote one person on here stating 'I have installed my alarm probably to a better standard to most alarm engineers'!!

How does he know?

The integrity of the industry is paramount, endstations have tamper switches on them for a reason, to keep unauthorised people out!

[bri]

Getting rather hot in here

The points raised here are all very valid. As long as B & Q, Wickes etc sell these DIY Systems to Joe Public the questions will still be asked. How many times do we go into B&Q for a pot of paint and a brush, all of a sudden we are expert painters and decorators, plumbers, plasterers and brickies. I admire people who are willing to have a go and then realise their limitations, the next time I'm gonna get someone in to do it, at least they tried. How many times have we been in the pub and had' do us a favour mate, fit or fix my alarm for me, buy you a pint for it' Two days on and youre still there fixing it.For those who work for somebody else here its easy for you to give advice free cos youre being paid by the person you work for, for those of us who work for ourselves we have diffrent criteria to follow.Giving advice to other engineers is a diffrent matter, cos we know what its like to be stuck inside a panel for hrs. I was phoned by a colleague, who has his own company too, only yesterday, he'd been trying to access the menu on a dvr without success for about an hour. Rang me up and without seeing it I couldnt figure out what he was doing. As I wasnt far away from him I called into the site, saw straight away what he was doing wrong and showed him how to do it.I dont find that a problem at all because he gives me other work so its reciprocal.

My Auntie once said when I was telling my boy off for his lack of reasoning:

Always answer their questions no matter how stupid!!

[FASTCAR]

And how many have employed firms from here?

Ihave.

I am not against anyone asking for advice but there seems to be a trend of 'dont need alarm engineers as alarms are easy'

Yes , alot of diyers probably think that , so this is surely the place to educate them ,and point them towards a good engineer.You are not loosing any money from the diyers who post on here , but they are a potential customer to one of us.

Best regards.

[Zak]

Part of the issues raised here is that many enquiries are from people who have "professional" systems that were either installed by professional installers or electricians; they are not B&Q jobbies (and no one here will be able to help with those anyway!).

Advice here should be, IMO, given as much as possible, and in the most helpful way. But when someone moves into a house and starts taking apart the inherited professionally installed system and messes it up, or doesn't get it serviced for 5 years and then wonders why it ceases to function, there is only so much advice that one can give to a layman in order to help fix it before he/she should call in a professional.

Some members of the public who have some technical ability perhaps should be afforded more assistance than for example someone who can't even wire a plug. But, with real faults on alarms most people will not be able to fix them without calling out an experienced engineer, even more so because they don't have access to parts, programming knowledge, multimeters, tech help etc.

Members of the public who enquire about aspects of systems and current legislation etc should be advised as much as possible. However, it seems that some people come on here thinking that they will get detailed explanations as to how to fix a serious fault with their system and that someone with infinite patience will tutor them through every conceivable possibility (when it could be one of a dozen things, and even when you go tell them what to check you have no way of knowing if they understand what you have said).

Every enquiry should be evaluated individually and if people feel they can help then they should. If someone comes on and says "I was drilling a hole in my wall and my alarm started ringing so I turned off the mains fuses which didn't stop the alarm, so opened the panel and cut the battery cables because they were corroded onto something that I think was a battery, and then when I reconnected it the keypad was showing 12V aux and I found something that looks like a fuse but made of glass that had 12V aux written next to it, so I put a 3amp fuse in it .............. ". There comes a point when a real engineer is required.

[bri]

Now do we make ourselves clear.....hear hear that man!!! Time for a new thread chaps.