Zak Posted July 21, 2005 Posted July 21, 2005 I am usually quite impartial to such discussions, but Edward, dude, you should not be encouraging your customers to change fuses. If having an LED will help your telephone support to determine that it is/isn't a fuse that has blown then that is one thing - but realistically, like all installation companies you should be able to provide after sales service. If your clients refuse to take up a maintenance agreement and insist you attend, then you are quite welcome to charge them an agreed fee if the fault is not due to your installation or equipment. Even if you have a maintenance agreement, a 3rd party fault will usually be chargeable. Fuses should not blow. If someone shorts a cable, there is a power surge, a fault on a camera etc. then a competent person should seek the cause; you can't replace fuses without diagnosing the fault and expect it not to blow again. Zak Tankel - Managing Director - Security First (UK) - www.securityfirst.uk.com Disclaimer: Any comments or opinions expressed by me are my own as a member of the public and not of my employer or Company.
Mavrick_001 Posted July 21, 2005 Posted July 21, 2005 I think we'd all like an answer to determin your installation experience as we're all apparently jumping in to overload about a little fuse popping which is to you no big deal. I'll tell you what guys, as Eddie is going to outstand us with his vast knowledge of installing, commissioning, fault finding, etc with cctv systems I think we should all put our inferior vast amounts of knowledge to bed, after all lads.... in Eddie's eyes.... it's just a fuse afterall!! I think you might do well in opening a side line to your exisitng company Ed by offering CCTV training.... I'm sure we'd all sign up and love to learn from the master at arms himself, hows about it... Lads post your insterest here!!! CCTV Intruder Access Control Tony Hughes, Proprietor, TRADE MEMBER
Zak Posted July 21, 2005 Posted July 21, 2005 and...........breathe! Zak Tankel - Managing Director - Security First (UK) - www.securityfirst.uk.com Disclaimer: Any comments or opinions expressed by me are my own as a member of the public and not of my employer or Company.
Business Cam Posted July 22, 2005 Author Posted July 22, 2005 Hi All, I was trying to find ways to eliminate minor problems. There is nothing wrong with our installations. Even though, out of our 1500 cameras, it happens few times a year, it is still very annoying. For example, when a camera has a faulty component and fault a power surge on a hot afternoon. After the fuse was changed and everything was working fine, 90% of engineers would leave it like that after some routine current check and move onto the next job. Three weeks later, the fuse blown again, he went back and discovered that the camera had gone. Then he rang the office and a new camera sent out for his third visit. All good cars have self-serviceable parts and others parts where you have to bring back to the garage. All homes and cars have self-serviceable fuse box, and it would be a good idea CCTV PSU has a separate compartment which houses the blade fuses (like the one in cars). Customers do get annoyed for revisits. My ideal process is, - customer rang us about the problem - we ask them to check the external LED light. - They open the separate compartment with blade fuses (spares are inside the compartment) - If the fuse is blown again, then an engineer is sent out within 24 hours to find the root problem. In the next 20 years, we may see CCTV in 40% of homes and 95% of small businesses. An efficient backup service would be good.
Mavrick_001 Posted July 22, 2005 Posted July 22, 2005 And your personal trade experience is???? CCTV Intruder Access Control Tony Hughes, Proprietor, TRADE MEMBER
Rich Posted July 22, 2005 Posted July 22, 2005 Hi All, I was trying to find ways to eliminate minor problems. There is nothing wrong with our installations. Even though, out of our 1500 cameras, it happens few times a year, it is still very annoying. For example, when a camera has a faulty component and fault a power surge on a hot afternoon. After the fuse was changed and everything was working fine, 90% of engineers would leave it like that after some routine current check and move onto the next job. Three weeks later, the fuse blown again, he went back and discovered that the camera had gone. Then he rang the office and a new camera sent out for his third visit. All good cars have self-serviceable parts and others parts where you have to bring back to the garage. All homes and cars have self-serviceable fuse box, and it would be a good idea CCTV PSU has a separate compartment which houses the blade fuses (like the one in cars). Customers do get annoyed for revisits. My ideal process is, - customer rang us about the problem - we ask them to check the external LED light. - They open the separate compartment with blade fuses (spares are inside the compartment) - If the fuse is blown again, then an engineer is sent out within 24 hours to find the root problem. In the next 20 years, we may see CCTV in 40% of homes and 95% of small businesses. An efficient backup service would be good. 61843[/snapback] Surely if you are aware that the cameras do occasionally go down, why not supply all the engineers that work for you a spare camera for such instances, 1 visit on site. You then get a diagnosis, fuse and camera change and then a postal replacement with the spare?
secboy Posted July 22, 2005 Posted July 22, 2005 Come on guys lets try and be a little more open to new and inovative ideas on this forem I personally think Edward has a very interesting idea here; "customer self diagnosis and repair". If this idea was applied in a slightly different way we could in theory see the situation where the customer could be supplied with a user freindly system pack,NO NO NO dont put wards in my mouth(its big enough all ready)I do not mean a full engineers tool kit just the basics to help the call out engineers perhapes a peak to peak meter/multi meter/side cutters /small terminal driver/box of various spares and a hand book entitled "CCTV maintenance made easy". Picture the scenario; q. have you a picture? a. yes! q. is it poor quality? a. yes! q.can you please plug your peak to peak meter on to the coax cable following the step by step instructions on page 23 of your ""cctv maintenance made easy " manual. q.what is the reading? a.0.75 volts ARHHH thats not good! q. do you have a ladder? a. yes! please get to camera/remove lid and measure voltage following instructions on page 41 of your manual. a. Its ok! I've found a poor connection to the back of the camera as discussed on page 59 and the picture is fine. GOOD! Please be aware that your on line support invioce will be posted within 5 working days for a total of £174 plus vat. I think Edwards got something here!!!!!! I'm sorry ED but you takes your chances on this forem and you must have a sence of humour!!!!!!!!! Paul.
Mavrick_001 Posted July 22, 2005 Posted July 22, 2005 Paul, they don't do a version of that one for intruder alarms kid, I'd make a fortune. Pdf format be good if avalible. I mean nothing to it really is there, just like changing a fuse on the car which has gone for no reasons. Any others interested in the alarm book....??? CCTV Intruder Access Control Tony Hughes, Proprietor, TRADE MEMBER
Nova-Security Posted July 22, 2005 Posted July 22, 2005 Come on guys lets try and be a little more open to new and inovative ideas on this forem I personally think Edward has a very interesting idea here;"customer self diagnosis and repair". 61874[/snapback] The next in edwards ideas would be "customer install" so basically all he wants to do is box shift. www.nova-security.co.uk www.nsiapproved.co.uk No PMs please unless i know you or you are using this board with your proper name.
ian.cant Posted July 22, 2005 Posted July 22, 2005 What he is suggesting isnt a bad idea and i can see where he is coming from. It could be that an intermittent fault on a camera could pop the fuse. Lets assume all the cameras are low voltage which i suspect they are, then its not such a **** idea. As he states, little plug in fuses like the car type could easily be changeable by the client without opening the main PSU. If it pops repeatedly then you change the camera, more cost effective, sure but the amount of times it happens against the cost of the extra kit built into the PSU, im not so sure. Nothing wrong with a bit of thinking and experimentation, so long as its safe.
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