Wirefree Alarm

[Guest wm1976]

I see a lot of alarms do not have external sounders. Why? Surely you want the neighbours to know when someone's in your house, although I know this can be annoying if you have too many false alarms.

Can most systems be fitted with an external sounders?

As my house is North facing and shaed by trees, should I wright off a wireless only option now or do some wireless systems have the options for mains/12v power?

In my case, I just want a little extra security. I am not a business or in a "high-risk" area (I hope).

[Guest 1sttimebuyer]

Thanks everyone for your help.

I am getting the alarm as the house will be empty during the day and sometimes in the evening.

I am not scared of learning a little on the setting up as its something I will enjoy. I am into IT so technical stuff does not scare me...but just wanted some help from people on here as I have never done anything with alarms before so as long as there is some literature with the alarm system, I don't mind leraning. I also have access couple of people one who is an electronic engineer and another who installs alarms as a part time kind of thing so if I get stuck, I can get help.

So if someone knows of a good alarm like ESP etc, then I would prefer to get one which is decent...with a phone dialer. Also there is a compnay here who do wired systems for £300 but its basic with few PIRs and some door contacts but it has no dialer.

Once again thanks to everyone for the help.

[Zak]

Look at Powermax plus - it was brought out for DIY - visonic say so -

I buy my kit from the internet  - there are a few sites offering the kit -

it is reliable and does what it says on the box.

66431[/snapback]

Powermax Plus is most definitely not a DIY system and was never intended as such. Visonic are doing ,so they say, a great deal to restrict the sale to professional experienced installers, and the main UK resellers of the systems will have to comply or face losing their supplier.

[Zak]

1st time buyer, with any system that has not been installed before a certain amount of confusion will ensure. Registered installers have the benefit of calling the manufacturer's tech support for minor and major queries. These manufacturers, unless by mistake, will never support DIY-ers - hence Visonic restricting the sale of their professional range that is misleadingly being sold as DIY.

So, unless you can buy a kit that you can get tech support with, I would really consider getting a professional quote. If you are insistent on doing it yourself you will have to surf the net, or go to an electrical trade counter and see what is available, or ask your part time alarm installer. It also depends on how much time you have to put in to researching and then installing, and have the mettle (?) to see it through and not bin it if things go awry!

Hopefully some others will post but most engineers do not agree with DIY-ers trying to fit professional kit.....it usually ends in tears.

[Mavrick_001]

ESP Infinate panel for your wire free system.... very good, not exactally cheap but very good quality kit and at a reasonable price.

You don't have to have an approved company unless your insurance requires it, approval doesn't mean that the installation standards of that particular company are better than a non-approved company, there are many approved companies out there who's work is absolutly shocking (rogues gal examples this) so it's up to you who you want to do the job. The ESP panel is reasonably simple to fit and with some common sense you won't go far wrong, well worth the money and not a single problem with one yet.

[secboy]

First of all, (excuse me SECBOY  , but you need to choose either an NSI or SSAIB registered company 

Regarding hybrid, you will need to go to a professional installer. There are several very decent hybrid systems if you have to have part wired and part wireless. GardTec is one. But these are not DIY panels and are not available to the public. Bosch also has one. We use both. I am sure other members will let you know what they use.

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Your right Zak its just that sometimes I cant remember SSAIB I remember the letters but not necessarily in the right order so its better to not try!!!!

Castle-care do a class 6 wireless which interfaces with there range of hardwired!

[Guest]

There are some good reasons for and against wireless. I am one of the anti wireless party.

Personally I dont trust it and I have had some bad experiences. However, there are alot of chaps on here that I respect that do use wireless and wont admit to any problems.

Either way the kit they use is only available to trade and the DIY wireless stuff is worse than no alarm at all (boy who crys wolf).

So I suppose what im trying to say is get a quote preferably from someone reccomended by a freind or nieghboor, or one of the approved bodies as stated above. You may even be pleasantly suprised.

Pete

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Peter, this is already second 's on me you received this week.. Slow down or i'll be broke by next century..

:

[Chris Teague]

Personally I dont trust it and I have had some bad experiences. However, there are alot of chaps on here that I respect that do use wireless and wont admit to any problems.

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1st time buyer

I've said this in other threads, I would prefer to hard wire every time, but we do occasionally come accross a client who insists on a wire free option, especially if their house is finished (decorations, carpets etc).

If I don't do it, one of my competitors will & I'd rather have the money for doing it & a monitored contract rather than them, so I'll do it if they cannot be talked into a hard wired system.

We list as many pro's & con's as we can in our specifications for a client considering wire free, with a disclaimer in respect of the risk of the system failing to perform / being circumvented and upon signing, they sign that they fully understand this.

I'll only ever install wire free for a low risk domestic installation, not a commercial & I do share Pete's concerns, although have never had one fail to perform to date. Such a scenario could be the end of a company & it's reputation.

The only two such wire free systems we have used are the Gardtec Hybrid range & the Honeywell Domonial. Our clients are very happy with them, but neither are available to the DIY'er.

The problems we have had to date (not many thankfully)are no different than we would have had with a hard wired system. I estimate we've done aprox 10 Gardtec Hybrids & 2 Domonials in the last 12 to 18 months and are happy to continue, prefering the Gardtec range.

Regards Chris

[Guest 1sttimebuyer]

I see where you guys are coming from. The professional wirefree stuff is only available to pros and the DIY stuff is not so good...well ESP stuff seems to get thumbs up.

I am limited in choice or I get a hard wired stuff...albeit with some wires showing!!

[creative]

Powermax Plus is most definitely not a DIY system and was never intended as such. Visonic are doing ,so they say, a great deal to restrict the sale to professional experienced installers, and the main UK resellers of the systems will have to comply or face losing their supplier.

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Sites on the net supply to the public and these sites say its ideal for diy

installations, they even offer to programme the kit for you - visonic do not say it's for profesional use only - infact they say it is easy to install in a matter of an hour or so - they did orignally say on thier main web site that Powermax + was ideal for the diy market - they may have changed their minds

but surely they can not dictate who buys the kit and into which market they then resell