Guest mikechids Posted December 8, 2003 Posted December 8, 2003 Hi all!, I`ve been reading alot of posts lately about alarm systems with flat/worn out batteries... Which got me thinking.....Why don`t alarm panels have battery test electronics built in? The alarm panel could do a test periodicaly and signal user somehow if the battery failed.... Are the electronics too expensive to make this possible???? Obviously an alarm should be serviced anyway and this would be picked up as part of this....but using the above method you would get called out and then you can educate people they need their alarm checked regulary.... Or am I just being plain stupid? ) Michael
Service Engineer Posted December 8, 2003 Posted December 8, 2003 Some panels do routinely check the condition of batteries. Some Scantronic do and also the Galaxy, and im sure their must be others as well. ........................................................ Dave Partridge (Romec Service Engineer)
Guest oldtimer Posted December 8, 2003 Posted December 8, 2003 Well you could purchase an ACT battery tester. If the system is installed correctly then the alarm engineer has writen the date on the battery if not. The only detective work you can do is ask the houseolder how old the system is. If they do not know then it is down to experiance. :mellow:
Guest Peter James Posted December 8, 2003 Posted December 8, 2003 Batterys are just one of the checks carried out on a routine maintenance, and although the electronics can and have been added to some control panels it is no substitute to regular annual or bi annual checks. Pete
morph Posted December 9, 2003 Posted December 9, 2003 You also have to remember that the vast majority of people that do have battery problems here have budget panels, that dont have a battery test feature built in because the cost of the electronics would price the panel out of the budget market. Most of them also dont have there systems maintained either, so its a last resort when the the problems start occuring to trawl the net for help. Theres no substitute for having a system proffessionally maintained, especially when you consider that for a bells only system it would only cost on average about £45. Colin.
Guest dale Posted December 9, 2003 Posted December 9, 2003 I agree with Colin, almost all the advanced alarm systems on the market (especially the commercial/industrial systems) have self diagnostics and alert the customer if any fault occurs. For instance the Texecom Premier range can be set to run a self diagnostic at a certain time every day, this checks the battery levels, communications etc... if a fault is found it tells the customer and reports the fault to the monitoring station (if connected). So this technology does exist you just have to pay a premium for it - like most things in life! D
Guest Peter James Posted December 10, 2003 Posted December 10, 2003 Nobody likes spending money, i dont like paying communtity charge, or for the servicing of my boiler, or my phone bill.(I could go on) I understand why people dont see the point in a maintenance contract its just another bill to them. But what they dont understand is its our bread and butter without it I couldnt employ or train or pay for vehicles and nor could any other company. And without all of that there would be no alarm engineers. And without the alarm engineer everyone would be burgaled.( exept those with big dogs) So £45.00 a year (less than a £1 a week) sounds very cheap to me especially when you know there is always someone on the end of a phone 24/7 for when it does go wrong. Pete
Guest Peter James Posted December 10, 2003 Posted December 10, 2003 P.S. Big dogs cost more than a £1 a week to feed
Guest swampdog Posted January 4, 2004 Posted January 4, 2004 P.S. Big dogs cost more than a £1 a week to feed And the alarm system wont poop on the carpet!
Guest oldtimer Posted January 4, 2004 Posted January 4, 2004 I read the previous post with some interest and yes we alarm engineers seem to have a hang up about batteries As for the original post. The best way for an alarm engineer to change the battery is if they have installed the system or the original installer has wriitten the date on the battery. As for built in testers ? sounds nice but it cost,s If you take your car to budget they get a proffessional battery load tester if you get an alarm engineer then he will most probably have an ACT tester. When you visit a system that has been fitted by a n other the majority of the time the battery is out of date. That not the problem O no the main hurdle is trying to convince the customer to change it. I can give you an example of this. I fitted 2 identical alarm systems 15 years ago customer 1 got his serviced every year and the battery changed every 5 years. Customer 2 ignored the service letters and called me in after 12 years reporting that his alarm was activated after a power cut at 2.00am. I checked it out and told him his battery was u/s and the charging side of the panel was also u/s he asked how much to repair both items and when I told him he said I was trying to rip him off. He told me to leave and said he would not pay for the visit as I was there to give him a quote. 2 years later customer 1 said that customer 2 was going to get a hold of me to check his system out as he could not get a hold of the "guy" who repaired hid system. Any thoughts on what I said ? All comments welcome
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