burglar alarm

[opm electrical]

ive been asked a few times lately to sort burglar alarms but ive always knocked them back as feel they are a dark art and have never taken interest in them.
could any one tell me if its worth doing a course on them or is it just a case of buying the dummies guide and having a crack as ive probably shot down a couple of hundred quids worth of work lately

 

[sparks1234]

think it depends how far you get into them, they can get quite involved and you have to consider whether you are ok for their insurance cover

 

[solo2771]

installing isn't the problem but trying to understand the set up details can be a pain.
oh yeah and when they go off next to you they are bloody loud.
paul

 

[High Tower]

Alarms both domestic and commercial are fairly easy 6 core with no real colour designation set in stone.

all sensors are wired the same way and so is the remote panel.

The designations i use

Red +12v
Black -12v
Yellow Ta (tamper)
White Ta (tamper)
Blue Switch
Green Switch

Designate zones to areas, there will be common 12v +/- terminals for all zones so all reds and blacks go back to this point.

All Ta cables bac to board and use 3a connector blocks to wire them in series to give a constant tamper fail safe

Each zone will have two terminals where the switch cables go back to.

a designated set of terminals that correspond to matching cables on bell box only switch cableswill need linking in series.

any unused zones will need to be isolated in the panel

Any problems then pm me and ill send you my number

 

[UNG]

I prefer EOL resistor panels for the zone wiring, I find it easier for identifying faults

As said previously programming can be a pain especially in domestic premises with part set options, comms can be provided using a simple speech dialler

With commercial systems they normally require communications connected to a central station for police response, that is when it gets complicated and costs escalate to meet insurance requirements

 

[garyross]

I Was recently burgled, not a nice experianced. My wife found a company who Sell Offers for various other Security Companies. They are selling a Fully Monitored Alarm System for £49.00 supplied, and installed Free. The only catch is £19.99 per month monitoring charge (I've checked this on all monitored systems they are all the same price) you can call them for free on ***************. Ive got the monitored system and it is perfect for peace of mind its worth the £20 per month to know that you house is secured and safe 24/7.

 

[mayfair]

Sounds like a sales pitch LOL

I Was recently burgled, not a nice experianced. My wife found a company who Sell Offers for various other Security Companies. They are selling a Fully Monitored Alarm System for £49.00 supplied, and installed Free. The only catch is £19.99 per month monitoring charge (I've checked this on all monitored systems they are all the same price) you can call them for free on ************. Ive got the monitored system and it is perfect for peace of mind its worth the £20 per month to know that you house is secured and safe 24/7.

 

[gpz900jim]

yeah, i tried that phone number but theres no reply.

 

[telectrix]

i wouldn't have a monitored system for free. £240 / year and if anything goes wrong, it's always customer error, £85 for the call out. for less than 2 years monitoring cost you could have your own system installed

 

[sparky3366]

or go for a speech dialler, no monitoring costs.

 

[oldtimer]

Alarms both domestic and commercial are fairly easy 6 core with no real colour designation set in stone.

all sensors are wired the same way and so is the remote panel.

The designations i use

Red +12v
Black -12v
Yellow Ta (tamper)
White Ta (tamper)
Blue Switch
Green Switch

Designate zones to areas, there will be common 12v +/- terminals for all zones so all reds and blacks go back to this point.

All Ta cables bac to board and use 3a connector blocks to wire them in series to give a constant tamper fail safe

Each zone will have two terminals where the switch cables go back to.

a designated set of terminals that correspond to matching cables on bell box only switch cableswill need linking in series.

any unused zones will need to be isolated in the panel

Any problems then pm me and ill send you my number

I have been doing alarms for 28 years on and off and let me put it this way this is the very thing you need to add to your skills and as far as I am concerned the more skills you learn the more gainfully employed you will be ie if not sparking then fixing an alarm as for your colours High Tower I prefer the folowing

4-core cable red/black/yellow/blue used to wire say a magnetic door contact
red/black tamper circuit
yellow/blue zone circuit

6-core cable red/black/yellow/blue /green/white used to wire say a pir movement sensor
red/black 12vdc power circuit
yellow/blue zone circuit
green/white tamper cicuit

So yellow and blue are always the zone circuit no matter what cable you use and always but always run tamper circuit,always change the panel battery every 5 years because this is to blame for about 90% of false alarms and when putting an alarm in always note the zone / tamper resistances and voltages plus current readings of any PIRs

Other than that once you learn the terminology then it is off you go but be warned there is a lot of sparks who cannot get their head around intruder alarms in my case I just took to it and I had Maggie Thatcher breathing down my neck at the time as all I seen on the tv was I am just a steelworker with no other skills that got me thinking where today I have 4 avenues to go down
PS forgot to mention if anyone want a copy of my check sheets for alarm drop me a mail

 

[Knownotall]

With Monitored systems I wonder if the police response time would be effective given that many house thefts are done very quickly. Having fitted many systems over the years after gaining my C&G qualification I found it increasingly difficult to quote for a domestic job based on what they needed against what they wanted to pay. I normally rcommended perimeter protection I.E. Shocksensors and window contacts but this is more labour intensive. The benefits are that the alarm should go off before the property is entered. One other thing is that the majority of insurance companies wont give you discount unless your alarm is maintained by a registered company who belongs to one of the associations and it must be on an annual service contract. I gave up fitting them after trying to get the work with a quote only to find that they went with one of the "Full alarm system including a security light for £155"

 

[sparky3366]

it gets to be fun when you are working for an NSI Gold approved firm, Redcare GSm is great fun with programming over 8 outputs to trigger the redcare. Love it!

 

[telectrix]

even if you can rely on the police response, the monitored system is useless once pikey's cut your phone line ( unless you have taken out a 2nd mortgage and got redcare)

 

[oldtimer]

Registered companies I hear you say years ago (when I was a boy) we started taking alarm signaling out of police stations and into central stations because as modern electronics were getting cheaper alarms were no longer for the rich although I would point out that yes insurance companies will insist that you take on a total maintenance contract with a registered installer to get a discount off your premium and thats fine so whats the catch well what they do not say is even if you are going next door for a cup of tea and a custard cream and you do not set your alarm then you aint covered when I told a householder this she freaked and then she called her insurance company to find that her discount was £19.80p a year yet she was paying £145 for total maintenance and as she said she had paid this for 10 years a total of £1200 and as she pointed out when she went on holiday her teenage son would not set her alarm. She asked me for a service (no jokes please)and for £75 I gave the system a full service and changed the dreaded battery (the one the alarm company will not change for free instead they charge £95 extra for this. So now
she has cancelled her alarm contract and is paying £20 extra for her policy and as she put it for peace of mind ironic is it not