Wireless Alarms

[Ganglandboss]

Can anybody recommend a wireless alarm system? I'm fitting one for my uncle in his new flat. I'm not usually a fan of wireless alarms but the problems I have are: the walls/floors/ceilings are concrete and chasing cables will be difficult; it is rented so I want something that can be stripped out easily if they leave; it will be difficult to get a cable to the bell box.

I am looking for:

• Keypad
• 3No. door contact
• 2No. PIR
• 1No. bell box

There are plenty of kits on the market if I Google 'wireless alarms' but I'm not sure which ones are decent quality.

Cheers!

[Murph7355]

I have a Yale one. Works well (though the "pet friendly" PIRs aren't).

[Paulbav]

Murph7355 said:

I have a Yale one. Works well (though the "pet friendly" PIRs aren't).

Get either the scantronic ion16 or a galaxy g2-20 with a wireless portal, I would strongly advise against an of the shelf DIY alarm, just google those names for a far better system. If it were me I would go for the ion16 as very easy to program and use plus the dignsl strength is very good.

Paul

[anonymous-user]

Funny this comes up lots on various forums, at out old house we had a Yale(which I fitted), not one false alarm. In the new house we have a wired alarm, been here a year and three false alarms at night! 3 other houses seem to have false alarms too. Check out DIY forums and loads of people have no problems with a Yale, just remember, if someone REALLY wants to break in & nick something an alarm will make sod all difference.

[Smiler.]

I've previously fitted a number of Response kits. Cheap enough & easy to fit, set up & control panel was simple.

The office has a Scantronic (I think). Far more complex to set up, but does have an auto-dialler, which for me is a must.

[Dr_Gonzo]

I had the Yale wireless system. Never had a false alarm until the two days I decided to spend at my mums over christmas. As I wasn't there the alaram just kept going off. The neighbours phoned the council who then came round, broke-in, de-activated the alarm, and charged me over £300 for the privilage. Not the best christmas present I've ever had.

[anonymous-user]

The Yale I had came with an autodialer that could dial 3 numbers, you could also disable the alarm via phone when it had called you.

[thegman]

Can you get an alarm which will send you a txt message when activated

Edited by thegman on Tuesday 3rd August 10:20

[spdpug98]

We have been thinking about installing a wireless alarm for a while now, but we have a cat that tends to wander round of a night and I guess would continually activate the alarm.

Is there a way of preventing this (special PIR's) or would we just have to keep her in the kitchen and have that 'zone' deactivated

[anonymous-user]

IIRC the later Yales have pet friendly PIR's.

[Ganglandboss]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm not really keen on the idea of the Yale systems. I have had a look at the Scantronic and the Galaxy G2-20 suggested by Paulbav; they seem good but a little pricey.

They have decided to go down the route of a wired alarm and live with a little bit of wiring showing. I'll have to deal with the difficulty of getting the cable through the wall.

[Paulbav]

Murph7355 said:

I have a Yale one. Works well (though the "pet friendly" PIRs aren't).

Get either the scantronic ion16 or a galaxy g2-20 with a wireless portal, I would strongly advise against an of the shelf DIY alarm, just google those names for a far better system. If it were me I would go for the ion16 as very easy to program and use plus the dignsl strength is very good.

Paul

[Kevp]

I think the Scantronic Ion has a hard wired keypad.

The only wireless systems we install now are the Agility. Although we havent tried many others in recent years to be fair. I have a few systems fitted around Europe now. We set them up, fit a sim card in, & customer can install.

Enables remote access for us (diagnostics), & customer can set/unset & listen in from home.

I would start of by checking the system you want to install is to "grade 2" (could be put on Police response). Anything less will not even be considered by the insurance co. so making it worthless in my opinion.

[Vron]

How do the pet friendly ones work - eg if the cat jumps on the table will it set the alarm off as its not on floor level?

[Chrisgr31]

I had a Yale wireless system in my old house. Worked well no false alarms. Mind you no attempted breakins either so dont know if it would have gone off when required!

[Murph7355]

Dave_ST220 said:

...if someone REALLY wants to break in & nick something an alarm will make sod all difference.

The alarm's really just there to scare the st out of the chancer that might break in looking for quick cash in terms of true effectiveness against stealing all your gear.

Dave_ST220 said:

The Yale I had came with an autodialer that could dial 3 numbers, you could also disable the alarm via phone when it had called you.

Mine too. You can also listen in and have a 2 way conversation (panel has a mic and speaker).

Dave_ST220 said:

IIRC the later Yales have pet friendly PIR's.

Not IME (and the ones with mine are meant to be). Mine's 4yrs old, so things may have moved on, but I'm not convinced there is such a thing that works totally reliably.

I have cctv in my house, so if the alarm goes off I can check the cctv online to see if anything is really going down.

thegman said:

Can you get an alarm which will send you a txt message when activated

I'm pretty sure some brands will do this. Though as mentioned above, certain of the Yale ones can call you.

The cctv setup I have also emails out when it spots something...it could feasibly text message too.

[Westy Pre-Lit]

Kevp said:

I would start of by checking the system you want to install is to "grade 2" (could be put on Police response). Anything less will not even be considered by the insurance co. so making it worthless in my opinion.

For an alarm to be considered for insurance approval or police response, it will need to be fitted and/or at least certificated by an approved NSI or SSAIB company.

Nearly all insurance companies require the security system to be maintained at scheduled yearly/6 monthly intervals with paper work proof of maintenance work carried out. It's only normally when/if a claim is made will the paper work be required and as we all know insurance companies will try anything to get out of paying a claim or at least it's full worth.

Awaits people saying their insurance company has accepted their Yale alarm.

Just my opinion, but if your going to go down the route of wired system at a reasonable cost and not to hard to set up and install for DIY, then take a look at The Texecom Veritas range. Not too complicated and very reliable. Have fitted loads of these with few problems. It won't comunicate or anything like that unless it has a dialler attached to it though.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TEXECOM-VERITAS-R8-BURGLAR-A...

Please bare in mind though, for some reason unknown to any normal thinking human being, that when programming some alarm systems, the manuals may as well be written in Gobble D Gook for what their worth. Even when you know what you doing it's sometimes hard to understand what the hell the manual is trying to say. It's not uncommon to throw the bloody things in the bin and work it out for your self.

Edited by Westy Pre-Lit on Wednesday 4th August 06:39

[carreauchompeur]

thegman said:

Can you get an alarm which will send you a txt message when activated

Edited by thegman on Tuesday 3rd August 10:20

"Yr hse is scrwd!"

[Driller]

Ganglandboss said:

Thanks for the replies.

I'm not really keen on the idea of the Yale systems. I have had a look at the Scantronic and the Galaxy G2-20 suggested by Paulbav; they seem good but a little pricey.

They have decided to go down the route of a wired alarm and live with a little bit of wiring showing. I'll have to deal with the difficulty of getting the cable through the wall.

I've just installed a G2 at a friend's business. Very reliable and has a built in communicator. However if you want a GSM communicator you'll need the G2 44.