Modern Burglar Alarms

[bad company]

We had a couple of false alarms while we were on holiday. The engineers are saying that our current system is archaic and to be fair we had it fitted well over 20 years ago.

The engineers have recommended this. -

https://www.visonic.com/alarm-install?setRegion=tr...

Has anybody here experience of visonic or recommend any other systems?

[bad company]

Belle427 said:

Visonic are very good but are a little complicated to set up etc.
Ive only installed one wireless system and i would not pick one again.
Texecom are another good system a little easier to live with.
Really depends how complex you intend to go.
Ive heard good reports about the basic yale systems available, good value too.

Why wouldn’t you pick a wireless system again?

I’m wondering if it’s a case that the older wireless systems weren’t good.

[bad company]

Belle427 said:

bad company said:

Belle427 said:

Visonic are very good but are a little complicated to set up etc.
Ive only installed one wireless system and i would not pick one again.
Texecom are another good system a little easier to live with.
Really depends how complex you intend to go.
Ive heard good reports about the basic yale systems available, good value too.

Why wouldn’t you pick a wireless system again?

I’m wondering if it’s a case that the older wireless systems weren’t good.

I’m fine with wireless, I just wouldn’t choose a visonic again.
Battery changes are the only thing to be aware of in the bell boxes and sensors etc as in my experience they last around 2 years, which can be more expense if you need an engineer to visit.

Presumably I’d still need an annual service call by the alarm company and they’d change the batteries then?

[bad company]

The quote for the setup just arrived as below. The costs are as expected but I can’t get my head around having to almost double the annual maintenance charge. I reckon that’s to cover the cost of replacing the batteries:-

The system that I propose is the new powermaster 360 control panel under the stairs, this will be connected to the internet via wifi for app control and notifications.
Wireless active bell and matching dummy
Wireless contacts on the front and back doors
Wireless motion detectors in the hall, dining, kitchen, drawing, study and landing
2 x remote set / unset fobs

£890.00 + vat

you can have camera pirs instead of the standard ones, these send still images if they detect movement during a burglary event, add £80 + vat each to the cost for any that you swap from the list above.

All the devices run on batteries which are included in our maintenance package as follows.

Annual maintenance will be £144 including vat at the beginning of the period or 12 x £12 by direct debit, this will include the annual site visit, all system batteries as and when required and access to us 24/7.

[bad company]

Belle427 said:

Id find out exactly what your getting as they are usially fit and forget except for battery changes.

I’ve been using these guys for over 10 years. They service the current setup annually and come out if there’s a problem. Not worried about them ‘fitting and forgetting’.

[bad company]

OldGermanHeaps said:

I sacked off visonic gear due to high early life failure rates and wireless jamming issues, went pyronix and never looked back.
For a similar job to what you have I would charge similarly but I would install a CSL dualcom digiair connected and a worldsim, and included in the price is professional monitoring as well as the app, meaning if your landline gets cut or you have a powercut switching off your router the alarm will still signal, and the connection is polled so if something goes wrong it gets flagged up rather than just failing to perform when needed. Also the pro monitoring means if your phone has no data or is switched off the monitoring centre will be calling round your keyholders.
I'm not touting for business btw, fully booked until febuary.
I am touting for trainee engineers though....

Edited by OldGermanHeaps on Wednesday 14th November 17:59

That’s really helpful advice, thank you very much. It bothers me that if I have a power cut or the WiFi goes down my alarm won’t work hence your advice about the dualcom with world sim.

Shame you’re not local or available.

[bad company]

Well for various reasons I didn’t update my ancient alarm system but this thread made me think now is the time to reconsider:-

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Is there any update on the advice above? What I’d really like is a system with an alarm integrated with cctv if there’s such a product.

[bad company]

megaphone said:

OP is your current system wired? If so why go wireless?

Yes it’s wired. I just want to get the very best I can which I thought was wireless?

[bad company]

megaphone said:

I'd just replace the PIRs and main box etc with a more modern wired system, saves messing around with batteries etc. Wireless is a compromise, fine if you have no wiring in place, cheap and easy to install, that's why the alarm co's like it.

What's wrong with your current system? Have you had any more false alarms?

No more false alarms but the guys who service it keep saying that it’s ancient and needs replacing. Obviously there’s an element of ‘they would say that’ but the system is old. The wiring was in when I bought the house 23 years ago. Since then I’ve replaced the keypad about 15 years ago and the sensors, that’s about it.

I like the idea of being able to monitor it all via an app as I do with my Hive heating and lights. I’m writing this from New Zealand and can control Hive from here.

[bad company]

OldGermanHeaps said:

I would stay wired if you can IMO. the reason I say that is the absolute best pirs on the market are bosch blueline, and they only do them in wired in the uk.

Thank you. Would I still be able to monitor such a system on WiFi?