Home Alarm system

[Long Wheel Base]

What's the general opinion on a LED somewhere on the outside of the house to see if the alarm is armed?

So when the installer was at my place a few days ago adjusting the one beam, I said that when arming the system from the road we can hardly hear the siren(it sits in my roof) so not sure if it is armed or not. He said they can fit an LED that lights up when armed. Now the criminals in our country aren't stupid and if they looking around and notice a light they they know when the alarm is on/off. I am not sold on the option, any other ideas?

[V12man]

What's the general opinion on a LED somewhere on the outside of the house to see if the alarm is armed?

So when the installer was at my place a few days ago adjusting the one beam, I said that when arming the system from the road we can hardly hear the siren(it sits in my roof) so not sure if it is armed or not. He said they can fit an LED that lights up when armed. Now the criminals in our country aren't stupid and if they looking around and notice a light they they know when the alarm is on/off. I am not sold on the option, any other ideas?

I am against them in general - but if you need one to see if it's armed or disarmed - then put it on a short timer relay (which you can do via the PGM outputs if you like) - so it only stays on for the length of the exit/entry delay - but if your zones are programmed right, you can set the alarm inside, and then it only arms when you violate a delay or exit zone on your way out.

 

You could also program the siren to be a bit more verbose on entry and exit (or put an additional one closer to your exit point.

[kosmonooit]

Latest craze in Jozi is having your outdoor perimeter PIR's  stolen, and decent ones like Takex don't come cheap .. R1.5 - R2k  So you have to cage them.

[Long Wheel Base]

Latest craze in Jozi is having your outdoor perimeter PIR's  stolen, and decent ones like Takex don't come cheap .. R1.5 - R2k  So you have to cage them.

Damn that is not good. I just paid R1453 each for 90deg takex. But tbh if they get that close to my house and only take the pir then I will be glad.

[Long Wheel Base]

I am against them in general - but if you need one to see if it's armed or disarmed - then put it on a short timer relay (which you can do via the PGM outputs if you like) - so it only stays on for the length of the exit/entry delay - but if your zones are programmed right, you can set the alarm inside, and then it only arms when you violate a delay or exit zone on your way out.

 

You could also program the siren to be a bit more verbose on entry and exit (or put an additional one closer to your exit point.

So I was looking at the info you posted a few posts ago and I also downloaded a manual so I will give this a go. I am not keen on a bright LED letting everyone that walk/drives passed my house know that the alarm is on/off. Thanks.

[Escapee..]

So I was looking at the info you posted a few posts ago and I also downloaded a manual so I will give this a go. I am not keen on a bright LED letting everyone that walk/drives passed my house know that the alarm is on/off. Thanks.

 

We are also going through this process now.

 

We have a flat on the premises so we are looking at having three options

 

1)House armed

2)Flat armed

3)Beams on

 

Looks like we will have to get the lights to see what has been activated and what not.

 

Planning to put it somewhere out of sight so that we know where to check but not that its obvious for anyone cruising passed.

[Rocket-Boy]

I have an LED on my system but its positioned so that you cant see it from the street. You can see it just as you leave the garage though to make sure the system is armed.

When I was building I had to take the LED down and set the alarm off a few times coming home because I had pressed the remote but it didnt disarm and I couldnt see that.

[V12man]

We are also going through this process now.

 

We have a flat on the premises so we are looking at having three options

 

1)House armed

2)Flat armed

3)Beams on

 

Looks like we will have to get the lights to see what has been activated and what not.

 

Planning to put it somewhere out of sight so that we know where to check but not that its obvious for anyone cruising passed.

Buy yourself something like a DSC Neo or one of the Paradox panels - and you can use an app on your phone to check - and arm/disarm etc....

 

edit - That APP is in addition to the normal keyfobs and keypads you might install - pretty cool when you are away on holiday and want to check - I don't have one personally - but my gf does (and she has about 70 zones on her alarm, so it's useful trying to find open windows etc...before arming....)

 

Most decent modern alarms are multi partition capable - so you can effectively treat your flat as a completely separate alarm to your house - there are also features that allow you to have devices in multiple partitions - so you could for instance have beams that only are armed when both the house and the flat are armed - for a common access walkway if you have such - I don't use these features so I am not 100% on what you can and cannot do with multi partition zones - but considered it for some outside beams for my domestic quarters a while ago - perhaps I need to revisit that now.

[kosmonooit]

Hard to know who to trust with maintenance and installation. A while back my system got hit my lightning, insurance paid and I contacted Chubb to install a new one, who were also my service provider at the time.

 

I bought the latest Texecomm  panel, and worked with the guy who came around, since I didn't want to get into the nuts & bolts of the messy programming that system uses. I also told him I was going away in a weeks time for a few weeks hence i wanted to get it done. My mistake.

 

Whilst away, the only room that did not have a PIR (a second bathroom which I was storing tools and electrical cable stock) was broken into via the roof (which did not have a PIR) and was cleaned out. Even an idiot could have figured who did that. Anyways I contacted the manager at Chubb to tell them what happened and who I suspected, and was told I had to pay for a lie detector test on the suspect. FFS, Cancelled Chubb, with ADT now.

 

Lessons learnt: One generally can't trust anyone here. Fit a PIR in your roof and have all rooms covered. Chubb, after 20 years of being a customer, will treat you like shite.

[kosmonooit]

Oh, and I got a Ethernet i/f for this system and do all my own maintenance and config now via software on a PC.

[Capricorn]

Hard to know who to trust with maintenance and installation. A while back my system got hit my lightning, insurance paid and I contacted Chubb to install a new one, who were also my service provider at the time.

 

I bought the latest Texecomm  panel, and worked with the guy who came around, since I didn't want to get into the nuts & bolts of the messy programming that system uses. I also told him I was going away in a weeks time for a few weeks hence i wanted to get it done. My mistake.

 

Whilst away, the only room that did not have a PIR (a second bathroom which I was storing tools and electrical cable stock) was broken into via the roof (which did not have a PIR) and was cleaned out. Even an idiot could have figured who did that. Anyways I contacted the manager at Chubb to tell them what happened and who I suspected, and was told I had to pay for a lie detector test on the suspect. FFS, Cancelled Chubb, with ADT now.

 

Lessons learnt: One generally can't trust anyone here. Fit a PIR in your roof and have all rooms covered. Chubb, after 20 years of being a customer, will treat you like shite.

 

any chance you willing to make a deal with wrt that lie detector: if he fails, they pay for the test and fitment of the PIR, and if it fails, you do? But in general, aren't lie detector tests unreliable?

[V12man]

Hard to know who to trust with maintenance and installation. A while back my system got hit my lightning, insurance paid and I contacted Chubb to install a new one, who were also my service provider at the time.

 

I bought the latest Texecomm  panel, and worked with the guy who came around, since I didn't want to get into the nuts & bolts of the messy programming that system uses. I also told him I was going away in a weeks time for a few weeks hence i wanted to get it done. My mistake.

 

Whilst away, the only room that did not have a PIR (a second bathroom which I was storing tools and electrical cable stock) was broken into via the roof (which did not have a PIR) and was cleaned out. Even an idiot could have figured who did that. Anyways I contacted the manager at Chubb to tell them what happened and who I suspected, and was told I had to pay for a lie detector test on the suspect. FFS, Cancelled Chubb, with ADT now.

 

Lessons learnt: One generally can't trust anyone here. Fit a PIR in your roof and have all rooms covered. Chubb, after 20 years of being a customer, will treat you like shite.

I lock off my upstairs when they visit - always tell them there is a pittie locked away while they are here - My electric fence guy visibly sweats when he gets here until I assure him it's locked behind 2 doors. ADT also have a note that there is an aggressive dog on premises....

 

Works for me...

[PhilipV]

I lock off my upstairs when they visit - always tell them there is a pittie locked away while they are here - My electric fence guy visibly sweats when he gets here until I assure him it's locked behind 2 doors. ADT also have a note that there is an aggressive dog on premises....

 

Works for me...

I don't even hide my large aggressive dog.

He runs up to the gate when they knock, tries to eat whoever is on the other side, I make a show and a dance of putting him away, and then I put him outside or in the garage while they work.

 

I'll need to make a plan with my alarm system soon.

Reading through this thread has me thinking I can do the revamp myself if I do it methodically and slowly with enough RTFMing. Thanks.

[Mojoman]

I contacted 2 local companies to get a quote for an alarm after several attempted B&E's.
Only one bothered showing up....
Neither one ever provided a quote...not really shocking for where I live but anyway....

Wound up buying 8 camera CCTV system and a GSM alarm system with 5 wireless passives.
Took a bit of mucking about and a couple of days up and down a ladder fitting cameras and cables but now it works great. Cameras notify me on movement , I have a great video of an idiot trying to cut his way through my razor wire with the worlds crappest pair of pliers...he then sees the camera and acts all casual and saunters off as though he was just doing me a favour and testing the strength of the wire...! Thanks mate...!

I can check everything on my phone  from wherever, activate/deactivate the alarm or siren from my phone vias SMS and USSD codes and although I am not linked to a armed response (pretty useless here...) I think its a bit of a deterrent. Alarm also sends me an SMS and phones me to let me know we have visitors....! 9 times out of 10 I am at work 5 minutes away from my house so I would beat the armed response there anyway....to be honest all my stuff is insured so all I am bothered about are my dogs (any my bikes!)

I also got some old electronic boxes from a friend and his early days of radio controlled cars, these have a visible aerial...I gutted the electronics out of them...added in some self flashing LEDS and a battery and put them around my garden....they don't do anything but they do look like the do something!

Its great the lengths you have to go to in order to keep the local thieving idiots in check...
 

[DJR]

Hard to know who to trust with maintenance and installation. ................

A hard nosed lawyer friend once had some building alterations done, and "everybody" in the neigbourhood always complained about how they "all" had burglaries afterwards. So, he simply told the builder to have his whole crew there on day 1, every single one of them. With each ones' ID document. The builder moaned and groaned, but realizing that my friend was prepared to cancel the whole job, he did as requested. On said day, he made a line-up, took a photograph of each worker as well of his ID, and that included the boss builder himself. He gave instructions that if anyone else sets foot on his property during the whole process, the would simply cancel everything right there and then and not pay a single further cent. The builder cried and growled, but again did as he was told. He never had a single issue with theft during or after. Perhaps it would have been like that anyway? My friend the lawyer laughs and says he doesn't care, he would do it again, exactly the same way, perhaps just take a fingerprint and a DNA swab next time too!

[V12man]

I don't even hide my large aggressive dog.

He runs up to the gate when they knock, tries to eat whoever is on the other side, I make a show and a dance of putting him away, and then I put him outside or in the garage while they work.

 

I'll need to make a plan with my alarm system soon.

Reading through this thread has me thinking I can do the revamp myself if I do it methodically and slowly with enough RTFMing. Thanks.

I don't have a dog....