home alarm systems

disneyjoe7

Well as an Alarm Technician Supervisor and an Alarm Technician once upon a time ago.... Not knowing current trends but I feel a wired system in the long term is cheaper to own. Less batteries, less failures of transmitters, less stuff in general to fail.... So in the end to a end customer its less service calls and less stuff to be replaced. Also if wired its best to make sure an EOL "End of Line" resistor is used anywhere in the loop and the panel is fine as I know houses which short switches door and windows if storm gets them.


BTW that Vista panel almost bullet proof when it comes down to lightening damage. It's has little on that panel as in lightening protection I feel it floats during a strike vs others which as offer some protection like Moose and are known to fail IMHO.

maximillian

I have a Visonic wireless system. No issues with it that I can tell. Batteries last 2-4 years depending on use. I believe it is theoretically possible to jam the wireless detector as soon as you open the door, preventing the unit from transmitting to the basestation, but I have backup sensors. As disneyjoe mentions above, a security system will not prevent someone from breaking in; it's only for a peace of mind. So have replacement insurance for your valuables.

My system has 3 smoke detectors, no CO since I have standalone units for that. I have a flood sensor, but not installed since I am a bit lazy. Also have a high and low temperature alarm. It is a simple contact thermostat tied to a window sensor. Besides landline (has worked always after all our major storms), I have Internet access tied to it. BTW, I keep the panel on silent alarm and have remote alarms only. Also a couple X10 (not reliable, but is is only secondary alarm) alarms, and a few lights that are used for alarms (flash on-off with alarm). I also have one camera, but it sucks. That is my next endeavor, but is low priority.

Forgot to mention, all of this was self installed.

Gadabout

My system is a combination of both. I have hardwired doors and windows. The house came with all the wired sensors. I recently switched to a different monitoring company and went wireless sensors. For wireless, I have glass break and a couple door sensors. I'm going to add some wireless / snapshot sensors here in a couple months. I also have one camera on this system and might add another one.

Since the wireless stuff is new I can't say anything about battery life, except they are suppose to last 4 -5 years. They do look easy to replace. This is a no phone line system and I believe it works on GSM cell phone signal for remote monitoring. No issues so far but I have only had this system in place for 6 months.

I'm probably going to add more cameras, but I'm considering not running these through the alarm system. I already have a NAS and can use that as a recording device.

Just out of curiosity, why the Vista 20P and not one of the Simon control panels since your going Honeywell?

Scott

dorokusai

I just upgraded my ADT to the Pulse setup they started offering. Every opening is covered for open and breakage, smoke/carbon on each level, cameras at front and rear door as well as carport and a couple interiors, one remote light on each level and thermostat.

It's overkill and the wife thinks I'm crazy but I love it and weirdly enough the thermostat since I can do everything while I sit in bed and watch TV. I've always hated stepping on cold floors and now all that is solved.

As an at home backup, there's always firearms here and there.....just in case the zombies are smarter than expected.

We're almost 100% wireless but have phone line backup. The battery life on the small Lithium batteries are 4-5 years but I change them every 3 years with a bulk purchases off eBay. It's my little weekend project and I can knock them all out in about 2 hours.

We did have to change the internal motion detectors since we adopted a dog that was large and the dog "proof" sensor worked fine until a dog larger than a Pug started running all over the place.

Mark

toucanet

Gadabout wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, why the Vista 20P and not one of the Simon control panels since your going Honeywell?

Hello Scott,

Thanks for the information. The Vista panel was recommended by two different alarm vendors based on the layout of my home. I am not familiar with alarm systems in terms of what is reliable versus what isn't. I will definitely inquire about the Simon control panels.

toucanet

Mark,

ADT is scheduled to visit my home tomorrow. I will inquire about the Pulse system. As for the dog "proof" sensor, I will certainly ask what they recommend since our dog is almost 80 pounds and lives inside of our home. In previous home, we had DSC Bravo 6 Dual motion detectors and never had a situation where the alarm was activated due to the dog walking into the areas covered by them. I do not know if DSC is considered high end, middle of line or low end. However, we did not have one false alarm in 10 plus years with their (hard-wired) equipment.

If you can share any make/model numbers of your equipment via PM, I would appreciate it.

Thanks for the information. It is very helpful.

toucanet

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

Well as an Alarm Technician Supervisor and an Alarm Technician once upon a time ago.... Not knowing current trends but I feel a wired system in the long term is cheaper to own. Less batteries, less failures of transmitters, less stuff in general to fail.... So in the end to a end customer its less service calls and less stuff to be replaced. Also if wired its best to make sure an EOL "End of Line" resistor is used anywhere in the loop and the panel is fine as I know houses which short switches door and windows if storm gets them.


BTW that Vista panel almost bullet proof when it comes down to lightening damage. It's has little on that panel as in lightening protection I feel it floats during a strike vs others which as offer some protection like Moose and are known to fail IMHO.

Hello Joe,

Thanks for the information. My preference is 100% hard-wired installations. However, some areas will not allow hard-wiring due to aesthetics. ADT has informed me that they can hard-wire anything while making it aesthetically acceptable. I will discuss their proposed means and methods to make sure that we have a clear understanding of what the final product will look like.

If you have any additional recommendations, please share.

While I do not have a limit on a budget for this project, I certainly do not want to procure unreliable equipment as a result of not doing research and asking questions.

I truly appreciate your input.

disneyjoe7

Well my problem is that wireless system is really easy to install, so people get lazy... If a window or a door which isn't used daily then I cool to use a wireless sensor since the transmission signal isn't sending an open / closed signal every time so battery isn't used to much. Doors which is used daily or hourly like my patio door for my cats the wireless sensor battery would die every 6 months for sure. The worst wireless sensor are motions, fire smoke detector, and front doors, garage doors, and patio doors.

As far as any wired system, nothing is perfect but paint goes a long way. Sample is a motion detector (dual sensor PIR and a Microwave) for my cats, I needed to lower it since is was falsing alarm every time a car was going in the garage. The ceiling is at 10' and the sensor likes to be at 8' so I moved it down, I did it by making hole down the wall from the ceiling to put the wire down. I then put Spackle to cover it, but that when paint comes in since wall wasn't white in color. It's easy to install a motion at the ceiling if you have an attic above it or a basement under it, if not then you do what can be done. In the end work with them and find a company which like wired systems and have installer which like to wire it.

Gadabout

toucanet wrote: »

Hello Scott,

Thanks for the information. The Vista panel was recommended by two different alarm vendors based on the layout of my home. I am not familiar with alarm systems in terms of what is reliable versus what isn't. I will definitely inquire about the Simon control panels.

The only reason I asked about the Simon control panels is that they offer some Z-wave technologies that you might find as interesting / useful additions. They aren't real cheap, but since you can DIY, it can be added to in the future if desired.

I guess it would mainly depend on if you having your house monitored first and the company you choose to do the monitoring. The system would have to match what they can do first. If you don't care about monitoring (if & who) then anything is possible.

For DIY information about the Simon XT / Simon Xti panel take a look here:
http://www.safemart.com/category-Wireless-Home-Security-3696.htm

For the accessories:
http://www.safemart.com/category-GE-Security-Wireless-3703.htm

(my bad I was thinking that Simon was also Honeywell, it's not it's GE)

In my house I have a 2 gig panel, which is what my monitoring / installation company preferred.
http://www.2gig.com/

As far as monitoring goes, I do have a local company I can call on for service needs but they use Alarm.com for the monitoring. They have some nice features for alerts such as:
- sensor being opened when it shouldn't be (liquor cabinet when kids are home)
- who disarms the system and when (are the kids home from school on time)
- a sensor being left open too long - (drive off with the garage door open)
- notification that you didn't alarm the system based on your GPS phone location
- reminder to alarm your system based on time

Once you throw in the Z-wave items, it could make life easier
- remote door lock / unlock
- remote lights on/off/dim
- remote thermostat control
- remote appliance control

The features, and alerts are why I decided to go with a Z-wave style panel, instead of something else. I wish I could give you more information about longevity, and if they are problem free. I just haven't had the system installed long enough to give you that info. I guess I will know more next year, if I choose the right thing.

I can say that is is very easy to use, I find the alerts (push, sms (text) and email) and notifications useful and they have worked every time I have tested them. (You can choose what type of alerts you want to receive, from what sensor, and what type all from a web interface to your cell phone or tablet)

Hope that helps a bit,
Scott

Drenis

That Vista system is solid. I just installed a system in a new meat store not to long ago and works great with the cooler monitoring and wireless that was used in one location.

disneyjoe7

Vista panels have been solid for 15 years + now and have a great track record.

Syndil

Anyone have any opinions about Elk Products stuff? Been toying with the idea of adding an alarm to the house and find myself gravitating towards them.

disneyjoe7

For the recored my prefered panels are DSC 1832 or 1864. Elk may been part of Moose at one time? Not sure rings a bell but.... many years. Moose made very nice stuff, also most too nice IMHO since a surge would seek them out to blow it up. Not that they didn't try to prevent it, it just didn't provide enough to take it. Did you like the Elk system since it looks like a keypad / panel in one design? If so they are more trouble then they are worth IMHO.

txcoastal1

Moose was absorbed by Sentrol Products which was absorbed by GE Security and Moose was made obsolete. The Honeywell/Ademco Vista systems is the easiest system for online information and more companies support that line than any other line on the market.
I own a Security and Network integration company and highly recommend Vista especially for a DIY system

Syndil

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

Did you like the Elk system since it looks like a keypad / panel in one design? If so they are more trouble then they are worth IMHO.

No, I was looking at the Elk M1 Gold brain, along with the keypads that flush-mount into the wall. I think it was the flush-mount keypads along with the ability of the brain to host its own monitoring website that attracted me to Elk. I don't want a keypad that mounts on top of the wall. Flush-mount is a must. So is the web monitoring.

disneyjoe7

Not cheap and I know nothing about it.