house burglar alarm remotes

[ricky101]

Hi,

Forgive the simplistic question, but with alarms that have remote controls, when you operate them from outside the house, how do you know if the alarm system has been activated ?
Is there a flashing led on the siren box ?

Just that some remote key systems come with everything but a siren box so wondered how you could tell it was activated ?

We do have an existing wired alarm system and siren box so did not want to buy another siren box if not needed

thanks

 

[sparkymarka]

Some eg. Pyronix enforcer and texecom have a led on the fob that's changes colour to tell you the state of the system.

 

[Jackrae]

One of test to prove system :

Set alarm via remote then re-enter property without disarming alarm.
You'll soon find out if it was correctly set.

Repeat test at monthly/quarterly/yearly intervals to confirm.

 

[sparkymarka]

Great tip ! and what if it's not armed inbetween ? That's the risk with low quality cheap radio systems !

 

[socdesign]

As per Mark - fob setting is best done with a two way fob which includes a set status indicator.

Other alternatives are self monitoring panels with SMS open/close reporting. You then receive an SMS with details of who set and when.

 

[bernardgreen]

As per Mark - fob setting is best done with a two way fob which includes a set status indicator.

Any system that uses only one way wireless comms has a risk of losing commands and alerts. Some form of confirmation of reception is not a "luxury" preference, it is essential as the OP has discovered.

 

[Jackrae]

Like most things in life - pay cheap = get cheap

If you want a system you can rely on then there's only one way and that's to do your research then pay for whatever meets your needs.

 

[bernardgreen]

there's only one way and that's to do your research then pay for whatever meets your needs.

That should include reading the small print and any relevent standards for the equipment.

""Fully compliant with all relevent standards"" is often used when sales people are saying how good equipment is. Read the standards and you will often find the equipment can be designed to meet them and yet still not perform as reliably as the customer has been led to believe.

 

[EightyTwo]

Some alarm panels will allow you to flash the bell's strobe when it sets. You'd never see an LED if the sun was shining on the bell - sometimes you can't even see the strobe!!

 

[JohnD]

do you have a particular make/model in mind?