Brilliant idea

[ban-all-sheds]

Lost certs, lack of documentation, drawings, design calcs, circuit schedules, history of changes etc - all a thing of the past.

All CUs to be equipped with a few GB of flash memory (dirt cheap & very small) and a USB port.

Info stored as PDF files with password protection so that anybody can read & print them, but only the original spark can change or copy them.

Plug in a laptop and away you go....

 

[ricicle]

I'm all for saving trees !

 

[ebee]

Brilliant Idea.
Top Marks that man.

 

[Pensdown]

I think there should also be an interlock so the CU can't be turned on from new without the correct documentation being there in the first place

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Or how about something like one of those "service reminder" modules that plumbers put in boilers that shut them down if the annual service is missed - could set it to shut off if the PIR interval is exceeded.

 

[sparkyspike]

Hey - have you nicked my post?

Great idea though. Specially if you have shares in Fluke et al.

 

[ericmark]

Hard enough to get a spark to check results with excel never mind downloading them to USB stick and anyway my PDA does not have a USB port would need to be a micro SD card.
I did find a 25mm length of plastic conduit at one meter with all paper work rolled up inside it.
Neat and no special reading equipment required now that did make sense clipped into two conduit clips.
I wonder if it's still there? Or has someone walked off with it?

 

[FingRinal]

It's been talked about before and implemented on certain industrial set ups - PLCs etc.

I can only shudder at the potential abuse in the domestic world, as commendable as it may be. Password protection on equipment someone else owns....we've had all the restrictive practise re. Main Dealers blown wide open...

Plus flash at the origin sounds like a recipe for disaster.

The best we can hope for is that Certification software comes down in price and starts to include auto-chart or something i.e. you enter the spec. no. of skts, routing etc. and it prints out a Visio drawing or something. Of course, the Government could make a change to Part P and force the Schemes to include charts/diagrams in assessment criteria.

 

[NotHimAgain]

Next you will be advocating that they do their own PIRs using built in self check facilities .

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Now there's an idea.

Could have a link to an alarm in the BCOs office which goes off if a circuit length changes....

 

[ebee]

Gosh it`s getting out of hand now>
What next? RCDs on most circuits?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Don't be ridiculous!

 

[NewOrder]

When I replaced our alarm control unit a few years back to an Texacom Veritas 8 I was shocked when reading the manual that about 20 pages were didicated to servicing. You can set it to set alarms off if a service is missed, you can basically progam in all sorts of faults.

I am amazed trading standards have not looked into it.

If Joe Public found out it must damage alarm traders reputation.

Anyway back on topic its an ok idea but flash memory is not always that reliable so it would be good but paper backup is still needed.

Selt testing would also be a good idea although I don't know if that could be done reliabily.

 

[kensplace]

Its a good thing for a panel to alert the user if a service is missed, as if its one that is part of your insurance terms then a missed service could well mean they could get out of paying a claim...

Plus missed services could lead to the unit failing when its needed, when some scumbag is breaking in.

But your right, a lot of options in alarm panels seem to be there for the industry to have the capability to tie the customer to them by the short and curlies...

The regulatory bodies seem (in my opinion) to be more interested in helping the criminals rob places (reducing false alarms is their excuse) by imposing all sorts of regs that are only in place due to people forgetting their codes, or not having a clue what they are doing.

 

[ezekiel]

next you will need antivirus and firewall software, spyware, spam filters, parental control - to start press any key, wheres the any key