Burglar Alarm wiring exension

[MarkXC123]

Hi All,
So I brought a house with an alarm (Installed 1997) that I have resurrected and it works ok. (5 PIRs and one reed switch door sensor, 1 key pad). All very straight forward so far after a learning curve and I will book an engineer to come and service annually.

However I would like to add some extra sensors at the back of the house (3 extra doors and 3 extra windows, i can tap into the existing 1 door reed switch, it's a long house and they doors and windows are all in a line). I can put cabling in the eaves ok, but my question is to what number of core cable should I use? I have a Karizma ID system (Shock horror) so I actually only need 2 cores, but I would like to future proof it so when I have a new wired system there is plenty of cabling in place already and its easy to upgrade. (when I have re-tiled the Ensuite I wont have access to the eaves "forever").

Other questions, what is a good quality cable? The stuff from Screwfix? or where from? And do I need a EOL resistor? Any advice on how to find out what EOL stuff I need for the last sensor?

Thanks all
(I'm a DYI'er, not a pro alarm installer... but I am a BEng engineer)

 

[sparkymarka]

Take all cables separate back to control panel ..6 /8 core to be on safe side ... you won’t be able to buy ID chips anymore so you may be struggling with that alarm

 

[MarkXC123]

Thanks for your advice. I wont be taking cables back to the panel, it's too much disruption for now as it cuts right through the house, so I'll be connecting into the one 6 core that services the one door reed switch, so it'll be one large wired leg with 6 door/window sensors. When we have an extension in 5 or so years I'll renew the alarm with something new and re-use the wiring, hence I want to put the necessary cables in place now.
I have seen some biscuits for sale online, I'll purchase them first before I modify. The biscuits don't need to be sequential which helps.

 

[sparkymarka]

Not really recommended to be honest ....

 

[MarkXC123]

yeah you're probably right, I suppose I'm still thinking Karzima ID install which is a bit out of date. A separate cable run to each sensor would be future proof. 6 or 8 core as you said.

 

[sparkymarka]

Or to a common point where you could add an expander depending on your future upgrade

 

[MarkXC123]

So I had to Google 'Expander'. (Novice!)
If I understand correctly, I can hard wire separate cables from each sensor to the expander and then use the existing cable that's already installed to connect the expander to the control panel? That would be a brilliant solution. Can you get expanders for such instances that do not require an external power source?
Thanks for the advice so far.

 

[sparkymarka]

Normally you require a 4 core ( depending on control panel ) you would only need a powered expander on a long cable run or if you had high current loads
Door contacts are not ...you won’t get one for your control panel