Expected life of modern Control Panels/Ext Bell Boxes

[johnbrist]

My last control panel (a Bentley Symphony) behaved perfectly for over 20 years. The technology has obvious moved on tremendously since that panel was made but I wondered what the likely life a modern CPs and Bell Boxes is (e.g. Texecom, Honeywell, Scantronic).

Any thoughts?

 

[sparkymarka]

God you did well for a symphony to last that long! Most modern panels are pretty good don't go for cheap end or compacts as they don't seem to be as good as the the mid range panel.

 

[NewOrder]

My last Texecomm Varitas unit lasted about ten years but it was a replacement from an old Optima unit which keyboard had failed.

I ripped out the entire alarm system last year as we kept getting false alarms. The entire system had been expanded by me over the years and the wiring was frankly a mess. I decided the best thing to was to rip the entire lot out and start again but I have no doubt the old control panel was working perfectly.

From my own experience though they tend to last around 15 years but I am only a DIYer, the alarm fitters on here will know a lot more than I do.