house alarm

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
20 Apr 2014
Messages
2,467
Reaction score
0
Country
United Kingdom
hello, i wondered if anyone could give information on what type of alarm to install,i am looking to do the house and a couple of outbuildings down the yard,ive looked at different types some wired and some wire free, which is the best type also i wanted to incorporate an autodialler in the system,finally are they easy to fit or is it best to get someone in to do the job...ian
 
Sponsored Links
radio alarms are easy and quicker to install but they cost an arm and a leg.
A "hard wired" one is cheaper ( I had quotes from several alarm companys and all the radio ones cost more, they all said basically its because the kit costs more in the first place, and that my annual maintenance costs includes the cost of new batteries and the engineers time to change them)

As for your "out buildings" i would have seperate alarms for each of them. The reason is that if the main alarm goes wrong you still have the others working, there are no cables between the main building and the out buildings (saves money in labour)

Also mine calls the police (when it needs to) and my thinking is that if an out building gets broken into the police will only come to the house since they can not get or know about the out buildings.

I installed all the cables my self, and got an alarm company to do the rest, that way i get a certificate to keep my insurance company happy, if it goes wrong, i call the alarm company, so no stress for me and it gets fixed within a day of me calling.

The engineer who finished it in was "very helpfull" and that is why i now have seperate alarms on my out buildings

At the end of the day you can have a radio "diy system" that is unreliable (had one for a week) a "hard wired diy system" that you have to fix if it goes wrong, or get in an alarm company who will fix it for you and you get a certificate for your insurance company.
 
I would definitely install a hard-wired alarm. They are cheaper and more easily customisable (ie. you're not tied down to a particular make and type of sensor should you wish to expand).

I hard-wired my own alarm on the garage at my previous house, it only took about three hours, including bell box, PIRs, mag switches etc. It's not difficult to follow the instructions.

-----------------------------------

However, I also have a question: I've since moved house, and the place where I bought my previous alarm components (TSS in Exeter) has been bought out. It seems that no matter where I look, component prices seem to have at least doubled in the last 5 years. Can anybody recommend a website or mail order company that sells components at a reasonable price? As an example, I installed my previous alarm at a cost of £130 (bell box, control panel, backup battery, keypad, DualTek PIR, mag switches, cabling). To do the same job today would cost me over £300!

Thanks

Jim
 
Sponsored Links
hello again thanks for the comments,those are the one,s ive been looking at on maplins page what do you think to them...
 
you would recommend them or you wouldnt i was thinking of the wireless zones for the outbuildings plus it has hardwired zones as well...ian
 
i see what you are thinking, but i would not recomend it. see my first reply this topic.
also what i didnt mention was radio alarms are not interchangable so you are stuck with their choice of detector, out buildings usually get cold, are draughty ( i know i have just come in for the night)which is where a quad pir come in to its own.

Also with radio it may work this time of year but come summer the radio signal may not get through. (I know this because a friend had one that did just that. Radio signals will go through almost anything, but with a radio P.I.R. the radio signal is not that strong so when the trees grew leaves etc the signal couldnt get through.

That was where i got the idea of having a seperate alarm for each out building.

Also depending upon make of panel you may not be able to turn ane one part off, or if you can it may be "complicated."

Some one i once knew had a garage on the alarm, they had to get out of the car turn the alarm off first then get back in to drive the car in. this was the only way the alarm they had would work.
 

DIYnot Local

Staff member

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.


Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Sponsored Links
Back
Top