Recommend me a DIY burglar system please - Less than £500

[scotster]

I am in the market for a DIY alarm system but unfortunately I know as much about alarm systems as I do about the state of the Latvian Economy.

I do know:

6 zones should be enough.
Panic alarm
Bell Box - preferably not bright yellow though - eg. Yale.
Needs to be robust - I hate things that fall over.
No wireless - see above - unless someone can tell me its pretty much pefect and can live in harmony with RF AV remotes, TV senders, etc etc.
If I can a system that calls or texts me - party bonus!
Equally - If I can get a system that can send a signal to an X10 home automation system - double party bonus.

Please give me some reliable names and set my expectations.

Thanks.

Scott.

PS. If you need to know anything about mountain bikes or the state of the Chechnyan economy then I'm your man.

 

[councillor]

Rottweiler puppys for sale £499

 

[RF Lighting]

I reccomend Texecom, and I'm sure others on here will agree. It is very robust kit, easy to install and commision, and it is very rare for any of their parts to fail.
All the kits are hard wired, as I hate wireless, as do most folk.



Here is a basic kit, which is usually fine for a domestic setup. It is a veritas R8, but you would need to add a few extra PIRs and a PA button to meet your spec. This is a 'bells only' system £118 inc. VAT
Here


This is a slightly more sophisticated system which includes an LCD display on the keypad, and also a speech / text dialler. You would again need to add a couple more PIRs, and a PA button. £235 inc. VAT
Here



This is an all singing all dancing system, and includes far more than your spec. It comes with an LCD keypad which you can use to arm / disarm the system with a proximity tag keyfob. This kit is bells only, but a text 'bolt on module' is available for an additional £54 inc. VAT
This kit is £308 inc. VAT. This is the the type of panel I have at home.
However, it is not very straigth forward to program / commision without the use of a laptop. (But it can be done if you have the patience)
Here

This system sends you full detail text messages like this:

 

[scotster]

Thanks for you help. Very helpful.

why dont you like wireless?

I had a chat with an alarm installer yesterday who said that they were very robust and that I should not be scared of them.

Do thers have a different experiance?

Rgds.

 

[Spark123]

From past experience fault finding a wireless alarm is a nightmare!! Also the constant changing of batteries in the sensors, etc etc etc. Things may have moved on now as this was a few years ago. Have only fitted Veritas R8 panels in the last few years, never had a problem with them to press.

 

[bernardgreen]

From past experience fault finding a wireless alarm is a nightmare!! Also the constant changing of batteries in the sensors, etc etc etc. Things may have moved on now as this was a few years ago. Have only fitted Veritas R8 panels in the last few years, never had a problem with them to press.

There is a way to defeat a wireless connected alarm that possibly renders the system un-able to alarm when an intruder is detected.

Obviously I am not going to say how it is done on a public list.

 

[peleus]

Hi,been reading the thread, and got a question, do the pet motion sensors really work? We have a dog but got the problem of her setting the alarm off, also any reason why a back up battery would start to melt itself? ours did and nearly caused a fire.

Cheers
Shaun

 

[scotster]

Thanks for the help guys.

I am probably going for one of the more expensive versions - I like the dialler and key fob options.

Wired it is. Apart from anything else they arre cheaper.

Chechnya is doing fine in 2007 by the way.

 

[RF Lighting]

Chechnya is doing fine in 2007 by the way.

Forgot to ask about that, but glad to hear it.

Hi,been reading the thread, and got a question, do the pet motion sensors really work? We have a dog but got the problem of her setting the alarm off, also any reason why a back up battery would start to melt itself? ours did and nearly caused a fire.

Cheers
Shaun

First of all you shouldn't be hijacking posts.

There are two types of pet immune detectors. The cheaper ones only watch the top 2/3 of the room which is fine until rover jumps onto the sofa

The more expensive ones work by body weight, and ignore anything upto 40kg.

http://www.brewtime.co.uk/product-detail.asp?d=846

 

[JohnD]

Those wonderful people at SSE spammed me today with an offer of a "free" self install system where they "just" charge you for their monitoring service. No use to me as I have a much better monitored Galaxy thing.

http://www.myhomemonitor.co.uk./