Scantronics 9448 part rewire advice pls

[oldman2]

The long since disappeared installer ran cables from 2 door switches and a pir in my attached garage up through the cavity at an angle coming out through the floorboards in a fitted wardrobe and up to the loft 3ft out from the wall, across the loft then down through the airing cupboard, then clipped down the side of the stairs to the panel.

I have removed the wardrobe and I am about to remove the airing cupboard so I have to rewire this mess.

I have already put a 12 core and an 8 core from the garage under the floor upstairs to the landing long enough to go to the panel, this just leaves the bell box wiring.
I would like to drop a cable from the loft area to the garage (an easy out of sight run) and use the 12 core for the door switches and pir leaving me 4 spare cores, then use the 8 core cable for the bell.
I would connect them all in a plastic adaptable box using crimp connectors.
Is this acceptable?

I assume that the bell is going to sound all the time while Im connecting the cables even after I enter my own user code with the panel open unless I remove the battery?

Also I have a spare 2nd hand 9448 panel I bought "just in case" some time ago, I dont have the installer manual and of course I dont know the code, can anyone help with this? I can take a pic of it to prove I have it if needed.

 

[Deryck Tintagel]

Personally, I would not use a junction box for connecting the field wiring - certainly not in a domestic alarm system. The fewer connections the more reliable it will be. Also, it is easier to fault find than having to check the junction box.

I would run individual 8-core cables for the PIR and the contacts. The actual implementation would depend on how many zones are available at the panel - I am guessing that the two contacts are in series on the same zone. If one contact is at the front and the other at the back of the garage then I would consider using seperate zones on the panel to aid fault finding. Perhaps a tamper-proof junction box may be used.

The bell should ring for no more than 20 minutes when the cables are disconnected - you could just remove the battery connection in the box to silence the bell if necessary.

Sorry I can't help with panel codes.

 

[breezer]

Deryck, whilst i agree with your thinking, you should read the actual post.

I have already put a 12 core and an 8 core from the garage under the floor upstairs to the landing long enough to go to the panel,

Oldman, as Deryck said its noit the best but since you have done it, it will have to do.

the codes you want are 1234 and 0 enter 7890

 

[oldman2]

Thanks for the replies, I had a roll of 8 and 12 core handy and as the floors were up for replacement central heating and a rewire anyway I put the 2 cables in from the garage to reroute from having them coming out the ceiling 3ft in from the wall. The bell box semi fudge idea was an after thought. I dont much fancy having the flooring up again to route another cable from the loft through to the panel so as there are spare wires enough the garage terminal box will have to do.

I now find I need to replace the batteries as the 5yr lifespan is up. So there will be a slight delay before I do the job.

Thanks Breezer for the codes too.

 

[Deryck Tintagel]

Hi Breezer, yes I did read the post and you are right, as the cables are now there it will have to do.

I am not sure that they are still available (probably but I have not looked recently) but a 20-way junction box could be a way to go. All joints terminated in a tamper protected box. Just a thought as I wonder how good crimp joints would be on 7/0.2 conductors? Soldering would be better if using an adaptable box.

 

[oldman2]

I am more than happy to solder the connections or use 5amp chock blocks in an adaptable box. A local alarm fitter suggested I crimp cable joins some time ago which is why it came to mind.

A tamper proof box may be overkill as this will be mounted out of sight at high level in a pir zone.

Looking at the birds nest of cable terminations presently in my alarm panel any I make must turn out neater

The systems been in 16yrs now and in that time just 2 activations caused by faulty pir's. Not bad eh!

 

[Deryck Tintagel]

Terminal blocks are OK but I seem to get problems with the screw making a mess of the actual conductors. Unless you can get the rising clamp type then I would use solder. The only down side is fault finding - but I guess that the joints are just straight through to each zone on an 8-core cable? I usually use terminal blocks for the supplies to each powered detector, and then solder the series tamper loops as it tends to be neater and more compact

 

[plugwash]

I haven't seen any wire-wire crimps designed for thin stranded cable. TELEPHONE CRIMPS ARE INTENDED FOR SOLID CORE WIRE ONLY.

solder and heatshrink would be my preffered way of joining such cable.

 

[oldman2]

Pretty much finished the part rewire on this alarm now, all connections soldered and sleeved in heat shrink. I want to test my work soon but I would like to test the system before reconnecting the battery in the bell box.
Is having the bell battery disconnected going to give me an alarm condition or is it likely to be fine.

 

[breezer]

so long as the bell box is "shut" the alarm will work regardless of bell battery

 

[oldman2]

Tamper intact and lid screwed on with nice new stainless screws.

Thanks Breezer.

 

[oldman2]

88 seperate soldered & shrink sleeved connections, part rewire in new cable and numerous colour changes along the routes and it all tests out fine. Walk tests completed, just the Bell battery to reconnect once the "ladder footer" arrives home from work and its done.

Many thanks for the help.