Burglar Alarm (MERGED)

belfastgal

Does anyone have any idea of how much a burgular alarm costs for 4 bed detached house.
Is there a big mess as the house was built approx 14 years ago in the east belfast area .Do you have to redecorate and can you recommend anyone at a reasonable price?

malletts_mallett

I got one a couple of years ago from B&Q or Homebase. It is a wireless system, and anyone who can use a drill and screwdriver can install it. I've had no problems with it. Cost was somewhere between £100 and £200.

alanobrien

belfastgal wrote:

Does anyone have any idea of how much a burgular alarm costs for 4 bed detached house.
Is there a big mess as the house was built approx 14 years ago in the east belfast area .Do you have to redecorate and can you recommend anyone at a reasonable price?

I was quoted £650 plus to upgrade our old wired system when we moved into our 4 bed place. Needless to say i upgraded it myself using the latest detectors, sounder and panel for around £200.

Wireless systems are getting better these days and are reasonably cheap but you must remember to check the batteries annually and replace as necessery.

Caveman_4

belfastgal, I've a 4 bed semi and we put a system in with PIRs in all rooms down stairs and and 2 upstairs(landing and one vunerable bedroom) plus two door contacts. The system will call several mobile numbers till it gets a response in the event of activation, handy as i only work 10 mins from home.

I've been warned off the wireless systems by several sources.

The installer also installed an external door light as we have some steep stairs at the front, more a convenience than a security feature.

Anyway, all in about £450, very little mess and well hidden. Cables are under carpets, main box in attic.

Company was Focus, run by a scottish lad called Paul. No pushy salesman. I would recommend them.

https://www.focusonsecurity.net

Cavey

IvanOpinion

You can buy an economy version that is usually easy to beat or put in a professional system - irrespective most neighbours will simply complain that it went off and not even go and investigate.

5 Years ago I got a system wired into our house as it was being built. It consisted of 6 PIRs, 2 door checks, 1 fancy PIR that detects pressure change as well, a control panel and sounder in the house, a large upgradeable control board in the garage and an outside box (plus an extra dummy box). The price including installation was somewhere in the region of £500. Unfortunately the firm that put it in is no longer about (so hopefully it won't give me any trouble).

Ivan

belfastgal

Caveman wrote:

belfastgal, I've a 4 bed semi and we put a system in with PIRs in all rooms down stairs and and 2 upstairs(landing and one vunerable bedroom) plus two door contacts. The system will call several mobile numbers till it gets a response in the event of activation, handy as i only work 10 mins from home.

I've been warned off the wireless systems by several sources.

The installer also installed an external door light as we have some steep stairs at the front, more a convenience than a security feature.

Anyway, all in about £450, very little mess and well hidden. Cables are under carpets, main box in attic.

Company was Focus, run by a scottish lad called Paul. No pushy salesman. I would recommend them.

https://www.focusonsecurity.net

Cavey

sounds great , checked out their website will give them a ring as i dont really trust my own judgement to do it myself with a system from b & q....cheers thanks

wacko911

Stay clear of wireless, it's very very easy to block.

Ivan after 5 years look at changing your main backup battery they normally last about 4 years and cost 10-20 quid depending on size and possibly the backup cell in the outside sounder. If your power fails under full alarm condition you could find your system shuts down, or worse, every time the power fails the external sounder S/A's.

You can test your battery, remove A/C run activate alarm for 5 minutes or leave running on standby for 2 hours, then test the voltage across the battery. If its <11.5 volts replace

There is a free ebook thats good reading here > http://www.omnipresence.mahost.org/alarms.htm
"How to Circumvent A Security Alarm in 10 Seconds or Less"

belfastgal

SO...which type of alarm should i go for ????????????????

wacko911

Go for a wired system. Brand is really up to you (and price), just make sure the system has 6-8 Zones, battery backed up and takes remote keypads (so you can hide the control panel away in the loft or somewhere out the the way, and just have a nice tidy keypad on display.

You should be looking at a movment (PIR) sensor in every ground floor perimeter room (these are about a £10 each if your going DIY and buy online).

A PIR on high traffic areas of each additional floor (Usually one upstairs) (This should be zoned to allow part set of the system at night - ie All ground floor sensors & Door sensors, but free movement upstairs - keeping you safe while you sleep- 50% of bulgaries happen while people are in bed)

A Door contact on each exterior door (Front, Back & Patio) (2 quid each) - Most people dont bother with these as they reckon the PIRs are so good they pick you up as soon as you open the door anyhow, but I disagree. Door contacts can be zoned which allows the system to be part set to secure all exterior doors while your in the house (Ie creeper burgalaries - after your car keys/Handbags etc)

And Usually 2 Keypads (One Upstairs (or bedroom) and One at entry point) (£30 quid each)

Bellbox - S/A type with strobe ~ 30-40 quid - These will go off even if you cut the wires running to them as they have thier own batteries

Internal Speaker near the exit point so you can hear the system setting correctly (£5)

Internal sounder (Very loud sound bomb, most alarms are pretty quiet internally with double glazed windows, these panic intruders because they think all hell must have broke loose) (£5)

Sealed lead acid Battery for control panel (£10-20)

Optional item - Remote dialler - Limited use unless you have someone close who can respond, they dial up to 4 number and playback a recorded message when alarm is triggered. One good use of these is the 'Silent Panic' & Duress Code' function on most panels. Take for example - someone breaks in or forces a family member to disarm the system, instead of entering the usual disarm code, they enter a secondary duress code, the alarm then appears to shutdown but is silently dialing the programmed number and letting your contacts know the duress code has been entered.

About 100M of 6 or 8 core alarm cable ~£20

And a whole day installing + Routing cables or pay someone £400

shays_mum

Optional item - Remote dialler - Limited use unless you have someone close who can respond, they dial up to 4 number and playback a recorded message when alarm is triggered. One good use of these is the 'Silent Panic' & Duress Code' function on most panels. Take for example - someone breaks in or forces a family member to disarm the system, instead of entering the usual disarm code, they enter a secondary duress code, the alarm then appears to shutdown but is silently dialing the programmed number and letting your contacts know the duress code has been entered.

About 100M of 6 or 8 core alarm cable ~£20

I had no ideas these things existed!, thanks, can you add these onto existing systems & where would i buy these if online?, many thanks
:rudolf:

wacko911

An ADE one can be found here http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Alarm_Index/
Under speech/Security dialers

I've personally only every used an SD1+ seen here:
http://www.gx-security.co.uk/menvier-speech-dialler-p-457.html

Was told the ADE one was a bit crap.

It depends on your panel, it needs to have Communicator outputs. (Check your manual or seach online for the manual) If it does then it should be an easy install to an exiting system. My ADE Optima system does.

BTW I picked up my speech dialler cheap on eBay, if anyone is intrested I dig out the guys name - he done my an awesome deal on an entire system, cheapest i've ever seen.