House alarm Pre installed when bought??

downs523

hi, when i bought my house a few weeks ago there was an alarm system installed, well partly.

property is 3 yrs old and all the houses on my street had alarms installed when 1st built. the box is on the front of the houses but inside there is no keypad box to activate, and there are no sensors, just plastic thin covers where the sensors should be, theres even one near the door where i reckon the keypad would be positioned...

i assume this was installed for anyone who wanted to sign up when the house was 1st sold...

anyone agree??

my question is can i use this wiring to install my own box, say get one from argos/b&q etc... so i dont have to pay for a subscription each yr?

david29dpo

Yes of course you can. having a subscription alarm is daylight robbery.

davidkj_2

You will need to find where all the cables run to, later alarms have a remote keypad by the front door with the main control box positioned somewere else in the house.
Once you have found this you can identify where each cable goes and buy a system to suit.

Steve_xx

Or you could go for a wireless alarm..............

matbe

Steve_xx wrote: »

Or you could go for a wireless alarm..............

And spend the rest of your time reseting the system after false alarms and replacing the batteries.

GonzoAston

Is it not a dummy alarm system?

downs523

nah its not a dummy alarm system, its a proper company name on the box with a telephone number. they were installed when they were 1st built in 2005 in the 6 houses inc mine. will prob have to get someone in to install a different system as i dont know how to hook it all up

Steve_xx

matbe wrote: »

And spend the rest of your time reseting the system after false alarms and replacing the batteries.

I have some experience of wireless. Yes, the batteries need to be changed at around 12 months. Not had a problem with false alarms though. False alarms are certainly not confined to wireless products, so please don't imagine that they are.

hewhoisnotintheknow

downs523 wrote: »

nah its not a dummy alarm system, its a proper company name on the box with a telephone number. they were installed when they were 1st built in 2005 in the 6 houses inc mine. will prob have to get someone in to install a different system as i dont know how to hook it all up

the whole point of a dummy alarm is to look like the real thing ....

downs523

yeah i know that, but... the one on my house is not a dummy alarm, thats all i was saying