[Closed] Any burglar alarm engineers on here?

Moli,
it should be entirely within your diy capabilities to replace it, they're dead simple and pretty logically laid out once you get the lid off.
Do you have the "engineer code" that's likely to be needed to allow you to get the lid off without setting off a tamper alarm?
If so, get in there and take a look. Should just be a case of swapping out the box and reconnecting any existing detector zones or sounders to the relevent terminals.

I suspect it may be the country's most popular, can you take a picture of it up? Burglar alarms are piss easy to meddle with

Any idea which bit has packed up? Is it the siren, the key pad or the sensors?

Are they wired or wireless?

Have a look at Screwfix for the Yale wireless alarm system. Cheap as chips and pretty simple DIY set-up.

Otherwise, if you are in the North East give me a shout.

Ok well here's what happened:

Setting the alarm to leave, had to go in and out about three times (and set and unset) in quick succession due to forgetting things. The last time I went in it wouldn't un-set. Typed in the code, nothing.

Had to open it, unplug the battery and turn off the power to get it to shut up, but it re-armed every time I reconnected it. I thought it might be the battery in the keypad, but changing it didn't help.

It may be that the keypad is no longer linked to the unit, not sure. Might need to be re-coded or something but that takes specialist kit presumably.

It was a monitored alarm installed by St John Security of Bristol in 2007, if that helps. No longer supported by them though, since we cancelled the monitoring contract due to funds.

I wouldn't mind the potential to have it monitored later, but that would preclude DIY I think. does £500 seem a fair quote for a monitored installation?

Although insurance companies won't give you a discount for self installed alarms that aren't serviced by recognised companies.

Start by changing the battery, arming and disarming it three times will have finished it off and it has given up controlling the system. Knackered batteries cause all kinds of problems. Otherwise, alarms are dead simple as others have written.

Battery already changed. I think it lost its link to the main unit when I changed it, not sure tho. Pressing buttons on it now does nothing at all apart from make beeps.

"Screwfix for the Yale wireless alarm system. Cheap as chips and pretty simple DIY set-up."

dear lord no parents had one.... yales idea of DIY set up is double sided sticky tape - invariably on surfaces with temperature differntial and resultant condenstation causes tape to be non sticky. - sensor falls off , circuits broken , thing goes mad.

Ended up taking a hammer to the bell box to get it to shut up in the end as i couldnt find all the sensors ..... ( i didnt install)

maybe with just the PIR detectors it would be ok.

YMMV

if you want a new one mate, i will sell you a new system for not much over £100.

give me a bell if you want. 01132633500

Out of interest Ton, which flavour(s) do you deal in?

texecom

Ton you do cheap camera monitoring options too?

we only sell mate, cctv and alarms.
any monitoring will cost you a fortune.

I didn't mean alarm monitoring, I meant cctv. I'm thinking along the lines of those little webcam style things that sit and watch, then record based on detected motion or something and store it on your network.

all the dvr's we sell are set up with motion detection.
this records straight onto the hard drive. they are also i phone/android ready.

Although insurance companies won't give you a discount for self installed alarms that aren't serviced by recognised companies.

This.

It's basically just an ugly box to give you a sense of false reassurance.

dont tell your insurance you have an alarm either.....

if you do and get a small discount , sods law youll be burgled the day you have not set it .....

It's basically just an ugly box to give you a sense of false reassurance.

on most sytems, you can fit a thing called a speach dialler.
this will ring up to 4 pre programmed numbers, when the alarm is set off.

Ton - would you fancy a job over Halifax way?

I need a new control panel fitted to replace a Veritas 8c - went all tits up last night.

Drop me a line at andy @ andrew-banks.co.uk if you'd travel over from Leeds.

Cheers

Ton will call later. Is your name Ton as in Tone or Ton as in tonne?

tony

on most sytems, you can fit a thing called a speach dialler.
this will ring up to 4 pre programmed numbers, when the alarm is set off.

"Hi - this is me, everything has gone, except the alarm, obviously, so that's something. Pick up a new kettle on your way back"

or alarm goes off, dialler rings my phone, i go down with my big bad stick and play some baseball. 😆

Anyone know of any studies about the efficacy of monitored alarms etc?

See, I think most burglaries, at least where I live, are likely to be smash and grab, the perps will be long gone by the time the cops get there surely.

So I suppose the main thing is to be notified so you can get someone to re-secure the house or something when you aren't there.

Please do not expect fast response from the boys in blue to any alarm with external signaling.All calls are catergorised depending on the system type installed in the premises.
A dialer will only be any good if the phone line is working,cheap to buy and self instal.Most decent domestic control panels Veritas as mentioned cheap to buy check the Bay for prices and next day delivey.
If looking for wireless check out the Powermax range.
Most of my experience is in the high security type sites and equipment.
Recomend having small CCTV system,with DVR cheap as chips from £165.00
upwards.they do a good job.

an r8 alarm panel is the easist panel ive worked with, have you tried the default code of 4321 to see if the panel has got back to default, if not the engineers code is 1234 then if you press prog then 60 you can enter a new code,