home alarm

[wollie]

does anyone on here know anything about this?
what I am looking for is something with 4 movement sensors, i am not really bothered about window sensors.
I would like something to work off mains electricity, also that when the alarm would trigger it contact mob phone by text.
Location spain/uk/on-line as I assume no problem carrying this in Ryanair/easyjet.
If I sound as if I not know what I am talking about it is because I don't.

Any advise appreciated.
many thanks

[pensure1988]

Hi Wollie

Here are two informative websites for you.

http://www.andalucia.com/property/alarms.htm

http://costadelsol.angloinfo.com/af/451 ... miths.html

Good Luck

Nigel

[gerryh]

This company https://www.verisure.es/ does all the want and more.
If your Spanish is as bad as mine then you can communicate with them in English.
They halve a very good phone app to control/ see the status of your alarm system.
Cheers
Gerry

[El Cid]

If it's not a proper system, connected to a central monitoring centre, it's probably not worth having. OK, so you can possibly monitor it on your phone from afar, but what exactly are you going to do if you spot a burglar in your house and you aren't there?

If it's mains operated then it can simply be deactivated by turning off the power at the meter.

As Gerry says, Verisure is good, I have one. Not cheap though, and at least €35 a month for the monitoring service.

Sid

[Devils Advocate]

If you turn off at the mains meter Sid the large back up batteries in both the key pad and bell box will take over.

[El Cid]

The OP said he wanted a mains system. Mine is totally battery operated and communicates via its own GSM card which cannot be jammed.

Sid

[Devils Advocate]

Yes Sid, I bought 2 x Honeywell systems last year, one for our place and one for the other house we sold.

Basically your bread and butter alarm. 6 zones, 6 passive infra reds and hard wired into mains.

2 bloody big battery packs for keypad and bellbox ensure alarm won't trip if there's a power cut.

I think for the price Honeywell is exactly what OP needs. and easy to transport in the flight bags.

Having said that I'm assuming it's sold in Spain too.

[wollie]

Devil,

Thanks as this is more or less the way I want to go, also thanks for all replies.
My situation is I have a back door key left outside and a neighbour knows where it and has access to my house anytime so he can turn off should it be triggered.
The reason I ask here as so much info on-line where to start, I am assuming once I decide on what to buy I will be able to get online in uk/spain.

regards

[Devils Advocate]

I'm sure there'll be no problem ordering online although I just picked ours up at a local electrical trade centre.

Fully programmable, you can deactivate zones etc. and it has the normal 4 digit code to arm and disarm. We just have 4 rooms alarmed downstairs, with contacts on front and rear doors.

Battery life on our last one was 10 years, only replaced the alarm as there was good deal on for two systems.

[wollie]

many thanks devil.

do you happen to know the model number as it sounds exactly what I want. I may also buy two as my my neighbour is also interested, idea being we keyhold for each other.

regards your a big help..

[Devils Advocate]

Look for the Honeywell ADE Gen 4, that's the commonly fitted control box. You can add other keypads but just the main box will be sufficient.

Not expensive, probably 50 quid at a wholesaler but I can see them for 35 quid online. Passives are generic but I'm sure I bought Honywell infrareds too. I think they were £5 or £6 each.

The hardware is cheap, say £100 tops for the full kit but it's the installation charges that make them seem expensive.

Easy to fit yourself if you are not bothered about having the paperwork (insurance purposes and all that).

Very reliable units.

[wollie]

one keypad will be fine for me, I am thinking my best option is buy a kit an I will not worry too much if I have a couple of sensors left over as a few quid either way not the end of the world.
if you happen to see a kit that may suit my needs please let me know as I am useless at this kinda stuff which site its on and the number of same product.
by the way does your alarm box have a light as I am thinking this just as much a deterrent.

again many thanks

[scotty]

The OP said he wanted a mains system. Mine is totally battery operated and communicates via its own GSM card which cannot be jammed.

Sid

Sid, technology hazs moved on quite a bit. GSM transmissions are easy to block with the right (little box) equipment bought from fleabay. But you are all worrying about nothing. Any burglar is only after your cash/laptop/smartphone, easy to carry and easy to sell. So a basic working alarm with PIR sensors like the OP describes will normally encourage the thief to move on to another unit without an alarm. If they want to get in an alarm (even a monitored alarm) wont put them off.

[El Cid]

I think you will find it has moved on further than you were aware of. The latest upgrade to our Securitas system detects and prevents blocking by the sort of devices you mention.

http://www.securitasdirect.es/lp/m/alar ... GwodevkObA

Also, any decent connected modern alarm system incorporates cameras, video or still, so that tends to be an additional deterrent.

Sid

[wollie]

i have moved on a bit myself, I now find some of the cables as they must have being plastered so alarm now likely be wireless.
all I am looking for is something that will have a flashing light outside and a few sensors.

[El Cid]

I think they are all wireless these days. The only part of ours that has wire is the main control unit. It is portable and has a backup internal battery.

If you just want a deterrent, a friend who used to be a crime prevention officer in the UK, said you couldn't beat a big red box on the house with a flashing light! I think the most effective feature of ours is the big warning signs outside the property. As scotty said, they hopefully will go somewhere else.

The problem with a stand alone alarm is what will actually happen if a burglar sets it off? Who will respond to it if you are not there? Your neighbour has a key, but is he really going into the house to confront the burglars? If you are there, it at least gives you a chance to hide under the bed and get the wife to frighten them off Joking aside, I am more concerned about what the burglars would do to us if they broke in while we were there. That's why the system includes perimeter alarms, with cameras, which would set the alarms off well before they were close enough to break in, which would give me time to hide under the bed and set the wife/cats on them

Sid

[Devils Advocate]

We only ever use ours when we go away to Spain, if it ever went off the neighbour would hear it and call the police I'd guess rather than an alarm call centre.

We don't set it whilst we're here.

[wollie]

Sid,

the fact that you can afford to spend £35 on monitoring means you worth breaking into, I would have it spent on cerveza or some silly toy.
the flashing red light would pretty well do but I suspect they may behave differently when armed and disarmed.
the wired system is available, they are also cheaper but not now an option as I cannot find some of the wires.
my situation is exactly the same as "the devil"

regards and thanks for replies.

[Torrox_campo]

I have bought and fitted for my house in the UK the Yale Alarms YEFKIT2 Easy Fit Telecommunication Alarm Kit

The kit contains the following:

1 x Siren box.1 x Dummy siren.2 x PIR movement detectors.2 x Door contacts.1 x Touch screen control panel. I futher bougth 2 x PIR movement detectors and 1 keyfob.

The panel is connected to the main and telephone cable; all the rest are wireless comunication and batteries operated. If triggered it will ring 3 different telephone numbers and you can check status, disable - enable the systems by your phone. The top model let you have wireless camera which you can see via smart phone as it connects to the control panel and your router. Setting up was quite easy and trouble free.

A couple of times I dialled into the system from Spain to check and it seems to work OK.

[gerryh]

Sid,

the fact that you can afford to spend £35 on monitoring means you worth breaking into,

There a lot of feature on the monitoring system that Sid and I have.
If there is a prolonged power cut then I will get a message on my phone. I can then get someone who has a key, and knows how to deactivate the system, can check to see if it is just that the power has tripped and can switch it back on.
If I get burgled and am confronted by the burglar I can activate the system into-listening mode. The monitoring centre can listen in to what I and the burglars are saying. If I use an agreed code word in my conversations then the centre knows I need immediate help and will alert the police.
If the alarm goes off they monitor, via the cameras, any activity and phone me.
I can remotely access the cameras via my phone to see if everything looks OK.
Cheers
Gerry