Shared Knowledge
“
House Alarm With
Auto-dialer”
29 May 2007
Several weeks ago, I bought the
wireless security system shown above from Alarm Sell Out
(
In summary of my installation
and usage of the system, I found the system is far from perfect but for the
price ($250 for everything I bought) was adequate for my single daughter’s new
home. Compared to the AT&T home security system I have in my home, the
The following is my, more detailed, review of the system and various detectors:
- When I received my system from ASO, I initially could not find all the detectors I had ordered, but upon examining the
system box, found additional components under the molded plastic component housing.
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The provided,
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While the
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- - The programmable controller has a telescopic antenna that is not very cosmetically pleasing. Additionally, some detectors, such as motion and door and window motion have telescopic antennas whereas other sensors do not, such as the smoke detectors, the CO and gas leak detectors. In my case, I was able to use the system without extending any telescopic antenna other than the programmable controller and a door motion sensor located at the extreme far end of the house or the detector the furthest from the programmable controller (receiver).
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The system seems to
have a good wireless range, as the house I installed the system into, is fairly
large. In the system I installed, I used 2 wireless motion detectors but did
not have to extend their built-in antenna’s to get them to be “heard” by the
controller.
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I was disappointed
to find that the glass break detectors must be connected to a power adapter.
Because of this requirement, I did not use the 2 I bought. I wish they had been
completely battery operated like the motion detectors.
- I bought an external siren but was surprised to find out I could not use the internal and external siren at the same time. Of course with some wire cutting and splicing, I am sure I could get both sirens to alarm at the same time.
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- - While smoke detectors provide an audible chirp when their internal battery becomes low in voltage, other detectors do not provide a low battery alert, nor do they appear to signal the programmable controller that their battery is low in voltage. Thus, various detectors need to be tested periodically to ensure they are still communicating with the programmable controller. Additionally, all battery powered devices need new batteries once a year, if not sooner, based upon your frequent maintenance testing.
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While it may be possible, it is not obvious to me, that there is anyway to set
codes in the programmable controller and various detectors such that your
system does not interfere with a neighboring system or that a neighboring
system does not interfere with your system.
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- - Neither the programmable controller or any of the detectors provide any level of tamper protection. In a tamper proof security system, although the system may not be armed, if someone opens the housing of the programmable controller or any detector to potentially disable it, the system alarm sounds and the auto-dialer calls whoever it is programmed to call.
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I bought and used
2 motion detectors and although I could figure out how to mount them on their
swiveling base, no instructions are provided (nor even a mounting hole in the housing
of the motion detector) and for some people this could be a problem. Upon
experimentation, I found that the best position for a both detectors was
exactly 6’ off the floor and angled down slightly. Also, upon experimentation,
the detectors really only seemed to be able to detect my movement at about 10
feet maximum.
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It appears that
the design of the system is better than the electronic implementation and that
the electronic implementation is better than the packaging. For example, the
gas leak detector requires a power adapter and thus has the short pig-tail lead
coming out the top of the detector. In my case, since the detector did not work
initially, I opened the case to find one of the power adapter leads had pulled
loose from the circuit board. Bad implementation as the power adapter pigtail
was not glued to the circuit board or otherwise mounted so the wires could not
be pulled loose. Most manufacturers at least put a knot in the cord so it can
not pass out the case lead hole. In the case of the CO detector I bought, this
was also DOA. Upon opening the case, I found a large transformer completely
torn away from the circuit board. Packaging. Seems like various people worked
on designing packaging as each detector seems to mount differently from every
other detector or the control unit. The worst is the gas leak detector.
According to the instructions provided with the detector, it is to be placed
high up on the wall, which is fine, but the power adapter pigtail comes out the
top of the device, such that when you mount the device using the screw cover as
a part of the case, the unit immediately rotates around and falls off the wall
mounted screw! Obviously this detector requires 2 sided tape or in my case, I
mounted a long screw on either side of the detector to keep it from rotating
and falling off the wall.
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No information is
provided anywhere about setting detector identification (ID) codes. Each
detector has a bank of jumpers that are obviously there to allow a user to
change a detector’s ID, but no where is there any information on setting these
jumpers. For example, which end of the row of jumpers is bit 1 or has a value
of “0”? In my case, I have 2 motion detectors and although I would have liked
them on different zones, when I had the controller recognize the one detector,
it automatically recognized the other because they have the same ID code. In
the case of door or window switches, it is nice that their ID codes have been
set to various “zones” but what if I wanted to change the factory default? The
best I could seem to get from various supplied materials is that you simply
change one or more jumpers and that changes the ID code. Works I assume but I
dislike the fact that I do not know what the ID code is for each detector.
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The door or window
motion detectors only come with sticky tape backing with no way to screw mount
them. It is my experience that sticky tape does not last forever and the
package of the actually wireless transmitter should have had some way to
properly mount it.
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The wireless
smoke detectors mount easily and rotate off the base for easy battery
replacement.
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So
that is it. Again, the system is minimal but I think a decent enough system for
the price. Only time will tell now how durable and reliable it is.