I'm currently looking after my elderly Aunt and Uncle's house after they've both gone into respite care. Whether they'll be coming back is still being discussed, but I'm concerned about the house, which is sat empty, and is about 3 miles from us.

I was thinking about fitting a wireless alarm system with a dialler, so I'd at least be contacted if some lowlife decided to try their luck.

Anyone fitted or used one of these? I'm aware that all the sensors need batteries, but I really can't be tearing up floorboards to run alarm cables around someone else's house.

Phil

I've had a Response SA5 for the last 4 years and it has been good as gold.

I just change the batteries throughout every year to stop it nagging

I've installed wireless alarms on two houses and both still work OK after about 18 years (although the keypad on the control unit on one has recently had it). They have generally worked fine apart from two occasions - one where a neighbours visitor's car alarm set the house alarm off for some reason and once where a new washing machine set the house alarm off every time it span. Both caused headaches for a while (literally and metaphorically ) but were eventually solved by changing codes between the sensors and installing a 'supressor' on the power supply line.

They can have a tendency to eat batteries though but that may have changed with nwere models...

Yep - Visonic PowerMax Plus - only thing I've had to do in 3 years is change the battery in the wireless bell box, It should be time to change the batteries in the internal sensors - waiting for one to fail and I'll change them all at the same time.

No need to run wires around the house, which look unsightly (especially if your walls are not White like the wires and clips).

Just a drill, screwdriver and a pair of steps.

I'm currently looking after my elderly Aunt and Uncle's house after they've both gone into respite care. Whether they'll be coming back is still being discussed, but I'm concerned about the house, which is sat empty, and is about 3 miles from us.

I was thinking about fitting a wireless alarm system with a dialler, so I'd at least be contacted if some lowlife decided to try their luck.

Anyone fitted or used one of these? I'm aware that all the sensors need batteries, but I really can't be tearing up floorboards to run alarm cables around someone else's house.

Phil

If the property is going to be vacant for a period of time, you need to ensure that the insurance still covers it.

Wireless is ok for the opportunist, most career burglars will be able to block the wireless signals.

There are of course some vids on youtube to give you worries if you have one installed.

If the property is going to be vacant for a period of time, you need to ensure that the insurance still covers it.

Yeah, hence the enquiry. After 30 days of the house being unoccupied, you only seem to be covered for the house being hit by a glacier, or eaten by a mammoth!

Phil

It's like anything: if a baddie wants to target THEIR house specifically, then nothing's going to stop them. If they're just looking round for opportunities, then ANY alarm is always going to be better than nothing! Only if all the neighbours have high-spec alarms would I worry about installing anything 'special'.

At the end of the day, the last thing you want to do is disturb a burglar (unless you're a ninja) so something with a dialler that alerts you to something happening is probably the best you'd want...

It's like anything: if a baddie wants to target THEIR house specifically, then nothing's going to stop them. If they're just looking round for opportunities, then ANY alarm is always going to be better than nothing! Only if all the neighbours have high-spec alarms would I worry about installing anything 'special'.

At the end of the day, the last thing you want to do is disturb a burglar (unless you're a ninja) so something with a dialler that alerts you to something happening is probably the best you'd want...

My thoughts exactly!

All I want is a deterrent and something to alert me if something happens, not an unbreakable system, which doesn't exist. Let's face it, most burglaries are committed by junkies looking for something to pay for their next fix, not organized experts.

Phil

Yeah, hence the enquiry. After 30 days of the house being unoccupied, you only seem to be covered for the house being hit by a glacier, or eaten by a mammoth!

Phil

Had this couple of years back with dad.He was in hospital up north and we could only get up there from midlands about once a month . Insurance co said that as long as time between visits wasn't longer than 30 days,it should be ok.Fortunately we never had to test that .

But know the problem -you're sort of in limbo till you know whether or not they're going to be able to return .

Yep - the Powermax has a dialler in there which calls me / SWIMBO and lets you 1 way or 2 way in on the system. Had only 1 occasion to test it, when the father in law forgot to cancel the alarm when picking something up for SWIMBO.

I got a call, listened in and could hear people moving about - So I called the local boys in blue who got to my house and called me minutes after I reported the suspected burglary.

I got a call from the police communications room saying they found someone in my home, "Fantastic, nicked" I thought.

They then informed me the that person stated they had permission to be in my home. "I doubt it", I said "No one should be in my house".

The officer then informed me that Reverend XXXXX has a key and says he's my father in law.

Yep - my father in law is an ordained minister.. and I nearly got him arrested.

Yep - the Powermax has a dialler in there which calls me / SWIMBO and lets you 1 way or 2 way in on the system. Had only 1 occasion to test it, when the father in law forgot to cancel the alarm when picking something up for SWIMBO.

I got a call, listened in and could hear people moving about - So I called the local boys in blue who got to my house and called me minutes after I reported the suspected burglary.

I got a call from the police communications room saying they found someone in my home, "Fantastic, nicked" I thought.

They then informed me the that person stated they had permission to be in my home. "I doubt it", I said "No one should be in my house".

The officer then informed me that Reverend XXXXX has a key and says he's my father in law.

Yep - my father in law is an ordained minister.. and I nearly got him arrested.

Bet that gave the local constabulary a laugh

Phil

I've found the wireless alarms work ok and provide some detterence however it's the batteries that need renewing every so often that are a pain.

...it's the batteries that need renewing every so often that are a pain.

Once every year with the ones in the smoke alarm IME, provided the box itself has a solar panel and isn't on a North-facing wall...

I install alarms for a living as well as being an electrician,cctv, access control etc, 10-15 years ago radio systems were crap! now it's all digital stuff much more reliable and the visonic powermax complete is a great little system for your average everday house, on industrial we use castle caretech panel all ID chips in the sensors and programming via a laptop saves an hour in labour time saves bashing the keypad buttons many times over

I install alarms for a living as well as being an electrician,cctv, access control etc, 10-15 years ago radio systems were crap! now it's all digital stuff much more reliable and the visonic powermax complete is a great little system for your average everday house, on industrial we use castle caretech panel all ID chips in the sensors and programming via a laptop saves an hour in labour time saves bashing the keypad buttons many times over

The Powermax can be (I am informed) programmed via laptop. but you need to buy an optional cable and software. Only really useful for programming en-mass and makes reading the logs easier - this is what the company who sold me the system tells me. So I didn't bother getting the cable.

However - the X10 integration option and SMS / Phone line options were what sold the unit to me.. Also has some nice features such as remote control, remote 1 way / 2 way keypads, panic alarm, duress code, silent options, external monitoring.

Tons of features in the Powermax, Highly recommended - 5*'s

Yeah, hence the enquiry. After 30 days of the house being unoccupied, you only seem to be covered for the house being hit by a glacier, or eaten by a mammoth!

Phil

And if you were to occupy the building for a day and night and day every 2 or 3 weeks, would that get around the issue?

I can't help but think if you make enough noise on the correct frequency (Guessing it uses the same as WLAN, Bluetooth, DECT and others) then you could knock the system off or make it go off all the time.

If the second happens, you just keep doing it until people get bored, then use this as a chance to break in.

Edited 10 February, 201115 yr by cheezemonkhai

And if you were to occupy the building for a day and night and day every 2 or 3 weeks, would that get around the issue?

I can't help but think if you make enough noise on the correct frequency (Guessing it uses the same as WLAN, Bluetooth, DECT and others) then you could knock the system off or make it go off all the time.

If the second happens, you just keep doing it until people get bored, then use this as a chance to break in.

It has different modes of operation which prevent this. If a sensor goes "offline" (If this is even possible), it can report this. I'm no expert, but I'd guess the sensors are coded to the master unit, you'd need the frequencies and the codes to falsify an alarm state - the control panel can even detect attempted tamper states.

You're average illiterate burglar is not likely to be able to set the clock on a VCR (showing his age now) let alone design and construct a system of bypassing it.

A dedicated professional criminal though would probably know something more about the system and how to bypass it.

It's like any anti-theft system - if someone wants in badly enough - no system will stop them.. It might slow them down, but it won't stop them.

Alarm systems act as deterrents to the average joe burglar.. Which would you have a go at stealing from - a house with an alarm, or the next door that has no alarm?

....

You're average illiterate burglar is not likely to be able to set the clock on a VCR (showing his age now) let alone design and construct a system of bypassing it.

A dedicated professional criminal though would probably know something more about the system and how to bypass it.

It's like any anti-theft system - if someone wants in badly enough - no system will stop them.. It might slow them down, but it won't stop them.

Alarm systems act as deterrents to the average joe burglar.. Which would you have a go at stealing from - a house with an alarm, or the next door that has no alarm?

I fear you underestimate the average criminal. Most of them will be able to do this sort of stuff as it means they don't have to work, but can get what they want.

However, I do get your point about the deterrent, as if somebody really wants your stuff, they will get it no matter what you do.