On 8/16/2010 1:37 AM, Wayne Boatwright wrote:
On Sun 15 Aug 2010 06:49:02a, Jeff Thies told us...

On 8/15/2010 8:34 AM, wrote:
On Aug 15, 12:05 am, "Ed wrote:
wrote



Are you the landlord or the tenant in this 900 s.f. house ?

If you are the tenant you will need to discuss this addition
with your landlord and obtain permission as the
installer/dealer is going to need consent from the property
owner to install the control box and phone dialer for central
monitoring...

This type of system has no dealer or installer. It is plugged
into the phone nad there is an AC adapter for power. I don't
see where the homeowner needs to give consent for anything.



If you are the landlord don't be cheap about this... If you
are looking to invest in your rental home and add an amenity
then go through a local alarm company dealer which will be
around to service your system in the future if something ever
goes wrong with it...

Our alarm company charges $90 an hour for service. This entire
system sell for $93. Sure, it may not be quite as effective as
a monitored system, but a blasting siren solves most break-in
problems.


I installed a wireless one back in the 80s made by Schlage in my
condo. Overall, it worked OK and served it's purpose. Except
one time it did malfunction while I was away on a business trip,
set off the siren, and failed to reset. After neighbors called
me, I had to get my cleaning lady to go over and cut the wires to
the siren to stop it.

If it's a property you are renting, you may need to get
permission from the landlord to install it. For example, how are
you going to mount window and door sensors?


A little background: I've come into a small inheritance (my
brother
and myself took care of Mom in her house rather than a nursing
home).

It's a great time to buy houses if you have cash, a bad time if
you
don't. I have a house I just acquired with tenants (previous owner
just dropped 10K in improvements it, nicely done, my price 17K).
Next week, I'll be buying an unoccupied house. Good neighbors
though.
In addition, I have my own house. I'd like to put an alarm in
each.
I've looked at several and they seem to have similar to identical
features. I know a bit about electronics and most electronics are
designed using the same chips or chip families, the ergonomics are
different and the discreet component that "glue" it together are
different, but the core logic/functionality is identical. I'm
thinking this may be the case here.

I'm thinking one or two motion sensors and the door sensors.
The
window sensors I think are a pain, and the motion detector should
pick it up. I think we are now in the wireless age and I'm down
with not crawling through a crawl space. These alarms seem to let
you set rules for different zones, so some may trip an alarm and
some will just log the intrusion.

But I have no actual experience with them...

Jeff


Our current system has all wireless contacts for windows, doors, and
motion/body heat detectors, as well as smoke detectors. All transmit
back to the central panel. The siren is also wirelss.

Which system (brand name)?

Jeff


If desired,
all the window and door contacts can be mounted using adhesive velcro
tape, so there is no defacing of the surfaces. Our system is
monitored with a phone line connection, but similar standalone
systems are availalble without the monitoring feature. Most systems
have a CO2 detector available if you have gas appliances. Our
complete system cost only $149. Monitoring is $29/mo.