security system

[sd formula]

Are there any home security system experts out there? If so, I would appreciate your help. Here are a few questions. I am trying to change the access code to the alarm system on my garage. Previous owner didn't use the system and did not have the code. He forgot it I guess. All the alarm companies that I have talked to want to sell me a three to five year contract for a monitored system. I don't plan on putting a phone in the garage (cell phone works good enough for me) so they want another $300 for a "radio" device for monitering, or I will have to put a land line in the garage. There are instructions on how to reset the system to factory defaults. I am reluctant to do this as I don't know if that would help solve the problem or make things worse. Are special devices needed to reset a pass word? The panel is an FBI XL2 (1993 model) Fire Burglary Instruments Inc. If you are a person who knows the technical workings and access code reset procedure and can walk me through this, PM me with your fee for services. Thanks, Glen

[Luckydevil]

I bet you could neogtiate your way into a free/new control panel if you signed a 3 year or whatever contract. I've been offered so many freebies from the alarm companies it is ridiculous. At least in my area they will bend over backwards to sign you up. The new car alarm looking key fobs are pretty cool, get some of those too.

[Bradley Miller]

It depends on what you want -- scare tactic for the "average criminal" or something truly useful. If they want your stuff bad enough the security system will just be a little bit of a hinderance. I was considering something like a wireless system from alarm.com -- no telephone wires to be cut. If you do go for the "you'll pay for this free system many times over monthly" system, be sure not to advertise the company name in the yard. Nothing says "I have something to steal" and "Here's what system it is" like an alarm company calling card.

[sd formula]

I bet you could neogtiate your way into a free/new control panel if you signed a 3 year or whatever contract. I've been offered so many freebies from the alarm companies it is ridiculous. At least in my area they will bend over backwards to sign you up. The new car alarm looking key fobs are pretty cool, get some of those too.
Luckydevil, Thanks for the fast feedback. I'm pretty much in the same market as you (Tampa). But the best quote I've gotten is about $35 a month for 3 years and I would have to add a phone line another $20-22 a month or pay $300 for the radio gizmo. That key fob deal sounds pretty cool! No mention of that from the salesman who came out to visit. Is that a two button deal (ie arm/disarm) or is there a key pad that requires a code to arm/disarm? Another concern I have is false alarms, like during hurricane season. Have you had any problems with false alarms? Sounds like you did your home work on alarm companies, who did you go with & why? I'm in the early stages of research, but would just like to get it working to see if I like it, before paying for monitoring, mainteance and all of the other add on features.

[sd formula]

It depends on what you want -- scare tactic for the "average criminal" or something truly useful. If they want your stuff bad enough the security system will just be a little bit of a hinderance. I was considering something like a wireless system from alarm.com -- no telephone wires to be cut. If you do go for the "you'll pay for this free system many times over monthly" system, be sure not to advertise the company name in the yard. Nothing says "I have something to steal" and "Here's what system it is" like an alarm company calling card.
Bradley, Thanks for the prompt feedback. I'll take a look at alarm.com. Reguarding the company sign in the front yard, it seems that this would be tell a criminal to move on to another place. In my location almost everybody has an alarm company sign in the yard and stickers on the windows, so the absence of a sign might make me more of a target.

[bmwpower]

You're problem may be the companies you're talking to. Try contacting some smaller companies or some "Mom and Pop" alarm companies. The equipment you can get from them will probably be the same for a lot less money. That's what I did. I found a local guy who knows his stuff and will install jst about anything you want...for a lot less than the big companies.

Then once you have an idea of the equipment you want/need from the smaller guy, ask him about monitoring. Chances are his monitoring price is cheaper, too. Just for kicks, you should ask the big companies who does their monitoring. Hopefully they will tell you. You can try to go with them directly instead of through the big company if you desire a "bigger" monitoring company.

For monitoring (without equipment lumped in) you should be paying around $5-15 a month.

A good, local alarm guy should be able to sort out your problems. I know there are some knowledgable alarm guys on here, but their names escape me.

[sd formula]

You're problem may be the companies you're talking to. Try contacting some smaller companies or some "Mom and Pop" alarm companies. The equipment you can get from them will probably be the same for a lot less money. That's what I did. I found a local guy who knows his stuff and will install jst about anything you want...for a lot less than the big companies.

Then once you have an idea of the equipment you want/need from the smaller guy, ask him about monitoring. Chances are his monitoring price is cheaper, too. Just for kicks, you should ask the big companies who does their monitoring. Hopefully they will tell you. You can try to go with them directly instead of through the big company if you desire a "bigger" monitoring company.

For monitoring (without equipment lumped in) you should be paying around $5-15 a month.

A good, local alarm guy should be able to sort out your problems. I know there are some knowledgable alarm guys on here, but their names escape me.
Thanks for the feedback, BMW. I've been trying to find "that local guy", even some of the bigger companies have given me leads to a specialist for my type of panel. So far dead ends. When you say $5-$15 a month without equipment lumped in are you talking about equipment rental or monthly mainteance? On a related subject, have any of you guys been watching the TV show "To Catch A Thief" on the Discovery channel? Pretty cool show on identifying your security system flaws & how burglars work.

[toolman]

I installed this wireless system 4 years ago and love it. Easy to install and all sorts of accessories. I do have a land line so the system will call my pager and cell phone if tripped.

http://www.homesecuritystore.com/ezStore123/DTProductZoom.asp?productID=1164

[sd formula]

I installed this wireless system 4 years ago and love it. Easy to install and all sorts of accessories. I do have a land line so the system will call my pager and cell phone if tripped.

http://www.homesecuritystore.com/ezStore123/DTProductZoom.asp?productID=1164
Will the MCT302 work with an existing wired system? In their specs. they only mention 2 wired zones and 28 wireless zones. Sounds like I would have to convert a bunch of my wired zones to wireless to use their system??? Thanks for the feedback.

[bmwpower]

Thanks for the feedback, BMW. I've been trying to find "that local guy", even some of the bigger companies have given me leads to a specialist for my type of panel. So far dead ends. When you say $5-$15 a month without equipment lumped in are you talking about equipment rental or monthly mainteance? On a related subject, have any of you guys been watching the TV show "To Catch A Thief" on the Discovery channel? Pretty cool show on identifying your security system flaws & how burglars work.

Either one. I just checked - I pay around $17 a month, monitoring only - they monitor my alarms remotely and call the approproate authorities when needed, ie call center.

Saw the show several times. Pretty shocking, but very informative.

[RobSmith]

How do you get on with your neighbours ?
I had a system that dialed back to a home base and it was useless. Too far away, too expensive etc.
So I had them to configure the alarm to dial my next door neighbours house ( told them to just have a look from their house without intervening) and to dial my dads' place. He comes around and has a look. No problem. The alarm goes off, the burglar runs off and he's spotted. New video survelance stuff is ok but I understand it is not recogniseable in court as it can be manipulated. Nothing beats a good neighbour !

[Tech Guy]

SD I think I can help you here as I do it for a living. Whatever you do-do not set it back to factory default or you lose everything including the zone programming. havn't used FBI in a long time but let me check my files and I will get back to you later today hopefully with some good news. We should be able to reset your code if we are not locked out and you are good to go.

[rtremaine]

here you go:

http://digisec.hu/files/manuals/X%20-%20INSTALL/FBII/FBI_XL2.pdf

[Tech Guy]

Tremaine beat me to it. He has included the programming manual. Hopefully the installers code is at factory so you can get in and program it. If the installers code has been changed then you are pretty much out of luck in regards to programming as you will be locked out. There are devices out there to unlock panels but you have to find someone who has one and Im a little too far north of Florida to help you out unless you want to pay my air fare. Haha. If all else fails you are into a new panel. If thats the case you may want to swap it out with a DSC panel. You can buy them yourself and install it (someone here can help walk you through it) and this way you are not stuck with monitoring. Hope that helps.

[Tech Guy]

Forgot to add that you may be able to factory default it and reprogram from scratch using the manual providing the factory default has not been locked out with previous programming.

[Tech Guy]

Just a quick low down on how the free alarm system work. A study in Canada was done a few years ago and it takes an alarm company 2.1 years to break even on the free alarm they gave you. That just pays for the equipment they installed and not their labour or expenses for the monitoring station or the installation.

If you were to outright buy a system from a smaller company, typical costs for a standard size house are around $1K. This includes all ground floor opening windows and doors, basement windows, a couple of motion detectors and maybe some smoke or CO2 detectors, two keypads and the control panel and the labour to put it in. Monitoring is extra and is usually $15-25 per month.

The free alarm system typically consists of the panel, 1 keypad, two door contacts and a motion detector. The most basic you can get. Once you start adding additional windows, doors , motions, smokes etc, the cost now goes up and in the end you are close to what you paid for the outright system. The contracts are usually good for 3 years. At this point you own the equipment and are now just paying for the monitoring.

Be careful with the larger companies as they will put in their own equipment (proprietary) which down the road, no other alarm company can work on. You are then stuck with that company unless you cange out the panel and keypads. Back in the day there was no such thing as the free alarm system. You paid full pop and thats why the systems were a luxury for most homeowners. Then came along the free systems which almost every company did. That trend has started to reverse itself over the last 8 years and there are really only the big companies now giving them away for free and that is starting to change as well.

If you want to do it yourself without monitioring, there are enough places you can buy the equipment outright and you just install it.

As for video surveillance-sorry Robsmith but your comments about using video in court is somewhat incorrect. If you install a cheap ass video system you got from costco or the internet, then yes that statement is true. If you pay for a good system and install it the DVR will come with a coded software watermark which proves to the court that it has not been tampered with.

SD-any luck yet on getting into programming ?