Recent content by brian_mk

You may be right, but I'm a retired engineer, so I like trying to fix things (as long as it doesn't involve climbing ladders). 🙂 It seems odd to me that the control panel gives no warning that the tamper loop has failed (i.e. is already open circuit when the alarm is initially enabled). That...

I did a bit more investigation & cable tracing yesterday. It turns out that the cable feeding the existing bell does actually contain three pairs of wires but one pair is not used. I think I've come up with a possible solution:- The bell cable along with six cables from the first floor...

Out of interest, do domestic intruder alarms actually make any difference when it comes to deterring criminals? This 2015 paper concludes they are ineffective:-...

My house has a 30 year old Securitec alarm system. Even though the alarm was not enabled, it triggered at 2:30am a few nights ago following a brief power cut. I could tell there had been a power cut because a mains alarm clock, with no battery backup, had reset itself and the clock display was...