More alarm questions.

Your last paragraph may tell the tale. It sounds like you are shooting for a steak dinner but have only purchased hamburger.

Your panel is okay for temporary or portable applications (I gave one to my niece when she went away to college) but there comes a time when you stop throwing good money after bad. Use what you got until you can save up enough for a Vista 20 or First Alert FA168 (same technology as yours so the wireless you have will be compatible) and in the meantime get some education on fishing wires and other concealment techniques and run as much wire as you can in preparation for the final permanent system.

As for the glass breaks, there are sensitivity adjustments you can make that 'might' help with the airplane noise. I always program any GB's near a kitchen or such as an interior zone so it won't be active when you are home, I'm not sure if the Lynx will do 'night stay' but if it does you can program that zone to be active when you go to bed.

I decided to try out one of the glass breaks last night. I left it on max sensitivity while watching movies with the stereo turned up to a fair volume. Working ok for me so far.

I gave it the test by banging on the patio door and shaking my keys and was able to set it off once with that method. What did easily set it off for me was when I moved it and sat it on the table. I realize they are normally not moved but if a vibration like that can set it off I'm worried about thunderstorms.

My lynx does not have a night stay option. As I learn more about alarms I will take your advice and upgrade to the vista 20. Is programming fairly similar? Its a great relief to know that all these expensive wireless sensors will be compatible. Family would be very happy to receive my lynx when I do upgrade so its not exactly a waste of money either.

I was still wondering what are the report codes for when adding transmitters?

My system should be ready for monitoring in about 2 weeks once my phone line is installed and I'm happy with the glass breaks. Are there any ways to conceal the phone box? I thought about planting a few bushes in front of it. We have underground lines in our area. Another future project will be to install some kind of buzzer if the phone line is cut.

If the alarm is tripped and the police come out how do they respond? I'm assuming they do some sort of walk around and check for forced entry. If everything appears safe and sound will they still break into your house to verify? I will be using alarm relay. I was also hoping that after calling the police the alarm company would contact me.

thanks again for taking the time to respond. I'm actually having a lot of fun while trying to make my home safer.

Leave them blank for now. When you get monitored fill in any value (10 is what I do) to activate that zone for contact ID reporting.

Thunder can set them off if it's especially strong or if the glassbreak is too sensitive. However, the physical vibration you delivered by moving the device was probably many times the amount it would sustain when there's lightning outside. I'veused glassbreaks for many years on my own installations. The IntelliSense (Honeywell) models perform as well as or better than others I tried. In Connecticut thunderstorms weren't as frequent as they are in Sarasota (daily during summer) but we got our fair share of them. We monitored hundreds of systems, most of them with glassbreaks. When a major T-storm came through we'd typically get a half dozen false signals from whatever town was getting the brunt of the storm.

That's not a bad idea but do spend some time getting accustomed to what you already have before you spend more money on an upgrade.

I haven't programmed a Lynx but the Vista-20 is fairly easy.

Sounds good but take your time so you know exactly what you want/need before you change it out.

If you use a central monitoring facility you can program what codes are sent for the different types of alarm. Most central stations accept Ademco Contact ID (aka CID or Point ID) which has predefined codes so you don't need to worry about that until you select a monitoring center. If/when you get it monitored you might want to inquire if the company will set the parameters for you. They'll probably do it for free to get your business. Just make sure they agree NOT to lock you out of programming. Some of them do that and then refuse to give you the code even after you've fulfilled your obligations to them.

There are a number of ways to protect the phone line protector (aka the "demarc"). You can cover it with a heavy-gauge metal box and cover the wire with a U shaped protector made by VoiceLok. That's a simple and relatively effective but somewhat expensive solution. If the phone line is aerial you can lower the strain relief a bit, reroute the drop wire in conduit and relocate the protector inside the house if there's a good spot inside the wall.

If it's a buried cable and you have a basement you can dig around it and run it through the wall a few inches below grade. If you do that insert a short piece of galvanised conduit in the hole and run the cable through it so it's not in direct contact with the cement. The cable material *might* be impervious to cement but I prefer to err on the side of caution.

If it's buried but there's no basement, relocate the protector inside the wall (make it a little lower so you have anough cable to reach) and run it in conduit from below grade. Make a 2' square frame of

Note: All of the above stuff is against phone company tarrifs which say that only they can mess with the drop. However, once it's done they never do anything about it (although they can and Olson, Morgan or one of the others here will tell you stories about some fictional customer whose phone was cut off and/or he got sued by Mark Sableman for doing this. :))

It varies from town to town and often even from one officer to the next. Just like anyone else, some police are dilligent and helpful. Others are ... well, not. I've heard police actually hanging around to help an elderly customer understand his alarm. I've also seen cases where they left the premises without fully investigating even though there was a clearly broken window and the thief was still inside.

No.

The procedure is usually the reverse. First they call the premises. Then, if there's no answer, they call the police. Finally, they start calling the list of responsible parties (the "keyholders").

No problem. Feel free to ask more. After all, the newsgroup is for sharing information about security systems.

It is basically the same platform, with the exception of some different fields, programming is the same. User operation is identical as well.

The others had got it. As long as the first digit isn't a zero that zone will be sent to the central station in the event of an alarm. So when you do get monitoring ensure ALL zones get that first digit changed or your system could be in alarm and central station won't get the signal.

Get the demarc off the outside of the house and you won't have to worry about it. You can also get a cellular back up. Alarmnet is compatible with your line of equipment and can send individual alarm signals just like the land line. Just make sure your replacement panel is ECP capable. It'll work without it but not nearly as smooth.

You will want to discuss this with your monitoring company. Make sure you understand precisely what their response will be for each type of alarm they receive.

Good Luck