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security system advice

Hi everyone,

I have recently had a number of break-ins at a rental property I am trying to renovate. I have been doing a total rewire since the house was built in 1900 and still has a couple of exterior fuse panels on the back porch (it was a duplex I'm converting back into a single family house) A day after I had the house ready for rough wiring inspection thieves broke into the 6' crawlspace and cut and stole all of the wire running under the house. I secured the crawlspace a little better, had the house rewired and nearly ready for inspection again and the thieves returned, broke off the lock and cut the wire again...I'm fed up and need a security system (at least temporarily).

I'm looking at the DSC 1832. I want to put a motion sensor under the house near the new wire breaker box where all of the wires come under the house with both a siren under and outside of the house. I also purchased a couple of pepper spray release traps that work off of the

12VDC bell signal(one for under the house and one for in the house). I plan on placing another motion sensor in the house in the hall where the breaker panel is located because that is where the thieves will most likely go if they can't get in under the house. (I put a serious lock mechanism on the door to get under the house).

Here are my questions/problems:

  1. To pass the rough wiring inspection, I will most likely have to remove the old fuse boxes from the house leaving the house without power for a few weeks until I can get the sheetrock completed and the final wiring inspected and passed. What are my options for powering the security system during this time? I thought about using a 12V car battery somehow but I'm not sure how to go about it at this point. Has anyone out there run into having to power your alarm system for an extended amount of time without power to the house?

  1. Will the DSC be able to drive 2 sirens and 2 pepper spray traps without some type of aux power supply? The pepper spray traps use just a few mA to power an audible countdown timer and then 800mA to power the solenoid for 30 seconds while the pepper spray is dispersed. The sirens will be standard interior and exterior sirens but I will attempt to get sirens with a lower amp draw.

Does DSC sell an Aux power supply to fit into the control panel?

  1. This brings up another question. I will have 2 pepper spray traps but i don't want them both to go off. Can I control 2 seperate 12V bells based on what zones are triggered with the DSC?

  1. Based on the info above, will the DSC be the best choice or would a VISTA 20P or other system be better?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I have never installed a security system but i have done other electonic projects and I'm not usually firghtened by wiring diagrams and instructions.

Reply to
chambersdon
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I'd hate to be the alarm guy on that job.

Reply to
alarman

Sue him? Those dumbass builders musta spilt 'em. Donno how they got there.

Reply to
alarman

I did that once in an air conditioning duct work from the roof...bastards never tried that way in again.

Reply to
Crash Gordon

I never heard of Pepper spay traps.

Where did you get them? Got a product name or a website? I can think of a place to use one right now!

Reply to
Jim

Oh, absolutely. I have several "practical" applications in mind.

Reply to
alarman

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Reply to
chambersdon

Actually, I do.

With the value of copper and metal going up, there's been a lot of thievery of metal going on around here. Plumbing shop was relieved of over $70,000.00 in copper a few months ago on Long Island. I've got a General Contractor who stores his metal in a shanty type structure in back of his shop and it's been hit a few times in the last year or so. Not much in value but costly when he thinks he's got material and has to stop a job because it's not there. I was thinking that a quick way to get them out of there would be with some kind of pepper spray. With CCTV I think he'd just have the pleasure of watching some stranger take his stuff and he'd need lighting and etc, etc. And once he stops who evers doing this, he's left with a very expensive CCTV system that never gets used anymore.

I see that a company by the name of Revel in Pittsburg has a multi canister device activated by 12 volts, but it's only for indoor use. I don't see anything for outdoor use. I can imagine they don't recommend it for outdoors because of the wind, freezing and other environmental reasons, but I'm going to call and see what they say. The area's small so maybe if the device is sealed or protected from the weather, it would do the job.

Reply to
Jim

Thanks, that's the one I located also.

Reply to
Jim

You might want to look into smoke generators. These were developed in the UK about ten or fifteen years ago as a way to thwart smash and grab burglaries. They fill up the area with a dense nontoxic smoke in a matter of seconds. If they can't see, they can't steal.

Cross-zoning of initiating devices is recommended. :-) Obviously, this system doesn't get along well with smoke detectors, and if the local fire department doesn't know about the system, they may conclude the building is on fire.

smokecloak.com is one of the original companies; there are others.

Reply to
Nomen Nescio

Yes, I know about them but they're also for inside and if I remember right, they're quite costly. I just think something that gets them out of there once or twice will end it. I don't think the customer should pay a lot, for something like CCTV, etc, that's only going to be used a few times .... at the most. But it's going to be up to him. Depends on how much of an inconvenience and cost it is for him to lose the material.

Reply to
Jim

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