tech-man.com ???

Anyone knows what happens with tech-man.com? i can't find a link to renew my account. also nobodys answers my mail....

Reply to
spyros
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Works fine for me

Reply to
mleuck

renew my account. also nobodys answers my mail....

Its still there:

formatting link

Last time I spoke with Jim he said he was pursuing other interests other than alarms, that was a couple of years ago.

Reply to
G. Morgan

w my account. also nobodys answers my mail....

Yes, that is my understanding too. I can also understand why he doesn`t bot her to unlock boards anymore; it simply is too labour intensive to make it worthwhile. I gave it up a year or so ago, and also no longer do it for oth er than local companies or our own company, to assist. With boards so cheap now, it simply doesnt make sense to spend half the price of a new board to unlock an old one.

Reply to
tourman

new my account. also nobodys answers my mail....

other to unlock boards anymore; it simply is too labour intensive to make i t worthwhile. I gave it up a year or so ago, and also no longer do it for o ther than local companies or our own company, to assist. With boards so che ap now, it simply doesnt make sense to spend half the price of a new board to unlock an old one.

Well we've all always agreed that ethically alarm companies should unlock t heir former clients boards but that's why it's never been a big deal if an alarm company did lock out a board.

It's just a minor inconvenience and cost to change it out and after awhile it's just routine. If you're going to do a takeover ..... just bring a boar d with you.

Reply to
Jim

Not for a tech who doesn't want to take the time to learn all the programming ins and outs of a control panel for a single takeover.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

renew my account. also nobodys answers my mail....

bother to unlock boards anymore; it simply is too labour intensive to make it worthwhile. I gave it up a year or so ago, and also no longer do it for other than local companies or our own company, to assist. With boards so cheap now, it simply doesnt make sense to spend half the price of a new board to unlock an old one.

I would only pay for a competitor's unlock code, which I understand you nor Jim provide.

I see the ethical and possible legal implications and know why that's not a service either of you offer.

Reply to
G. Morgan

It hardly seems worth the effort to learn a new (old) panel that you'll never install yourself as new. I never bothered to hand program Napco's for that reason. I learned (and subsequently forgot) how to change the dialer number and user codes via keypad and that's it.

Not to rag on Napco, but even their dealers admit programming by hand is essentially impossible to get right.

Reply to
G. Morgan

I can address program quickly enough at the keypad with a manual in hand. I don't have them memorized like I did with the old FBII panels because I learned how much better they program with a laptop. If you want simple there is a "quick" program menu, and you can't beat a P801 for simplicity in keypad programming.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

Who WANT's to program ANY panel by hand except those who are so inept at us ing a laptop and/or only want to install the simplest equipment covering 2 doors and a motion detector type jobs. Even though Napco has addressed that market with the lower 800 series panels,( and you can't get any simpler th an 10 minutes to program a basic panel) the lowest I've ever gone is the 81

6 because it's the lowest panel that can be downloaded locally with a lapto p.

If you want a versatile panel, the Napco Gemini 1632 is a good all around w orkhorse. I've installed hundreds with no .... in the field failures. And it's in a real metal cabinet instead of a tin can and the PC boards aren't made of compressed mud.

I agree that it's not the easiest programming to learn but it's just that p rogramming that allows them to provide .... if not the MOST versatile progr amming ... it's at the least at the very top. As I mentioned, I've only eve r seen the HAI panels that had more programming options. I find that it's the ahhhh shall I say ..... "technically challenged" installers that don't like them as they never offer their clients any of the advantages of speci alized programming and always only offer nothing but a rudimentary system e ither because they don't want to take the time or they don't or can't learn how to do the more intricate programming. I like having the opportunity of being able to offer my clients anything that they want .... either now or in the future.

Right now I'm involved with a client who has almost doubled the size of his home (which was already huge) where I had installed a 9600 years ago. Now not only can I add all the zones he needs (no big deal) but I can provide h im with the partitioning, event scheduling, integration of emergency lighti ng, vacation arming, access control, and a half dozen other features that would be much more difficult to provide with other panels without using a m odule for each feature or separate controllers. All I need is a relay panel and there's nothing that he's asked for so far that I can't give him plus the features I've made available to him. Add an IBridge to the system and it's capable of all the remote services (arm/disarm, text notify, Z-wave, v ideo etc) that the Nationals are offering and ...... at a comparably unbel ievable low dealer cost. And it's all in the programming availability and o ptions. Wall screens available also. For instance, I can allow his landscap ing crew to access the tool/storage shed on certain days of the week during certain hours of the day during certain months with programming and a few relays.

And amazingly someone says ..... but you can't program it through the keypa d ....... !!!!!!

Yeah ..... sure.

Reply to
Jim

Yeah, I have to agree with that.

For some reason, that has never been a problem for me. I've said it before and I don't know if it just applies to me or not .... but since I've used Napco for over 30 years, I've evolved with the programming. But I think tha t if you've learned to program Napco products, all the others manufactures programming is sort of easy to sort out if you read the manual and with may be a brief call to technical support on a few fine points.

Do you find it so?

A while back I got a surprise with one DSC panel though (I forget which one ) but when you program it by keypad ..... it doesn't show you what your ent ries are. You just have to enter the programming in sequence and you never get to see what you enter. If it doesn't work right, you have to go back in and re do the whole sequence again. Took me a while to figure out that you didn't get to see your entries because they never say in the manual that y ou don't see what you enter.

Reply to
Jim

using a laptop and/or only want to install the simplest equipment covering

2 doors and a motion detector type jobs. Even though Napco has addressed th at market with the lower 800 series panels,( and you can't get any simpler than 10 minutes to program a basic panel) the lowest I've ever gone is the 816 because it's the lowest panel that can be downloaded locally with a lap top.

I can easily program a fairly large installation using a Vista, GE or DSC p anel at the keypad in 10 minutes or less. If you want to use a laptop fine but it's faster at the keypad on most systems

Reply to
mleuck

Actually the P801 usually programs an order of magnitude faster than that. Its easy. I mean dead easy with mostly visible on off indicators except for the phone and account numbers and rf addresses. If you go thru the program sheet first and mark it off the panel takes less than 2 minutes to actually program. I do wish they had laptop programming with the PCI mini, but to be be fair except for retrieving the log you don't need it. It takes longer to go get the laptop out of the truck than to just program it. I usually use the P1632 these days though even in small environments because the customers seem to like the display keypads better than the ones for the P800/801.

The P1632 is also my main workhorse, but I would rarely consider a 3200 or

9600 anymore. Instead I ususally jump right to the X255 with its massive capability.

I do have one gripe about Napco expandability though. In general you might be "able" to run a bunch of keypad devices and zone expanders its not a nice linear expansion with increased current capacity and horn output like the CaddX NX8. I actually considered switching to Caddx for that reason, but then they sold out.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

Why is that a big deal? The equipment hasn't changed if anything GE/Interlogix improved it. And recently released 4 new keypads for it

Reply to
mleuck

logix improved it. And recently released 4 new keypads for it

I would imagine ..... when a company gets bought up by another the possibil ity of them being "eaten up" is considerable. I wouldn't use the product of a newly acquired manufacturer either. Maybe after a long time after the ac quisition I would, but not soon after. But, by that time I'd probably be in to someone more stable ..... that is .... until THEY were bought out. Then it's just "decision time" all over again. Having used Napco all these years I've never had to make that decision.

Reply to
Jim

C panel at the keypad in 10 minutes or less. If you want to use a >laptop f ine but it's faster at the keypad on most systems

It's obviously all about what you get used to. I assume that you mostly pro gram alarm panels. I never even had to look at the program sheet on the old FBI XL panels. But, in addition to alarm panels, I have to program DVR's. cameras, network routers and WAP's, various home automation devices and hu bs, GSM radios, audio receivers, other A/V devices and universal remotes et c, etc. My brain doesn't need to remember anything more then absolutely nec essary.

With laptop programming of alarm panels I have set up templates of default settings. So with maybe more than half or so of the programmable items in a default template, I just have to enter the account number and tweek a few items unique to the job and I'm done. And with the Quickloader's panel erro r check feature (which isn't perfect, but) programming a panel goes pretty quick with little concern about having pressed the wrong keypad button beca use I had to program every panel entirely at the keypad. Also I can check n umerous programming entries on a single page, instead of having to check lo cation by location at the keypad. And, with the Quickloader's DOS page, you can see and modify about half or more of the programming all on one page.

So anyway, you get used to what you get used to.

Reply to
Jim

New keypads!! Did not know!! I guess I am a bit out of some loop somewhere. Anyhow, have you used any of these new keypads and/or do you have any comments pro/con you would like to share??

Thanks,

Les

Reply to
ABLE1

Yeah, I have to agree with that.

For some reason, that has never been a problem for me. I've said it before and I don't know if it just applies to me or not .... but since I've used Napco for over 30 years, I've evolved with the programming. But I think that if you've learned to program Napco products, all the others manufactures programming is sort of easy to sort out if you read the manual and with maybe a brief call to technical support on a few fine points.

Do you find it so?

A while back I got a surprise with one DSC panel though (I forget which one) but when you program it by keypad ..... it doesn't show you what your entries are. You just have to enter the programming in sequence and you never get to see what you enter. If it doesn't work right, you have to go back in and re do the whole sequence again. Took me a while to figure out that you didn't get to see your entries because they never say in the manual that you don't see what you enter.

With DSC, you can re-view the entries by using the fire button(s) (if they are split), or, you can use an alpha-numeric keypad to view live as you enter.

Reply to
E DAWSON

I would only pay for a competitor's unlock code, which I understand you nor Jim provide.

I see the ethical and possible legal implications and know why that's not a service either of you offer.

Hi,

You do not need any unlock code for Networx, nor Honeywell. Networx are very easily defeated, but you will need a computer. Honeywell are the easiest, no computer needed. Only about 3 minutes worth of work. Concord takes about 5 minutes. No computer needed, Just about got Monitronics done, just waiting on some slow time. Haven't had time to break DSC yet, but with the list above that I learned by myself, it probably won't take long.

About computer versus keypad programming, I started with keypad and learned from the programming books. They do provice an insight on how the geeks who came up with this stuff think. This helps you to understand how to get around programming issues or how limited capabilities of certain panels may be overcome. It takes me less time to program from the keypad than the time it takes to get the computer up and sofware running. Once you get into the engineers heads, you start figuring out how you can overcome their defenses, such as lockout codes, etc.

The computer programming does not give me any insight into the engineers minds, because it has been rearranged so that it can be presented in an efficient way to program a panel. When the engineers put it down into a programming manual, it preserves the hierachy and step-by-step logic. Of course, that is just my opinion, but it has allowed me to crack the list of companies mentioned above.

PS. If someone in this forum, has found a quick way to get into DSC, I may be interested/enticed to trade some info back. Though I don't know how such an exchange may be worked out without being scammed by an unknown party.

Reply to
E DAWSON

3 LED's and a small touchscreen. I wish they made one for the Concord
Reply to
mleuck

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