Older installers tend to
install the alarm panels they first learned to program. The only things
that shake many out of their comfort zones are profound unreliability,
quantum leaps in technology and plunges in price. But for new installers
there are choices to make.
ALARM systems are the most fundamental electronic security
solutions. They consist of sensors, zone comms paths, a controller and a
communications module, which alerts a remote third party monitoring
team to intrusion so it can organise response. It’s all quite
straightforward laid out like this.
But
despite appearances there’s plenty to think about from the selection of
brand, the performance of controllers, the decision to go with wireless
or hardwired zone loops, the choice of sensors and the type of
monitoring technology employed. Recent introductions of touch screens,
remote apps, video verification and home automation make the decision
more complex still.
When
it comes to more complicated ancillaries, the need to ensure you
install the best equipment becomes greater still. If you choose to
up-sell clients to greater complexity, it must be supported by
performance and by reliability or it will become an albatross around
your neck.
Cost
and reliability are intertwined – that’s because better systems come at
a price. Not a very much higher price, mind you. Fact is, the cost of
quality alarm kits is extremely low. It’s obviously possible to spend
thousands on an alarm system and turn a suburban house into Fort Knox
but there’s always a trade-off between cost and performance – and
winning or losing the job. Just be sure to spend a little more on the
best systems and components and be astute enough to sell superior
technology to users.
As
an installer, the issue when you’re providing alarm systems is ensuring
that the technology you install and the way you install it guarantees
you will never be called out for a fun half day hunting bugs in a system
that’s unsupported in this hemisphere. It sounds a small thing but it’s
absolutely vital.
Reliability
is also about customer service and, quite obviously, customer service
is what your reputation as an installer is built on. Reliability applies
to every aspect of a system, from the sensors to the terminations, from
keyfobs to the up-time of the remote comms path to the control room.
I’ve
personally had 4 alarm systems in my life. The most dependable was a
DAS NX16. I’ve forgotten what the other systems were now but I do know I
stopped using them. One developed a controller fault and would no
longer seal. Another ate all its sensor batteries in a month then
reported hundreds and hundreds of low battery signals at 50 cents a call
while I was on 3 weeks holiday. How I laughed! Another could not resist
going into random, raucous alarm for reasons unknown. One day the
police came to call and I never armed that alarm system again.
As
a new installer then, choose a quality manufacturer that offers a long
warranty on a product that’s tediously reliable. Choose sensors for the
application – not whatever costs the least. And again, make the effort
to sell your quality selection to users. Be sure users
understand that when they ask you to install $20 alarm sensors, they are
actually going to get $10 alarm sensors.
This
rule about quality sensors always applies. There’s no point installing
slick looking touch screen interfaces in every bedroom that can be
accessed from the latest iPad while on safari in the Masai Mara if every
afternoon for a 3 month period over winter the lowering sun sparks off
the top of that glass table in the family room and blasts a $10 PIR into
false alarm.
This
is an area you need to think hard about. Reliability inferred by
quality (and sensible installation) means resistance to false alarms.
False alarms are the bane of the lives of users. They are the number one
reason users give up using their systems and choose to let their
monitoring contracts lapse.
If
you are going to install an alarm system, it must be fit for purpose.
It’s not there to detect sunbeams, it’s not there to detect cats, flies
or thermal currents. It’s not there to detect the UHF conversations of
truckies on the freeway. It’s there to detect humans, and only humans.
And detecting only humans requires an elevated level of design, build
and installation quality not represented by slapped in, mass produced
knock-offs trading on volume rather than reputation.
You
will definitely ask yourself wired or wireless? It’s a harder choice
than it sounds. Sure wireless is easy to install. A child could do it.
The trouble is that some wireless is reliable and some is less reliable
and some sites are harder than others for RF to get around. Wireless is
great if done well but cheap wireless sensors are horrid.
In comparison, hardwire is expensive once.
Hardwire might be tougher to install but it never munches batteries, it
never suffers apoplectic fits induced by stray EMI, the nebulous nature
of which couldn’t be established by teams of white-coated scientists
from the CERN Institute. Let’s be very clear on this. Do your homework
on wireless. If you are going to use it, use the best.
“If
you are going to install an alarm system, it must be fit for purpose.
It’s not there to detect sunbeams, it’s not there to detect cats, flies
or thermal currents.”
Source: http://www.securityelectronicsandnetworks.com/NewsDetail/13-07-17/quality_the_key_to_reliable_alarm_systems.aspx
