tino@hou2f.UUCP (A.TINO) (02/10/86)
Does anyone have advice or comments about burglar alarms? I am especially interested in info on Radio Shack products.
ccrse@ucdavis.UUCP (Steve Ehrhardt) (02/12/86)
> Does anyone have advice or comments about burglar alarms? > I am especially interested in info on Radio Shack products. My experience with Radio Shaft's alarm products is decidedly mixed. Some of their products appear to be among the better buys in their class (their keypad controller), some are OK (their IR motion detec- tor), and some appear to be very poor buys. In particular, I would counsel you to think twice before buying their "grey box" alarm system. I has several deficiencies which make it, in my opinion, a rather poor buy, including: 1) Lack of provision battery backup for more than a very short time. (You can rig an external gel cell, but you'll probably void the warranty.) 2) Nothing to permit checking the state of an individual circuit. (If a circuit won't close, you'll have to check everything to find out why.) 3) No individual fusing of power supply circuits. (If someone can short, say, the siren, they'll blow the main power supply fuse, rendering the whole system inoperative.) In the system that I installed, I was able to correct all of the above problems (plus a few more not mentioned), but only at the cost of a fair amount of time, labor and money. What I haven't been able to correct is the tendency for minor dips in the household power to cause the system to go off! This sort of thing tends to annoy the neighbors, and the police take a dim view of it too. Check locally to see if there isn't a company that sells "professional" alarm system components to the public. If there is, you may be able to get more for your money from them. If not, there are mail-order companies, such as Dick Smith Electronics, which sell what appear to be better control boxes for less money than RS. which sell some rather nice units All of the above, and other problems not mentioned, can be corrected by someone who has the knowlege and the inclination
smh@mhuxl.UUCP (henning) (02/13/86)
> My experience with Radio Shaft's alarm products is decidedly mixed. > Some of their products appear to be among the better buys in their > class (their keypad controller), some are OK (their IR motion detec- > tor), and some appear to be very poor buys. > > In particular think twice before buying their "grey box" alarm system. > I has several deficiencies which make it a rather poor buy. The Radio Shack wireless burglar alarm systems are made by Universal Security, in Owen Mills, Maryland. It is an excelllent system seen advertised in many other reputable catalogs. Universal has been very responsive to several questions I had.