Eircom Phonewatch Alarm

altor

Ivenus wrote: »

Moved into a a house recently that has an eircom phone watch Alarm. I'm not paying to have this monitored as its too expensive. However it's my understanding that there isn't a bell/siren that can be heard outside the house when the alarm is triggered.
Does any one know if the alarm is ok for insurance purposes? And if not , is it easy enough to get an alarm bell/siren fitted so that it can be heard outside?

The alarm was fitted in 2005 & it's a SIMON system.

Thanks

If the system is not monitored and just on your insurance as a working alarm then you should be ok but check with your insurance company to confirm.

A 6V SABB can be added to the system. This system can also be set up to ring your phone in the event of an alarm activation instead of P.W..

cscook

Me again! Your previous help with my battery problems was much appreciated - I clicked the "thanks" when we had happy green lights all round again back then .

Minor panic here because we've just switched to UPC for our phone, and since the EircomPhonewatch (old Nynex box) is no longer monitored I had never even thought about the alarm till I started reading the small print on the porting form.
We used occasionally to get a warning light flashing for a line fault but once I hit the reset button it would go green again.
I presume we'll get this orange alert light again once our current landline provider ports the number to UPC - and it won't go green again...???
What's the best/cheapest way to have the box disconnected from the phone?
Thanks in advance.

Thunderbird2

You could wire the UPC into the phone points around the house

cscook

Thunderbird2 wrote: »

You could wire the UPC into the phone points around the house

Thanks for the suggestion.
It's bit beyond our limited capabilities, though, and presumably it would still require working with the alarm box , which I definitely don't feel competent to do.

KoolKid

Take a look here & see if it helps.
If you get the line into the existing Eircom sockets there should be no need to go near the alarm as it will already be connected to those lines.

altor

cscook wrote: »

Me again! Your previous help with my battery problems was much appreciated - I clicked the "thanks" when we had happy green lights all round again back then .

Minor panic here because we've just switched to UPC for our phone, and since the EircomPhonewatch (old Nynex box) is no longer monitored I had never even thought about the alarm till I started reading the small print on the porting form.
We used occasionally to get a warning light flashing for a line fault but once I hit the reset button it would go green again.
I presume we'll get this orange alert light again once our current landline provider ports the number to UPC - and it won't go green again...???
What's the best/cheapest way to have the box disconnected from the phone?
Thanks in advance.

You are not going to get any benefit from connecting the UPC to the alarm as when it tries to communicate with P.W you will still get the same fault.

Simply press program, enter your user code, press 71 then press reset.

cscook

altor wrote: »

You are not going to get any benefit from connecting the UPC to the alarm as when it tries to communicate with P.W you will still get the same fault.

Simply press program, enter your user code, press 71 then press reset.

Thank you - I'll give this a go tomorrow. User code is just the normal 4-digit code, I take it. It's all I have, at any rate.

altor

cscook wrote: »

Thank you - I'll give this a go tomorrow. User code is just the normal 4-digit code, I take it. It's all I have, at any rate.

Yes that is correct.

Scallywaggy

Hi I managed to get phonewatch to stop monitoring my alarm but it now beeps every few hours to tell me there is phone trouble, I know from reading here that it's the alarm trying to make contact with phonewatch, but I'd really like it to stop. Is there any way to stop it? The letter I received from Eircom after ceasing the service said that they would have to send an engineer out to "disconnect" the alarm and that there would be a "fee". The alarm is a concord but when it was installed I was given the password only not the engineers code and the paperwork went missing a long time ago. I'd really prefer not to have to pay to fix this problem, after all it was lack of funds that made me stop the monitoring in the first place...Any suggestions would be great thanks!

frankmul

I'm getting an eircom phonewatch alarm install. This might be a silly question, but how do they bring power and telephone to the alarm panel. Is it surface mount?

KoolKid

They will run it surface & in trunking usually.

You really should shop around before committing to that.
Ensure the following:
Do you get a working outside bell? An external alert is essential & standard in all systems.
Secondly have you Inertia shock sensors & contacts on all accessible windows & doors? This along with 1 PiR is the basic coverage needed.
Thirdly , have you asked them will they switch your alarm to another phone provider if you switch away from Eircom for your land line?
That along with no external bell really ties you to the one provider & its no necessary.
Also check what your maintenance contract covers. Some company's are happy to take an annual fee but will charge you for call outs as well.
IMO annual maintenance should cover all calls related to maintaining the system.

frankmul

Koolkid
Thanks for the advise, I'm not too pushed about but the oh wants it. There is no external bell but it's not much use anyway as we live in a rural area. I'm with Vodafone for the landline so switching should be no problem and there is 2 service calls included in the yearly maintenance. Just worried about how the panel will look when installed. Not fond of trunking and there should be a fused spur outlet there too I think?, more things to be mounted.

Thunderbird2

They will run power and phone via trunking if there is no means of hiding it easily .
External bells are mainly only useful for the comfort LEDs to let others know you have a working alarm and for advertising.. People tend to ignore them . I have my ext bell set so it will only ring if the entry delay expires or two sensors are tripped.

All obvious windows and doors should be covered with shock/ reed sensors backed up by 2-3 PIRs for confirmation of intrusion .

I wouldn't waste my time with a fob unless it can be unset with a code . You could ask for an extra sensor instead

They will install a simon xt system . You can view demos of it on YouTube .

When you get tired of wasting money on monitoring you can set the system to text or ring 4 phone numbers . Basically what the monitoring station will do but much much quicker . The user on the phone can then listen into the house and talk over the panel to "listen" for intruders

KoolKid

If the panel is inside the front door and you have no external bell ask your self this.
If someone breaks in through the front door and rips the panel off the wall what happens???
Vodafone is still an Eircom line. Have you asked what happens if you switch to another provider :?

frankmul

KoolKid wrote: »

Vodafone is still an Eircom line. Have you asked what happens if you switch to another provider :?

I don't understand. I know that eircom provides the line to the house but I pay Vodafone for my calls. If you are talking about UPC providing the line, I don't have to worry, the joys of living in the countryside is that I won't see fibre till the next boom. But It may be a point for other people.

Thunderbird2

KoolKid wrote: »

If the panel is inside the front door and you have no external bell ask your self this.
If someone breaks in through the front door and rips the panel off the wall what happens???
Vodafone is still an Eircom line. Have you asked what happens if you switch to another provider :?

A shock on the front door would prevent this . The panel can ring out before they get into the house .. More then likely they would use a shock on the door since he is out the countryside .
Nothing to stop them placing 6v on the Sabb to stop it ringing ..

KoolKid

frankmul wrote: »

I don't understand. I know that eircom provides the line to the house but I pay Vodafone for my calls. If you are talking about UPC providing the line, I don't have to worry, the joys of living in the countryside is that I won't see fibre till the next boom. But It may be a point for other people.

The point is you should not be tied to one provider. Who know what options there may be in the future.

Thunderbird2 wrote: »

A shock on the front door would prevent this . The panel can ring out before they get into the house .. More then likely they would use a shock on the door since he is out the countryside .
Nothing to stop them placing 6v on the Sabb to stop it ringing ..

Did we clarify he is getting an SAB?

frankmul

Is it a case that a lot of the alarm extras can be overridden, cut the phone cable remove the monitoring aspect (easy when the phone has incoming connection from the outside or the cable can be simply sniped at the pole). External alarms can be powered up to stop them ringing?

KoolKid

Phone lines can be cut. Silencing an SAB is not as easy.

frankmul

Koolkid
Thanks again for the reply. The contract has been signed and I wanted find out. What the oh has signed up for

mark17j

frankmul wrote: »

Koolkid
Thanks again for the reply. The contract has been signed and I wanted find out. What the oh has signed up for

My father also signed up to phonewatch by a pushy salesman last month, and signed contracts also, as soon as I found out, I persuaded him to cancel it. The package was to install 3 contacts and 4PIR's + 1 keyfob and 1 Dummy Box and GSM, on a large Semi D House, with 25 a month for monitoring over 3 years, any extras like inertia sensors, they'd be 85Euro each. Didn't feel it was good protection.

KoolKid

That would be totally inadequate protection.
At a minimum all accessible points of entry should be covered by contacts and sensors.
PiRs alone are useless. Someone has be have already got into the house before the alarm activates.
After that you still need another device activated for Garda response.

fred funk }{

frankmul wrote: »

Is it a case that a lot of the alarm extras can be overridden, cut the phone cable remove the monitoring aspect (easy when the phone has incoming connection from the outside or the cable can be simply sniped at the pole). External alarms can be powered up to stop them ringing?

Any reputable installer will do a site survey and will listen to your security needs and recommend the appropriate system. There are lots of ways to prevent happening what you listed above which I won't go into here.

The grade of alarm that will be specified should reflect the protection needed against the level of competency of the burglar, for example, an ex installer will have intricate knowledge of alarm systems so a much higher grade would be needed.

Most standard houses need to be protected against a burglar with very little knowledge of how to by pass an alarm so a low grade is specified but the likes of banks etc. need to be protected against a diffferent level of burglar so a higher grade is needed.

cscook

Quick query.
Our NYNEX suddenly went ape this evening, and kept running through all the options, like; to set Away press star and 4, to turn off enter your four digit code, to bypass a sensor press star and 3, to exit press star and pound and so on through the whole shooting gallery.

Well, this went on for about 5 minutes while we tried every possible combination, but there isn't a pound. There's a #, which did nothing.
(Photo in this post: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=82184803&postcount=625)
And then all of a sudden it stopped for no known reason.
And after a few minutes more it said "Goodbye".

Status was always OK and on the green light, no orange lights.
Any suggestions, in case it happens again (hopefully not in the middle of the night!) would be much appreciated.

altor

Very old system. Eircom are upgrading these system due to faults and no longer being able to source parts for repair.
Reset and code usually turns it off.
Any issues with the keypad?

cscook

Sorry, only got back to check this now!
It's been trouble-free since, so keeping fingers crossed!
No issues with the keypad any time I've used it since then.

altor

cscook wrote: »

Sorry, only got back to check this now!
It's been trouble-free since, so keeping fingers crossed!
No issues with the keypad any time I've used it since then.

Thanks for getting back to us. It is a very old system.

tickeyboo

Hi I replaced a battery in a Phonewatch alarm but I can't get the alarm to reset. Would anybody have an idea to what I need to do.

KoolKid

What battery did you replace & what error are you getting?

altor

tickeyboo wrote: »

Hi I replaced a battery in a Phonewatch alarm but I can't get the alarm to reset. Would anybody have an idea to what I need to do.

What system have you installed?