Getting existing House Alarm certified???

Qwerty Dub

Hi,

Moved into a new house in last couple of weeks & it seems an alarm system was recently installed, but not by a certified installer.

Is it possible to have it certified by someone else now so that we can state on our house insurance that we have an alarm?

Also, it's a HKC Wireless Alarm. Can I do anything so that I can use the HKC App? I know you need an account to do it but can I get an account given alarm was not installed by verified installer?

Thanks

Evolution1

Qwerty Dub wrote: »

Hi,

Moved into a new house in last couple of weeks & it seems an alarm system was recently installed, but not by a certified installer.

Is it possible to have it certified by someone else now so that we can state on our house insurance that we have an alarm?

Also, it's a HKC Wireless Alarm. Can I do anything so that I can use the HKC App? I know you need an account to do it but can I get an account given alarm was not installed by verified installer?

Thanks

You'll need to contact a PSA registered installer.
Yes you can add the app to the system using a GSM SC/WiFi or LAN card. There's a yearly fee of €60 to cover sim card and texts via the WiFi/LAN

Qwerty Dub

Evolution1 wrote: »

You'll need to contact a PSA registered installer.
Yes you can add the app to the system using a GSM SC/WiFi or LAN card. There's a yearly fee of €60 to cover sim card and texts via the WiFi/LAN

Thanks for your reply.

So a PSA registered installer comes out & looks at the existing system & if they are happy with the standard of the install they certify it? Any idea ball park what the cost is for this?

KoolKid

The price would really depend on the quality of the installation and whether there is any work involved in bringing it up to standard.
Also remember on top of the annual subscription the system will require regular servicing if you wish to retain the EN 50131 standard.

Sequence 365

Another idea for you is get your existing system connected to a monitoring station via a gsm with one annual charge for line rental, call charges & servicing. You can then avail of Garda response if two points of your system are activated or if a panic button was pressed.

As Koolkid said it would have to meet EN50131 Standard. You would be best getting a survey done 1st and get all your options.
Most companies would not charge for survey

Qwerty Dub

Sequence 365 wrote: »

Another idea for you is get your existing system connected to a monitoring station via a gsm with one annual charge for line rental, call charges & servicing. You can then avail of Garda response if two points of your system are activated or if a panic button was pressed.

As Koolkid said it would have to meet EN50131 Standard. You would be best getting a survey done 1st and get all your options.
Most companies would not charge for survey

Cheers for your response. I'm not a fan of monitoring or the Garda response. Just thing it's a waste of money. The HKC App & being able to declare I have an alarm with home insurance company would suit me fine.

What I'd save on insurance would cover the annual cost with HKC. Just need to get a survey done so.

KoolKid

Central station monitoring would be a better investment of your money IMO.
After all you can get alarm notifications and apps for free from most other systems.

Qwerty Dub

KoolKid wrote: »

Central station monitoring would be a better investment of your money IMO.
After all you can get alarm notifications and apps for free from most other systems.

Unless it's a panic alarm the Gardai don't / can't respond to the calls as high priority so I just don't see the point to be honest.

KoolKid

I agree, you are probably not getting response on a normal alarm activation.
Here's my thinking on it.
If I pay monitoring, say at €300 per annum for 9 years and never have an issue that may be considered €2700 spend on nothing.
If in year 10 I have a personal attack issue and my monitored alarm gets me Garda response when needed and saves me or my family then I would consider that €3000 well spent.

altor

Qwerty Dub wrote: »

Hi,

Moved into a new house in last couple of weeks & it seems an alarm system was recently installed, but not by a certified installer.

Is it possible to have it certified by someone else now so that we can state on our house insurance that we have an alarm?

Also, it's a HKC Wireless Alarm. Can I do anything so that I can use the HKC App? I know you need an account to do it but can I get an account given alarm was not installed by verified installer?

Thanks

You can have the system down as a working alarm on your insurance policy, this way it does not need to beserviced but needs to be in a working condition.
For the discount received for having an EN50131 the alarm needs to be serviced every year, it is not worth it when you take the cost of the service and the discount into consideration.
If you have the engineer code then yes you can set up the App yourself.

Qwerty Dub

altor wrote: »

You can have the system down as a working alarm on your insurance policy, this way it does not need to beserviced but needs to be in a working condition.
For the discount received for having an EN50131 the alarm needs to be serviced every year, it is not worth it when you take the cost of the service and the discount into consideration.
If you have the engineer code then yes you can set up the App yourself.

Cheers for the reply. I have the engineer code but how do i go about setting up an account with the HKC SecureComm cloud service?

I assume I need to get someone to put in a wifi card too so i can use a cloud account?

altor

Qwerty Dub wrote: »

Cheers for the reply. I have the engineer code but how do i go about setting up an account with the HKC SecureComm cloud service?

I assume I need to get someone to put in a wifi card too so i can use a cloud account?

Once you have the engineer code you can set this up yourself.

You go to securecomm.hkc.ie to set up the account.
You will be selecting unbranded. Here you will be given the ID to put into the system.

You can use a wifi card, A GSM-SC or both. I would recommend using both to have a back up to the other. It still costs the same amount per month for the subscription.

Qwerty Dub

altor wrote: »

Once you have the engineer code you can set this up yourself.

You go to securecomm.hkc.ie to set up the account.
You will be selecting unbranded. Here you will be given the ID to put into the system.

You can use a wifi card, A GSM-SC or both. I would recommend using both to have a back up to the other. It still costs the same amount per month for the subscription.

Very helpful, thanks.

Any idea how much the wifi card is to buy? Don't seem to be able to find a price anywhere.

Cheers

altor

Qwerty Dub wrote: »

Very helpful, thanks.

Any idea how much the wifi card is to buy? Don't seem to be able to find a price anywhere.

Cheers

Prices are available in the suppliers. Here is a link so you can ring for a price.

Qwerty Dub

altor wrote: »

Prices are available in the suppliers. Here is a link so you can ring for a price.

Richmond not too far away. Will bell them on Monday and ask.

Thank you.

altor

Qwerty Dub wrote: »

Richmond not too far away. Will bell them on Monday and ask.

Thank you.

Nice lads to deal with too.

Any problems setting up let us know

Sequence 365

Altor are you on a commission with HKC .
You seem to give that impression
You are in the Trade trying to run a business
You know how to charge your own customers for monitoring & maintenance and encourage them to take out maintenance.
I don't get it .

Maintenance with a good company serves a good purpose

Client gets a guaranteed 24hr service 365 days of the year
Technical support over the ph 365 days of the year
There entire system serviced yearly.
The peace of mind that if they have a problem XMas Day, 2am 4am in the morning anytime that they can call the company and they will deal with the issue straight away.

It's sounds a bit like one or two or the big companies just sell,sell
I have lost count how many times HKC have software updates , if the product is soo good as you maintain why so many changes to the same products.
Have you ever seen the amount of returns to HKC
They are the only security Manafactuer that I know of that sold batteries for there wireless equipment that went on fire.

Every think that what if one of the had have caused a life threatening fire .

I wouldn't have one of them in my house with young kids in bed.

How many of them are still out there ?

Did you see HKC making a public statement warning people ?

altor

You do know that the battery used in the said mentioned device was not a HKC battery. It was a cheap one bought on the internet and has being proved to be that. HKC released a flyer warning people of using substandard batteries in their device following this incident.

Maybe that is what you are referring too?

The device funny enough still worked after going on fire when a new battery was used. Just goes to show the workmanship put into these devices.

If I decide to give advise for free that is none of your business.
All of us here give advise for free, that does not suit you then that's not my problem.
You don't pay my wages just like I don't pay yours.

Most alarm company's are available 24 hours a day, 365 day a year regardless of a service contract. I always advise an end user to get the engineer code. Most wont use it but if they need it they have it.

The market in my opinion is more geared to self monitoring of a system.

If you are on here to troll please just stop posting now. It will not be tolerated by anyone here.

Sequence 365

Amazing they had HKC all over there packaging etc
No matter you carry on defending them
We all can state facts. & opions and offer advice to people just like you do.

But can you ans one or two quick ? And I will park it

1 : Why is it cheaper to buy HKC products in the UK than the ROI

2 : Have you heard anything about HKC opening an ARC

3 : Have you heard much about HKC going to sell directly to the end user

altor

Sequence 365 wrote: »

Amazing they had HKC all over there packaging etc
No matter you carry on defending them
We all can state facts. & opions and offer advice to people just like you do.

But can you ans one or two quick ? And I will park it

1 : Why is it cheaper to buy HKC products in the UK than the ROI

2 : Have you heard anything about HKC opening an ARC

3 : Have you heard much about HKC going to sell directly to the end user

You could tell that from a burnt out battery?
Was this one of your job or are you really just trolling?

The packs are different in the UK.
HKC are manufactures.
An end user can but equipment off any system in the wholesalers.

Sequence 365

altor wrote: »

You could tell that from a burnt out battery?
Was this one of your job or are you really just trolling?

The packs are different in the UK.
HKC are manufactures.
An end user can but equipment off any system in the wholesalers.

Yes we had some
UK is the same expect the wireless RF is different & you just need to change to en standard We have full price lists of all products from UK . Now in saying that we can also buy ACT cheaper in the UK as well.
The point I'm trying to make to you and everybody is that these are meant to be Irish Companies & we pay more for their products here than companies in the UK can purchase them for .
The only logic we can come up with is that their products would not sell in the UK market if the prices were the same as here.
It's very hard to justify the price difference on a like for like product
The other two points I was just asking your opinion

altor

Sequence 365 wrote: »

Yes we had some
UK is the same expect the wireless RF is different & you just need to change to en standard We have full price lists of all products from UK . Now in saying that we can also buy ACT cheaper in the UK as well.
The point I'm trying to make to you and everybody is that these are meant to be Irish Companies & we pay more for their products here than companies in the UK can purchase them for .
The only logic we can come up with is that their products would not sell in the UK market if the prices were the same as here.
It's very hard to justify the price difference on a like for like product
The other two points I was just asking your opinion

You are stating, that you had some HKC batteries that went on fire in their devices?

I have checked the kits but they are not the same in the UK, price wise with shipment and conversion of currency just makes no sense.

Sequence 365

altor wrote: »

You are stating, that you had some HKC batteries that went on fire in their devices?

I have checked the kits but they are not the same in the UK, price wise with shipment and conversion of currency just makes no sense.

Ok this is not an argument
I can guarantee you 100% we can buy any HKC product cheaper in the UK . The RF is no problem once you carry extra stock just in case you need extra devices.
We have fixed pricing regardless if sterling goes up or down
We have next day delivery with no delivery charges.
We are probably talking about different suppliers , and we would be getting various other equipment as well

We would not use HKC batteries as we had our issues.

altor

Sequence 365 wrote: »

We would not use HKC batteries as we had our issues.

Sorry, just so we are clear what you are stating here.

You are stating, that you had some HKC batteries that went on fire in their devices?

Sequence 365

altor wrote: »

Sorry, just so we are clear what you are stating here.

You are stating, that you had some HKC batteries that went on fire in their devices?

Some time ago and as I'm aware they don't sell them anymore. Maybe they still do I'm not sure

altor

Sequence 365 wrote: »

Some time ago and as I'm aware they don't sell them anymore. Maybe they still do I'm not sure

I have being using the HKC batteries and never had an issue, I know there was a faulty batch in the first year they where released, 5 years ago now. I know of a device that went on fire and was investigated which turned out to be a battery bought off the internet. Now you are stating it was a HKC branded battery. I have only heard of one incident so will check with the lads Tuesday when they are back to work.

Sequence 365

altor wrote: »

I have being using the HKC batteries and never had an issue, I know there was a faulty batch in the first year they where released, 5 years ago now. I know of a device that went on fire and was investigated which turned out to be a battery bought off the internet. Now you are stating it was a HKC branded battery. I have only heard of one incident so will check with the lads Tuesday when they are back to work.

And do you honestly think you are going to get an honest answer .
As I said it was some time ago now. I think they have there issues sorted out . We sorted out our issues and that's all we worry about

I can to any of the lads for you or the owner if you wish be more than happy to

One of main reasons to join this forum
Is to offer technical support where possible
Try & get people to look & try other products And not too be just supporting the same one all the time.
Get people to shop around & get good products & value for their money.

I have followed the home security thread along time now and felt it would be a good time to get involved . I also had a very informative meeting with Mr Paul Scanlon from the PSA recently and I am hoping on some good feed back soon that I will be more than happy to share when I hear more.

If we have issues with any Manafactuers or Wholesalers trust me that we are more than capable for sorting our own issues out
We have been around longer than HKC and a few others
Thanks for your offer anyway

Now any chance of a post about another Manafactuer or maybe you could start a thread for a few of them & different products .

For example compare R/S contacts

altor

Sequence 365 wrote: »

And do you honestly think you are going to get an honest answer .
As I said it was some time ago now. I think they have there issues sorted out . We sorted out our issues and that's all we worry about

I can to any of the lads for you or the owner if you wish be more than happy to

One of main reasons to join this forum
Is to offer technical support where possible
Try & get people to look & try other products And not too be just supporting the same one all the time.
Get people to shop around & get good products & value for their money.

I have followed the home security thread along time now and felt it would be a good time to get involved . I also had a very informative meeting with Mr Paul Scanlon from the PSA recently and I am hoping on some good feed back soon that I will be more than happy to share when I hear more.

If we have issues with any Manafactuers or Wholesalers trust me that we are more than capable for sorting our own issues out
We have been around longer than HKC and a few others
Thanks for your offer anyway

Now any chance of a post about another Manafactuer or maybe you could start a thread for a few of them & different products .

For example compare R/S contacts

I always get an honest answer

I know most of the manufacturers in this industry and most are always happy to answer any questions.
Most being the operative word.

I cant tell you that one company that are well enough to compare a product to another system but wont take criticize when it does not do the same as Theirs. That would be my main gripe with most out there. It can either do the same at a cost or not. Free is all well and good but offer's no redundancy on a alarm. Not a great option if you as for my opinion.

househero

Qwerty Dub wrote: »

Hi,

Moved into a new house in last couple of weeks & it seems an alarm system was recently installed, but not by a certified installer.

Is it possible to have it certified by someone else now so that we can state on our house insurance that we have an alarm?

Also, it's a HKC Wireless Alarm. Can I do anything so that I can use the HKC App? I know you need an account to do it but can I get an account given alarm was not installed by verified installer?

Thanks

Do NOT tell your insurance.

There will be a very small discount and they will add a disguistie clause to your insurance...

If you forget to put your alarm on, you wont be covered.

Screw that for a 5% saving. Not worth it.

altor

househero wrote: »

Do NOT tell your insurance.

There will be a very small discount and they will add a disguistie clause to your insurance...

If you forget to put your alarm on, you wont be covered.

Screw that for a 5% saving. Not worth it.

I agree but from what I have being told on here the insurance company if you have an alarm installed say it is up to you to have it on. It is up to you as an home owner to take all reasonable actions to protect your home so basically if you have an alarm you must have it on.

househero

altor wrote: »

I agree but from what I have being told on here the insurance company if you have an alarm installed say it is up to you to have it on. It is up to you as an home owner to take all reasonable actions to protect your home so basically if you have an alarm you must have it on.

Yea that's what I badly said hahaha

If you get the crap 5% discount. You forget to put it on and you get robbed, they don't pay!

So get a good alarm, but don't tell your insurance company so they can't worm out of it coz of a rubbish saving and a terrible clause.

Sequence 365

Most insurance companies will offer 20-30% discount on monitored certified alarm system

altor

househero wrote: »

Yea that's what I badly said hahaha

If you get the crap 5% discount. You forget to put it on and you get robbed, they don't pay!

So get a good alarm, but don't tell your insurance company so they can't worm out of it coz of a rubbish saving and a terrible clause.

From what we have being told on here they are even refusing if they come out and see you have an alarm and its not being used regardless of it being on the policy.

Sequence 365

altor wrote: »

I always get an honest answer

I know most of the manufacturers in this industry and most are always happy to answer any questions.
Most being the operative word.

I cant tell you that one company that are well enough to compare a product to another system but wont take criticize when it does not do the same as Theirs. That would be my main gripe with most out there. It can either do the same at a cost or not. Free is all well and good but offer's no redundancy on a alarm. Not a great option if you as for my opinion.

There are numerous Manafactuers out there : Risco , Pyronix , GSD, Siemens, Scantronic , Honeywell , GE, Texacom ,

altor

Sequence 365 wrote: »

There are numerous Manafactuers out there : Risco , Pyronix , GSD, Siemens, Scantronic , Honeywell , GE, Texacom ,

And your point is?

Sequence 365

altor wrote: »

And your point is?

All I'm saying is there are other Manafacture out there and around a lot longer than the one you support.
If you support & recommend I particular that is fine. That is your choice .

But if you take a look at some of the large global end users out there . They specify particular products for there security which would be high end products.

If you just take a look at some Siemens , DSC, Honeywell clients and where there equipment is installed.

I think you should just keep an open mind on products .

kub

Sequence 365 wrote: »

All I'm saying is there are other Manafacture out there and around a lot longer than the one you support.
If you support & recommend I particular that is fine. That is your choice .

But if you take a look at some of the large global end users out there . They specify particular products for there security which would be high end products.

If you just take a look at some Siemens , DSC, Honeywell clients and where there equipment is installed.

I think you should just keep an open mind on products .

You are of course correct in what you are saying, but are you talking about big commercial systems in typical multi national companies premises? I don't know but i have never noticed a facilities manager from such an institution coming on here looking for advice.
I have donkeys years of experience of all those you have named and some, but i have to say that in all honesty HKC, tick all the boxes with regard to domestic systems. Granted yes they have some warts but i am disappointed at their competitors for not coming up with proper alternatives.

altor

Sequence 365 wrote: »

All I'm saying is there are other Manafacture out there and around a lot longer than the one you support.
If you support & recommend I particular that is fine. That is your choice .

But if you take a look at some of the large global end users out there . They specify particular products for there security which would be high end products.

If you just take a look at some Siemens , DSC, Honeywell clients and where there equipment is installed.

I think you should just keep an open mind on products .

Yes there are other systems on the market to suit any situation.
I use and install different brands also.