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another newbie, what to do with this Brinks alarm system?

Hello,

I'm new here as well, and have looked for a FAQ for the group and came
up empty, and I hope my question isn't too basic!

I've recently moved into a home that has a Brinks alarm system
installed, looks to have been installed in 2004. We opted not to
continue the rather pricey monthly monitoring service given the
neighborhood, and the proportion of time we spend at home. (The prior
owners I'm told were working out of the country and had it installed
due to their absence).

Anyway, we have all this hardware, wired door and window sensors,
other sensors labeled as "PIR" devices (passive infrared if my
research is to believed?) inside the control box that I assume are the
motion detectors I see up on the walls of various locations in the
house. I'm thinking there's got to be a way to put all these goodies
to use with a do it yourself sort of setup that maybe could leverage
an internet or phone connection to call my cell phone in case of
trouble.

The main box of the alarm has a circuit board that's about 8x4" with
no real identifying marks on it. I would have to assume I'd have to
get a new controller board for the DIY system and then just re-use all
the existing sensors?

Anyone with experience doing the same?

Thanks for any insight or advice, or a pointer to some good jumpstart
resources for reading/research.

Best Regards,
Todd
 
A

ABLE_1

Jan 1, 1970
0
Todd.

I see you had just posted your question a little over an hour ago and wanted
to be the first to respond. It may be my lucky
day....................................or not.

I will let others reply with all the insight that they can muster. The
subject of your question has been a recent discussion and I am sure you will
get more that what you need to make a decision. I just wanted to
congratulate you on bringing your concerns or questions here.

Have a great weekend.

Les
 
R

Robert L Bass

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm new here as well, and have looked for a
FAQ for the group and came up empty, and
I hope my question isn't too basic!

One of the people who posts here has copied the original FAQ for the newsgroup to his private website but he doesn't represent
anyone here. There is no official organisation.
I've recently moved into a home that has a
Brinks alarm system installed, looks to have
been installed in 2004...

Brinks uses a proprietary system which is not compatible with anyone else's hardware. They lease the systems to homeowners.
Although there have been comments to the affect that they will sell the system outright, they will not support it unless you pay the
monthly fee.
Anyway, we have all this hardware...

It's mostly trash unless you pay for Brinks' service.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

=============================>
Bass Home Electronics
941-866-1100
4883 Fallcrest Circle
Sarasota · Florida · 34233
http://www.bassburglaralarms.com
=============================>
 
C

Crash Gordon

Jan 1, 1970
0
Basically you throw out the alarm panel and the keypads and buy something
else you can install your self. Everything else should be reusable although
you might have to look for buried resistors if they put them at the end of
the line and remove them.






|
| Hello,
|
| I'm new here as well, and have looked for a FAQ for the group and came
| up empty, and I hope my question isn't too basic!
|
| I've recently moved into a home that has a Brinks alarm system
| installed, looks to have been installed in 2004. We opted not to
| continue the rather pricey monthly monitoring service given the
| neighborhood, and the proportion of time we spend at home. (The prior
| owners I'm told were working out of the country and had it installed
| due to their absence).
|
| Anyway, we have all this hardware, wired door and window sensors,
| other sensors labeled as "PIR" devices (passive infrared if my
| research is to believed?) inside the control box that I assume are the
| motion detectors I see up on the walls of various locations in the
| house. I'm thinking there's got to be a way to put all these goodies
| to use with a do it yourself sort of setup that maybe could leverage
| an internet or phone connection to call my cell phone in case of
| trouble.
|
| The main box of the alarm has a circuit board that's about 8x4" with
| no real identifying marks on it. I would have to assume I'd have to
| get a new controller board for the DIY system and then just re-use all
| the existing sensors?
|
| Anyone with experience doing the same?
|
| Thanks for any insight or advice, or a pointer to some good jumpstart
| resources for reading/research.
|
| Best Regards,
| Todd
 
T

Todd H.

Jan 1, 1970
0
Crash Gordon said:
Basically you throw out the alarm panel and the keypads and buy something
else you can install your self. Everything else should be reusable although
you might have to look for buried resistors if they put them at the end of
the line and remove them.

Cool--this is sort of what I envisioned. I did see in the alarm
panel a small pack of resistors just kinda sitting there hanging -- as
though it was something they used as piece parts for whatever reason.

When you say end of the line, you mean on the sensor end of the line?
And at the risk of asking what may be a FAQ, what purpose do these
resistors serve to the Brinks system? (I'm new to the security system
hacking realm, but have a strong background in electronics, for
whatever that's worth).

Thanks to all who've responded!


Best Regards,
 
T

Todd H.

Jan 1, 1970
0
G. Morgan said:
EOLR's are used to supervise the alarm loop. With a preset resistance
on the loop the panel is monitoring the current in the circuit, now it
can detect open, close, and partial short -- as well as tampering with
the circuit between the control and device.

Ahhh. Gotcha. A third logic state if you will. Makes a lot of
sense.
Most residential installers disable EOL supervision in programming and
just go for a open/close, that or put the EOLR in the panel which
completely negates the whole purpose of the EOLR in the first place.

Oy. Oh man.
Think about knocking out a brick under a window and putting hemostats
on the wire, BEFORE it reaches the contact and you'll see why EOLR's
are useful.

Absolutely. Easy way to disable the sensor.

Thanks for the education.
 
E

Everywhere Man

Jan 1, 1970
0
Brinks only uses EOL's for fire and heat sensors. The keypad and panel
are worthless to the OP.
FWIW, Brinks charges $26.99 per month on system takeovers ($31.99 with
warranty) and offers a 1 year contract so don't get all warm and fuzzy
feeling this guy is spending a dime to protect his home.
All of the Brinks negatives aside look at what this guy is saying. He
lives in a nice neighborhood, so the house wasn't cheap, he's having a
hard time justifying $27 a month for family safety, and he's making the
world aware of this on his $1000.00 computer which accesses the
internet for probably $25 a month.
Talk about having fucked up priorities.
 
E

Everywhere Man

Jan 1, 1970
0
Robert said:
One of the people who posts here has copied the original FAQ for the newsgroup to his private website but he doesn't represent
anyone here. There is no official organisation. <

As if your old FAQ page wasn't a bootleg version of information posted
by other folks here.
Stop instigating.
Brinks uses a proprietary system which is not compatible with anyone else's hardware. They lease the systems to homeowners.
Although there have been comments to the affect that they will sell the system outright, they will not support it unless you pay the
monthly fee.<

They don't sell the system to anyone. Someone will post information to
the contrary BUT they are sadly mistaken. If it says BRINKS on it the
owner is always BRINKS.
It's mostly trash unless you pay for Brinks' service.<

Don't be shocked if BRINKS doesn't try to reclaim this.
 
J

J.

Jan 1, 1970
0
A burglar alarm does not guarantee a family's safety. That's a
terrible perception that depends on the public's misinformed ideas
about how residential burglar alarm systems work and the effectiveness
of police agencies that usually despise the alarm companies who waste
police resources with a 90% false alarm rate. Your not protecting
your family with a $30 a month burglar alarm system. All you're doing
is giving yourself a false sense of security. Almost all residential
alarm signals are false alarms. The vast majority of alarm company
generated police dispatches are for false alarms. Alarm calls receive
the lowest police dispatch priority. Some jurisdictions have stopped
responding to alarm signals at all. Others charge a permitting fee
and a steep false alarm penalty. You can debate the reasons for this
and who's fault it is, but the fact remains, this industry depends on
a misguided public perception of mysterious, circling 1's and 0's that
protect families with magical powers and instantaneous response from
concerned law enforcement. This is what is shown on television
commercials and what the alarm salesmen tell the unsuspecting public.

The good news is that there is pressure on the industry to fix this.
There are emerging technologies such as video analytics that could
replace traditional security systems with much more reliable
technology. The false alarm penalties and third party alarm response
laws will force the trunkslammers and zero down marketers to rethink
their strategies. My guess is that we'll see the most radical shift
that we've ever experiences in this industry within the next 5 to 10
years. With IT companies like IBM and Cisco wanted part of the
security integration market, it's just a matter of time before someone
comes alaong and does it better that what we have right now. It's
already started in the high end goverment/ industrial markets.

J.

On 3 Nov 2006 15:06:36 -0800, "Everywhere Man" <[email protected]>
wrote:
..
 
A

alarman

Jan 1, 1970
0
EOLR's are used to supervise the alarm loop. With a preset resistance
on the loop the panel is monitoring the current in the circuit, now it
can detect open, close, and partial short -- as well as tampering with
the circuit between the control and device.

Most residential installers disable EOL supervision in programming and
just go for a open/close, that or put the EOLR in the panel which
completely negates the whole purpose of the EOLR in the first place.


Think about knocking out a brick under a window and putting hemostats
on the wire, BEFORE it reaches the contact and you'll see why EOLR's
are useful.

Yes, but only if each window is zoned separately.
js
 
E

Everywhere Man

Jan 1, 1970
0
G. Morgan said:
Yeah, instead he should pay you $40/month, and a what.. $500
activation fee. So you can slap a Vista 10P in and he can sleep
better at night knowing he PAID for security? All the while you laugh
your way to the bank and probably back-charge the installer for
something you didn't like. <

Or maybe he can call your company and oops wait, I forgot, you don't
have a company, and you're begging for information on how to open one.
I'm guessing your desire for self-employment is due to the inability to
secure employment outside of being the goofball in a dunking booth.
With all of your personalities do you get a group discount at the
psychiatrist office, or is it just a flat rate?
Being Friday one can only assume you received your allowance so we
should expect the "Graham in a drunken stupor" parade to start shortly,
followed by "Graham's Drunk Dialing Marathon".

This week's contestants are:

Frank Olson (poor Frank. I know it's going to be Frank. Turn the ringer
OFF Frank)

PeteM (who he can share political beliefs with in 2 different
languages)

Jack Stevens (he doesn't have Jack's number but anyone who answers
whatever number he dials for Jack will suffice)

Jim Rojas (to discuss the economic contributions of the Latino
community in the South, and how he admires Jim for overcoming being a
Puerto Rican and opening a business non-bodega oriented)

Robert Bass (who Graham will ask spiritual advice from, and then redial
ten minutes later calling his wife illegal, to be followed by another
call claiming he never called at all, to be followed by a post in here
accusing Bass of calling him)

Suicide Prevention (who will put Graham on hold after he threatens to
swallow a bottle of Flintstone Vitamins)

and Allan Waghalter (because with a name like Waghalter it's a slam
dunk finding him in a phone book)

Winners to receive round trip tickets to Radio Shack where they can buy
a Caller ID.
 
A

alarman

Jan 1, 1970
0
Everywhere Man said:
Jack Stevens (he doesn't have Jack's number but anyone who answers
whatever number he dials for Jack will suffice)

That could confuse Graham, and would then constitute trademark infringement.
I'll sue.
js
 
C

Crash Gordon

Jan 1, 1970
0
You'd have to remove them because if they exist at the end of the line
(where they belong) they will undoubtedly be the incorrect value for
whatever panel you decide to buy.


|
| > Basically you throw out the alarm panel and the keypads and buy
something
| > else you can install your self. Everything else should be reusable
although
| > you might have to look for buried resistors if they put them at the end
of
| > the line and remove them.
|
| Cool--this is sort of what I envisioned. I did see in the alarm
| panel a small pack of resistors just kinda sitting there hanging -- as
| though it was something they used as piece parts for whatever reason.
|
| When you say end of the line, you mean on the sensor end of the line?
| And at the risk of asking what may be a FAQ, what purpose do these
| resistors serve to the Brinks system? (I'm new to the security system
| hacking realm, but have a strong background in electronics, for
| whatever that's worth).
|
| Thanks to all who've responded!
|
|
| Best Regards,
| --
| Todd H.
| http://www.toddh.net/
 
C

Crash Gordon

Jan 1, 1970
0
no it won't - it would be the same as the switch being closed and in a
normal state on a circuit with more than one switch in series.

pnl-----/ -----/ -----/ -resistor|
pnl-------------------------------|

how you gonna lose the resistor by shorting across the switch?

different story if you're talking about open circuit switches in
parallel...but who does that anymore?



| On Fri, 3 Nov 2006 15:58:41 -0800, "alarman" <[email protected]>
| wrote:
|
| >Yes, but only if each window is zoned separately.
|
|
| No,
|
| You short the contact lead at the window before the contact, it works
| no matter how many are on the loop. (if you're planning on opening
| that window)
|
|
|
|
| --
|
| -Graham
| (remove the double e's to email)
 
C

Crash Gordon

Jan 1, 1970
0
heh..I don't disagree. I had a guy abt a year ago, pissing and moaning he
had ("HAD" mind you) to spend 70K on landscaping and has an absolute hissy
freekin fit when I told him it would cost him 1500. to trim out the alarm we
had prewired for. He went with some mojo satlink skylink something or other
wireless (in spite of the fact we did a beautiful prewire) - makes me cry.
Except for the fact that his landscaping is butt **** UGLY. My partner and I
laugh everytime we drive by his house.


| Brinks only uses EOL's for fire and heat sensors. The keypad and panel
| are worthless to the OP.
| FWIW, Brinks charges $26.99 per month on system takeovers ($31.99 with
| warranty) and offers a 1 year contract so don't get all warm and fuzzy
| feeling this guy is spending a dime to protect his home.
| All of the Brinks negatives aside look at what this guy is saying. He
| lives in a nice neighborhood, so the house wasn't cheap, he's having a
| hard time justifying $27 a month for family safety, and he's making the
| world aware of this on his $1000.00 computer which accesses the
| internet for probably $25 a month.
| Talk about having fucked up priorities.
|
|
| Crash Gordon wrote:
| > Basically you throw out the alarm panel and the keypads and buy
something
| > else you can install your self. Everything else should be reusable
although
| > you might have to look for buried resistors if they put them at the end
of
| > the line and remove them.
| >
| >
| >
| >
| >
| >
| > |
| > | Hello,
| > |
| > | I'm new here as well, and have looked for a FAQ for the group and came
| > | up empty, and I hope my question isn't too basic!
| > |
| > | I've recently moved into a home that has a Brinks alarm system
| > | installed, looks to have been installed in 2004. We opted not to
| > | continue the rather pricey monthly monitoring service given the
| > | neighborhood, and the proportion of time we spend at home. (The prior
| > | owners I'm told were working out of the country and had it installed
| > | due to their absence).
| > |
| > | Anyway, we have all this hardware, wired door and window sensors,
| > | other sensors labeled as "PIR" devices (passive infrared if my
| > | research is to believed?) inside the control box that I assume are the
| > | motion detectors I see up on the walls of various locations in the
| > | house. I'm thinking there's got to be a way to put all these goodies
| > | to use with a do it yourself sort of setup that maybe could leverage
| > | an internet or phone connection to call my cell phone in case of
| > | trouble.
| > |
| > | The main box of the alarm has a circuit board that's about 8x4" with
| > | no real identifying marks on it. I would have to assume I'd have to
| > | get a new controller board for the DIY system and then just re-use all
| > | the existing sensors?
| > |
| > | Anyone with experience doing the same?
| > |
| > | Thanks for any insight or advice, or a pointer to some good jumpstart
| > | resources for reading/research.
| > |
| > | Best Regards,
| > | Todd
|
 
C

Crash Gordon

Jan 1, 1970
0
Yah that's what they said when the baby bells were gonna do alarms...that
lasted what? a year or two. Same thing when utility companies tried their
hand in security...oh damn we have to service these things too?...that
lasted a year or two as well.

It'll be interesting to be sure...Microsoft Security maybe...yah that's it.


"J. @netscape.net>" <jsloud2001<removeme> wrote in message
|
|
| A burglar alarm does not guarantee a family's safety. That's a
| terrible perception that depends on the public's misinformed ideas
| about how residential burglar alarm systems work and the effectiveness
| of police agencies that usually despise the alarm companies who waste
| police resources with a 90% false alarm rate. Your not protecting
| your family with a $30 a month burglar alarm system. All you're doing
| is giving yourself a false sense of security. Almost all residential
| alarm signals are false alarms. The vast majority of alarm company
| generated police dispatches are for false alarms. Alarm calls receive
| the lowest police dispatch priority. Some jurisdictions have stopped
| responding to alarm signals at all. Others charge a permitting fee
| and a steep false alarm penalty. You can debate the reasons for this
| and who's fault it is, but the fact remains, this industry depends on
| a misguided public perception of mysterious, circling 1's and 0's that
| protect families with magical powers and instantaneous response from
| concerned law enforcement. This is what is shown on television
| commercials and what the alarm salesmen tell the unsuspecting public.
|
| The good news is that there is pressure on the industry to fix this.
| There are emerging technologies such as video analytics that could
| replace traditional security systems with much more reliable
| technology. The false alarm penalties and third party alarm response
| laws will force the trunkslammers and zero down marketers to rethink
| their strategies. My guess is that we'll see the most radical shift
| that we've ever experiences in this industry within the next 5 to 10
| years. With IT companies like IBM and Cisco wanted part of the
| security integration market, it's just a matter of time before someone
| comes alaong and does it better that what we have right now. It's
| already started in the high end goverment/ industrial markets.
|
| J.
|
| On 3 Nov 2006 15:06:36 -0800, "Everywhere Man" <[email protected]>
| wrote:
| .
| >All of the Brinks negatives aside look at what this guy is saying. He
| >lives in a nice neighborhood, so the house wasn't cheap, he's having a
| >hard time justifying $27 a month for family safety, and he's making the
| >world aware of this on his $1000.00 computer which accesses the
| >internet for probably $25 a month.
| >Talk about having fucked up priorities.
| >
| >
| >Crash Gordon wrote:
| >> Basically you throw out the alarm panel and the keypads and buy
something
| >> else you can install your self. Everything else should be reusable
although
| >> you might have to look for buried resistors if they put them at the end
of
| >> the line and remove them.
| >>
| >>
| >>
| >>
| >>
| >>
| >> |
| >> | Hello,
| >> |
| >> | I'm new here as well, and have looked for a FAQ for the group and
came
| >> | up empty, and I hope my question isn't too basic!
| >> |
| >> | I've recently moved into a home that has a Brinks alarm system
| >> | installed, looks to have been installed in 2004. We opted not to
| >> | continue the rather pricey monthly monitoring service given the
| >> | neighborhood, and the proportion of time we spend at home. (The
prior
| >> | owners I'm told were working out of the country and had it installed
| >> | due to their absence).
| >> |
| >> | Anyway, we have all this hardware, wired door and window sensors,
| >> | other sensors labeled as "PIR" devices (passive infrared if my
| >> | research is to believed?) inside the control box that I assume are
the
| >> | motion detectors I see up on the walls of various locations in the
| >> | house. I'm thinking there's got to be a way to put all these goodies
| >> | to use with a do it yourself sort of setup that maybe could leverage
| >> | an internet or phone connection to call my cell phone in case of
| >> | trouble.
| >> |
| >> | The main box of the alarm has a circuit board that's about 8x4" with
| >> | no real identifying marks on it. I would have to assume I'd have to
| >> | get a new controller board for the DIY system and then just re-use
all
| >> | the existing sensors?
| >> |
| >> | Anyone with experience doing the same?
| >> |
| >> | Thanks for any insight or advice, or a pointer to some good jumpstart
| >> | resources for reading/research.
| >> |
| >> | Best Regards,
| >> | Todd
|
 
E

Everywhere Man

Jan 1, 1970
0
G. Morgan said:
Yeah... That's right you prick. I trusted you, and you betrayed that
trust. I thought that a disagreement (or battle) online would not
break that trust. I was wrong. <

My heart is bleeding
I used to admire you for your accomplishments, <

Hence the small potatoes comment?
that's why I sought your advice. <

No, you "sought my advice" because you're a fucking loser with pipe
dreams, and wanted to whine about how it's everyone else's fault that
you're a flake.
Now that I see what you are I realize that RLB didn't
just "grab it out of the air" either when he spoke of you.<

So when you drunk dial him tonight the both of you can discuss what a
nasty bastard I am. If Bass isn't your choice (my money is on Frank
being your victim) for the drunk dial then you and this week's victim
can talk about what a scumbag I am. When I wake up in the morning I
still won't give a shit, and when you wake up in the afternoon you will
have the beer shits.
You're a mean spirited person.<

And you're full of spirits (my guess is with your budget that would be
a bottle of Owner's Choice)
Maybe a name change to Captain Morgan would suit you better.
Had you really read what I wrote you
would have realized all my references to your kin were hypothetical,
and in direct response to a hypothetical situation. <

Now we come to the real issue. Today you say it was hypothetical but
when you typed it everyone knew you were trying to push the envelope
with thinly veiled insults. Be a man and stand behind what you said
rather than deny it's original intentions. You took a shot, you missed,
and now you've been thoroughly bitch slapped.
Now you're being a faggot denying what you meant. How sad it must be to
be backtrack due to fear. Oh and it is fear. Nuts like you fear
everything. You suffer from paranoia. Those aren't jellybeans the
doctor is prescribing for you.
You jumped the
gun and went way beyond acceptable boundaries. Your attack was
unfounded. <

Listen clown, you take a shot at my family and I don't sit back and
wait for a reload. That taste of shoe polish you're experiencing was
caused by me planting my foot up your ass.
Have a conversation like this in a bar and watch how fast you wake up
in an ambulance.
If you don't like the results then I'd suggest you shut your fucking
mouth.
Then again you could always keep running your mouth. I doubt you want
to deal with the repercussions of throwing stones at a man with nukes,
but if you're feeling froggy then give it a try. I can GUARANTEE you
the outcome will be one you regret for a very long time. It's all up to
cowardly, little you.
You want to talk shit about me then be my guest, fire away, but watch
how quickly your sad life turns into a fucking nightmare next time you
so much as think of saying something about my family, be it
"hypothetical" or not.
**** You. Filter me if you want. I'm no longer friendly. <

Well that should be easy for you to handle since you have nobody to be
friendly with.
 
J

J.

Jan 1, 1970
0
You wrote "There are emerging technologies such as video analytics that
could
replace traditional security systems with much more reliable technology."
I am guessing you believe that? More reliable than what?

With the level of current technology, your completely right. However,
technology does and will change. On the commercial side,
interoperability and logical/ physical security convergence will have
many traditional alarm installers flipping burgers within a few years.
Intelligent video is part of that change. I'm working on three
projects right now that use this technology to provide intrusion
detection in addition to assessment. One of the vendors just got
picked up by Siemens, so, yeah, there's something to this technology.
The cheapie residential market may never go this direction, but
convergence is happening there too. People will come to expect their
security system to be integrated with HA, HVAC, IHE, etc. Again,
those who don't keep up will be left behind. Something as simple as
IP phones has the entire industry scrambling for a solution.
 
J

J.

Jan 1, 1970
0
Most DVR units that do analytics are limited to a single channel and small
feature set. Most encoders that do analytics only pump out meta data to some
nDVR AND/OR another piece of software on a different hardware platform. None
of that gear is cheap or user friendly.

True for now. The next generation will have analytics built into IP
cameras. The intelligence is being pushed out to the edge of the
network. This will change the game.
 
E

Everywhere Man

Jan 1, 1970
0
G. Morgan said:
Lookie here Bitch...

You come meet me somewhere. Do it now. <

Drunk already, Jeffy? I'd imagine having at least 9 different employers
over the course of 9 years is a tad draining on a fragile little faggot
like you.
I really like some of those special deals offered by your soon to be
former employer.

http://www.digitalwitness.net/index.php

That 16 camera deal for only $849.00 installed and $499.00 per month
must be going like hotcakes.
Kelby Hagar must be a real standup guy, looking out for the best
interests of his clients with pricing like that and having someone as
mentally stable as you doing the work, huh?

This should be fun.
 
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