[Low Volume Bell Box Printing?]

A few years back I installed two systems in two different houses, one has 2 external sounders the other has one... I can't remember exactly but I think they are Elmdene.  These boxes are looking old and tatty now and although they still work and their comfort LEDs flash nicely I think more deterent effect would be gained by refreshing them.

 

Originally I marked the boxes with a Logo, contact number etc. to make them look bona-fide.  I did this by hand using a stencil and the effect was OK but not good and with time looks a bit unconvincing.

 

Silkscreen printing is probably prohibitive due to the low volume i.e. 3. 

 

Any idea how to get a convincing effect that lasts in the weather outside?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

PS

Probably use Elmdene again.

[Control Panel With Continuous Event Log Feed]

Thanks for all the responses.  Looks like the texecom premier might be the device of choice then, particularly as it looks like the Galaxy won't send events for zone intrusion when not set.

 

My project was to feed all these events into a unsupervised learning model and then classify the events by time, day of week etc to notify of possible intrusions when unset.  It was just a pet project after having done some work in Machine Learning.  (Automation in the notification sense hence no need for bags of relays   )

 

So now I know how... the next question is... can I really be bothered to rip out my Scantronic panel and rewire it all!

 

Thanks again

[Control Panel With Continuous Event Log Feed]

The more reliable solution is the SIA based alarm reporting method where the panel would report each zone status change on a serial basis. These events are buffered by the panel CPU, so would never be lost. The problem is that where you have many zone transitions, you will create a queue that needs processing. The last event in the queue may take some time to be pulled by the external computer.

 

SIA DC-03-1990.01 (R2000.11) does look like a good approach.

 

I guess I still need to know if a low-end (I only need 8 zones) galaxy panel emits open/close events down the interface when both set and unset.

 

Thanks for your info.

[Control Panel With Continuous Event Log Feed]

As previous posts.  Load up OpenGalaxy software on a Pi, then fit it inside Galaxy Dimension or G3 Galaxy and connect to RS232 via TTL-RS232.  OpenGalaxy has SIA options to request zone status. I haven't tested this myself, but it may be fast enough on the Dimension to repeatedly poll the zone status without impacting other panel functions.

Thanks for that pointer.  I had not seen any of those links before. 

OP,

bag of relays ?

open source ?

or branded product eg- Crestron ?

 

Not sure how a bag of relays would help. The circuits are wired FSL.   The intrusive way of doing this is to measure current probably by changing the EOL resistors (by halving their R) and putting a matching one at the control panel and then measuring potential across that however this is a lot of work since the panel is already doing the current detection.  As per the original post I am looking for a commercial panel.

I think the issue you will have is the real-time nature of the information you need. The standard alarm panels will pass events to printers/ARC's Etc. but they are normally serial and too slow to make real-time automation responses.

 

Fair comment.  I did wonder if this was the case. The design of a panel using such a scheme would inevitably need a circular buffer of some kind for events (but they do that anyway) and for the serial output to follow that buffer.  Inevitably there is potential for overrun and loss of events.  However modern technology has vastly increased memory on embedded devices so I was just wondering...

[Control Panel With Continuous Event Log Feed]

I looked up the i-on30EX info... Looks like it has a connector CON7 which exposes state... e.g. Alarm, Tamper etc.   There is also an RS485 interface... but no definition of its use.

 

I also found an add-on Ethernet Communicator for the i-on30 but it is £££

 

Ideally I wouldn't do anything clever to the control panel... just consume a serial log of events... in exactly the same way a control panel might send the log to a printer but on a continuous basis.

Oooo....Texecom Premier

 

"13 - Offline Printing

If a printer is plugged onto the control panel, nothing will be printed unless a printout is requested (see page 112 for details).

Online Printing

If a printer is plugged onto the control panel, anything that is logged in the event log is also printed at the same time."

 

Now that looks hopeful.  Thanks for the pointer, I have not come across those before.

 

Do you think it would log open/close/tamper even when not set?

[Control Panel With Continuous Event Log Feed]

Interesting. Are there add-on modules that receive all the events then?  Maybe I could hack one of those?

[Control Panel With Continuous Event Log Feed]

This is an obscure requirement... don't be confused... it's not an ordinary question!

 

I currently have a Scantronic 9850 installation.

 

It's...  Internal & External Sounders, 5 PIR, Viper and Magnetic door swich on entry/exit and keypad by front door.

 

This installation works well, has been in place for several years, but being an electronic engineer(!) I would like to refresh the system.

 

In particular I would like to install a panel which has a serial/ttl output that provides a continuous event log of at least open, close, tamper on all circuits and potentially set and unset events.  I would need the open/close events even when the system was not set. The 9850 stores an event history but this is only available on demand.

 

Is there an 8 zone wired panel that can provide a continuous event log at either RS232 or TTL level?

 

I plan to use the logged event output for some home automation.

 

Thanks in advance

Nivag

 

PS

The alternative is to build a 'front-end' to take the circuits at the control panel and then emulator these into the regular inputs... but that seems like alot of wasted effort if such a panel already exists.

 

 

[Hello Don't Be Alarmed I'm Here...]

 

Electronic engineer who has dabbled in installation at own offices and home a number of times (Aren't they the worst?)

 

Have installed Scantronic panels and learnt alot along the way.

 

regards

Nivag