Gabs

Sounds very reminiscent of my school, that I have just left. I took product design as a GCSE, but was never given the task to do anything as exciting as make my own alarm panel. Do you have any pictures of the alarm panel that you made? I'd be interested to see Sounds like a funny thing to do, although it would ruin the books

That's good I have decided that I will probably build one of the transistor panels from Ron's site, so the components will help me there, thanks Yeah, it is. Shame Velleman don't make alarm kits, they mainly do things to do with lighting, so not as good.

Thanks, I'll have a look at that, schematic looks pretty big though, more complex than the Logic 4

What bits and pieces do you have? Old components, panels? Or just a mixture of things? Just curious, before I go off to Maplin and buy some Transistors for a Circuit on Ron's site

That's bad that you were accused of buying it, but it also says it was better than anything the teacher was expecting. With old parts, if I make my own panel, I'll have a go at vacuum forming a casing for it, would be rather rewarding to do, making the panel from scratch.

Yeah, would weigh much less. Have you ever tried making your own alarm panel?

Yeah, the metal ones seemed to offer much greater security than the plastic ones. Although the plastic ones look nicer, well, as nice as a black and white plastic box can look. Think white is the best colour for a panel

Cheaper than the Accentas then. I can see why it cost that, I guess a lot of thinking and design went in to it. Thanks, that'd be great. I always have this tab open, so I'll just check my PM every now and again. Thanks, I have always been interested in this sort of stuff, I was thinking of building something like this http://www.bentleysecurity.com/ that my be more simple.

Wow, thanks for the replies guys I will look on his site, I actually have been using and learning with my Arduino Microcontroller, in this picture, it is connected to my Accenta G3, I made a Mission Impossible stile beam break detector hooked up to Zone 4, so an instant alarm when set. I will have a go at some projects from his site tomorrow before I take on the Logic 4, which was probably designed by an engineer with a lot more experience than 16 year old me I have built sme things, I etch my own PCBs as well, to put my very small projects on. I'll also add a picture of a PCB that I have made, it was designed to be an LED version of a Airbus A320 wing strobe Ah, the microprocessor stuff does sound much more complex, I'll stick to the basic ICs for now And let my knowledge rise first. I actually have a kit similar to the Tandy one, it was my Dad's he gave to me at quite a young age, before I started messing on with proper alarm panels. I have an Arduino microcontroller, which I made wok with my ADE simple set reader, which as fun, thy worked together really well, making the Arduino control a siren, depending on the relay state of the set reader. I know, I would be quite interested actually o see how the Logic 4 and Optimas were designed, the PCBs have quite clearly been designed by a computer program, although I do not know of any PCB design programs existing back in the early 1990s. I have just ordered 50 555 timer chips, so hopefully I'll be able to design something good with them, and other chips I have. I guess they were designed with simplicity for the user in mind, that's what I like about ADE, nothing is ever too hard to do on their panels. How much was the Logic 4 at the time?

I actually have just got a Logic 4, it looks really quite complex, I could give it a go, but I am not sure if it would work. Here are the 4 ICs in the Logic 4, not sure if any are custom made for ADE, would anyone else know? If not, there is a chance I will try to make/copy the board traces for the Logic 4 I'll have a look at that, thanks

Thanks for the replies, I just thought using a micro-controller may have been easier than using more passive components, such as individual logic ICs. What sort of kit was it? I'd be interested to know, and maybe try to build one. The description part also sounds helpful

Does anyone have, or know where I can get a schematic for any alarm panel, (Preferably ADE), reason for me asking, I am very interested in engineering and how these panels were designed.I was thinking about making my own panel, using an ATMEL microprocessor, and a custom made PCB. I was mainly interested in seeing how the zones and inputs are connected to the main microprocessor of the control panel (Picture shows what I am assuming to be the PIC microcontroller of an Accenta G3) I'm also interested din the software that the alarm panels run as well, so if anyone knows a little about how they are programmed and what language is used, I'd really appreciate it Thanks In Advance

I collect the older, more rare alarms, and do my best to restore them and make them work again

Good idea. Where do I get an SAB, though? Ha, it is the alarm equivalent, very old indeed. First Piezo box? Board says 'ELMDENE 1992'

Well, I go out with my friends, don't worry... I'm not THAT sad I tried all of that, but it didn't really work. Do you have any idea where I could get a Eurobell module? That is my next hope