Thanks to all for the advice - some of which has come to me as private messages. I know I really shouldn't have powered up the system without a standby battery, but I couldn't resist the temptation to find out whether my ebay special control panel actually worked! So far, so good, and the battery should be in at the weekend. I'm sure it will be worth getting an expert in to check my handiwork when I'm finished, but for now I'm quite enjoying the whole exercise.

Neil

hurry up with it before you get burgled lol

I told you so ..........see how long it take you to get into the zone list ( they call them inputs!!!) and PGMS for outputs

I finished installing and programming the system a couple of weeks ago but thought I'd allow a bit of time for problems to occur before reporting back to the forum. I hope my experience, and the reassurance I've had from using this forum, will be useful to other beginners.

All appears to be well. No problems with connections or with programming - though I've not used the communications facilities yet - and everything tests OK. And not a single exposed cable in sight! I must say that in retrospect I'm glad I went for a decent panel with an LCD keypad because that made programming and testing pretty straightforward for anyone who can use a menu system on a PC.

I cheated a bit with the end-of-line resistor wiring by using Pyronix KX detectors, which have onboard resistors that are easily selected with jumpers. For the benefit of other beginners I found this well worthwhile since the wiring is fiddly enough anyway in the top corner of a room. I did use separate resistors for a panic button though and that works OK too.

Thanks for your help, chaps, and doubtless I'll be back online next time I get over-ambitious!

Neil

Edited July 12, 200718 yr by Beginner