Eliminating the Alarm Company

[Waxman]

Is is simple and straightforward to reconfigure my car wash alarm system to call my cell phone instead of the alarm company? Does anyone else do this?

It seems like I could do just fine calling the police and/or an employee close by the wash to check things out if something triggered the alarm.

FYI, my alarm is theoretically supposed to sense things like spraying water and alert me to floods in the pump room. Three times last year it did not and I arrived to major flooding due to bad Johnson valves, etc.!!!

 

[pitzerwm]

I had this and it works fine.

 

[bigleo48]

Hey Waxman,

This is typically very easy to do if you have the manuals/instructions. What kind of alarm system is it? You can then surf the web to get the info required to reconfigure your alarm system. In some cases you can get the software to do it with your PC (which is much easier that keying it in at the interface panel).

As far as your alarm points (like water sensors), you should be able to test these fairly easily. For example the alarm panel (where I enter my code) shows all the inputs and which ones are active. So it's just a matter of tripping those points and seeing if they register on the board.

Also, most systems can do much more than what they are typically configured for. For example...they log everything so you can see when employees arrive and leave (and have it page you when they do). Way back, I use to track my cleaning lady that I suspected was booking way more time than she was actually spending at my home. I did catch her and fire her lazy a$$.

Hope this helps...Big Leo