Where to mount the 'panel' or control box ?

[Gus]

My new house will have only two locations where I can mount the panel.
Either in the cloths closet located in the bathroom or in the garage.

Which is best?
I realize that I face humidity in the bathroom vs. higher heat in the
garage.
Each of these rooms are at opposite ends on the house with no closets
in the middle of the structure.

I am leaning toward the inside wall in the garage but do not know if
the higher heat will cause the electronics to be unstable. I'm talking
Texas south-side of the house heat!

This house will have the newest technology as far as environmental
controll so the humidity should not really be a factor in the bathroom
cloths closet.

Ideas please - I will need to plan the wiring before the wall are
closed up.

thanks,
Gus

 

[Paul]

Our rules are probalbly different in Australia from yours, but installing
the panel in an entry zone is not a good idea. That may or may not rule the
garage out. The bathroom would not be suitable either, not only from a
humidity point of view, but from a protection one. Could an intruder reach
the panel undetected? If the answer is yes, then another location should be
sought. You must have a cupboard somewhere in your new house. Locate it in
one of those an make sure its protected by an instant zone.

 

[Allan Waghalter]

Gus,
Which Texas City?
I am in Houston and would be glad to help you here. I have no problems with
using the walk-in closet in the bathroom. Here, that is where most of the
panels are installed. The garage will not hurt the electronics, but it will
take a toll on the system battery. Also, in the garage, you run a risk of a
security breach as someone could alter your system if you leave the garage
door open and enter later.
Regards,
Allan Waghalter
Security Sure Alarm Company

 

[Gus]

Thanks Allan, I am just north of San Antonio.

There will be two vents in the master bathroom as well as two windows,
plus the house will have a ERV system which keeps the humidity
'normal'. Hopefully the humidity in the bathroom will be as low as in
the rest of the house.

I am suprised to hear you say "most" panels in higher humidity Houston
are in a bathroom closet. Perhaps my design is not that strange since
bed rooms are at one end of the house and the garage at the other.
Only the famly room, living room, and dining rooms are in the middle
of the house; all without closets.

Thanks for everyone's responses,

Gus

 

[Gus]

Thanks Dan - the laundry room on the back of the house with a window
and an outside door. I considered this a higher risk area than inside
the garage.

I thank Bass said one time to conceal the panel box or build it in;
this would be easier in the garage.
This is a rural no crime area so I am inclined to leave the garage
door open while working on the 'back 40'.

Thanks for the suggestion, I am reexaming the plans,
Gus

 

[Gus]

Paul, I'm putting in my own system.

Good point not putting it in a entry zone/garage but I have only two
possible locations.
I'll ask the wife if she will give up some pantry space in the kitchen
but this can also become a high humidity area.

Thanks,
Gus

 

[Allan Waghalter]

Gus,
The homes being built here don't have what some people are thinking of as
small bathroom closets. I don't like the little closets because they are
very hard to access and work in. The bathroom closets in virtually all
newer homes are huge walk in closets. The master bath is virtually its on
small suite. The closets normally have their own air conditioning vents and
no humidity problem. Were there to be a moisture problem of such magnitude
as to cause harm to an alarm panel, you would also have mildewed clothes and
shoes. We don't have either!

North of San Antonio, you even have less of a problem than we do here in
Houston. Your humidity is considerably less. I would go with the MBR
closet! And put the panel down where you can reach it. Many companies here
put the panel up close to the ceiling or above the closet door as you enter
and that requires you to drag in a ladder just to look at the box!

I come to San Antonio often. My brother and my daughter live there. No
Mike, not together.
Regards,
Allan

 

[Allan Waghalter]

Don't worry about the humidity... and don't put it in the pantry. You will
be sorry if you do. Any access will require moving a lot of canned goods or
other things. It is the worst place I have experienced for servicing a
panel.

Most panels are not humidity damaged! I had a napco 1010 installed in an
office/warehouse that was virtually falling down. I had to put a pie pan
over the smoke detector to keep running water from the roof off of it. When
it rained, it was not unusual to have 1 to 2 inches of water on the floor.
The file cabinets, desk, and even the alarm can were rusted. This was an
old battery reprocessing (lead) plant that had been forced to close because
of lead contamination. The owner took his 1950 pickup and picked up
electronic scrap and broke it down into recycleable items... mostly metals.

I had taken this system over from ADT who had not been able to control false
alarms. I changed the motions in the warehouse to dual beams and rewired
the office area including motion (pet resistant) and glass breaks. We never
had a false alarm. The man was eventually killed in a car wreck and the
system turned off, but it still worked reliably with no adverse reaction to
Houston humidity and the harshest of all possible envirionments.

Put the panel in the master bedroom (Mbath) closet. You won't go wrong!

Regards,
Allan Waghalter
(over 21 years in the business)

 

[Paul]

Putting the panel high up may require a ladder but the same would apply to
Mr Burglar.
All techs carry a ladder. The harder for someone to reach the more secure
the sytem will be.(within reason of course)

 

[Allan Waghalter]

It only takes 5/10 seconds for my panel to initiate and complete its
communication with the central station. Beyond that, it doesn't matter if
the perp tampers with the box. The panel winds up behind clothes so it
isn't overtly obvious to the burglar. I still vote for putting it down
where it is serviceable.
Allan

 

[Gus]

Okay guys, the master bathroom closet has it. I'll need to hide
everything in a closet especiall if I make a long run from each switch
or sensor.....there will be about 20 so I will have a sizable cable
coming throught the ceiling to the panel.

Haven't decided which panel to go with but it sounds like internal
heat is a factor to consider when chosing.

Thanks again,
Gus

 

[Spike]

That should be fine, Gus. However, if you can reach the top of the wall
from the attic you won't need to have visible wires at all. Just drill one
or more 1" diameter holes with a paddle bit into the top of the wall and
drop the cables into the wall cavity. Most decent panels have rear
knockouts -- often 2" or more in diameter. You can cut a hole in the wall
before mounting the panel. After the panel is up pull the cables through,
leaving a foot of slack in each in case you need to service anything later.

Whatever you do, do NOT make a bunch of splices inside the wall behind the
cabinet.

Bob, you crack me up. You just saw that on Jack's pictures site, didn't you?

 

[Spike]

Half a second? RF? Which system (if you don't mind my asking)

 

[Allan Waghalter]

That should be read as 5 to 10 seconds. This is for a Napco system, but
most all panels today using contact ID communicate this quickly.

 

[Mark Leuck]

I think he means 5 to 10 seconds and if he timed it he'd really find it
takes 25 to 30 seconds depending on the format.

 

[Mark Leuck]

Dial time alone takes that long, waiting for the right handshake (assuming a
standard receiver) another 10 seconds, while the actual signal itself takes
maybe 2 or 3 seconds you have to account for the rest of the process. I've
timed them.

 

[Spike]

No way. More like 30 - 40 secs from trip to kissoff and that's only if the
first try makes it through.

 

[Mark Leuck]

I should think with a decent central station the first try will go through
99.999% of the time

I wish I could find the post but I timed a typical Contact ID signal from a
Caddx NX panel and it ended up roughly 25 seconds from start of dialing to
kissoff, SIA was roughly the same, 4/2 ended up 40 to 45 seconds for one
signal and if you have multiple signals it would be about a minute

That is assuming you have a receiver that is set to deliver the proper
handshake on first try, if you deal with older ones that give a 4-2
handshake first (common) add 5 seconds for each handshake attempt. Also some
panels like ITI wait 15 seconds regardless if delay before dial is enabled
or not

 

[Mark Leuck]

So now you're saying Contact ID takes 25 to 30 seconds

So what ever happend to 4/2 format ...... taking too long to transmit?

I thought that you said that contact ID only took a few seconds and because 4/2
format takes 15 to twenty seconds .......it wasn't any good?

Per our post a few years ago the 25 to 30 is what it usually ends up being,
if you want to talk about the actual signal then CID is maybe 2 seconds, SIA
about the same and depending on what 4/2 format you use 10 to 15 seconds.
That excludes the dialing and handshakes

You use 4/2 express which is as fast as CID

 

[Mark Leuck]

Any Concord or Concord Express, Simon 2 and Simon 3