Re: Can an alarm with PGM outputs, and/or other outputs, be wired to an X10 sensor?

[anonymous <nospam@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks, Jim and Eric, for letting me know about the PowerFlash. The
alarm controller that's coming is the Paradox 1738. The outputs and amp
ratings that I mentioned I got off of a couple of websites.

As for using X10 as an alarm system, my basic rationale is this: for
those who cannot afford more than a very minimal professionally
installed system, the X10 package could be a useful supplement, and
those who cannot spend more than $100 on any alarm at all would probably
find that having an X10 alarm that works 90% of the time is still a lot
better than nothing (as long as the powerline environment does not
create a lot of false alarms).

In my case, the cheapest professional alarm that I can afford (this
Paradox system) comes with 2 door sensors, 2 motion detectors, the
controller and a keypad. That secures only half my house: the bedrooms
get nothing; six openable windows get nothing. Then I read,
http://providentsecurity.typepad.com/community_security_the_pr/2006/11/2nd_floor_burgl.html
. Every little upgrade for the professionally installed alarm costs a
lot, so it seemed to me that I had to turn to a cheaper package, like
what X10 offers, which in addition to complete sensor coverage creates a
bigger alarm effect(flashing the lights, sounding more sirens), gives me
a little computer control, phones me and my nearby family, e-mails me,
activates a security multi-webcam program (BlueIris) which in turn
starts sending time/date/watermarked photos to my website, etc. If once
in while one of the sensors can't communicate with the controller
because an electrical noise producing device was turned on, I can live
with that. I may have to do a lot of technical reading and spend an
extra $30 on a dryer-plug-in phase coupler and a noise blocker to get
full house coverage and near-100% reliability; I can live with that. I
think I'm doing the right thing here for my situation (here's hoping!).

Thanks again for your time. I'll have to start watching for sales on the
PowerFlash.



Jim wrote:
> On Feb 27, 3:42?pm, anonymous <nos...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>Hello, and thanks for reading. Can an alarm controller that has "2 PGM
>>outputs [2.5A] and 1 alarm relay [5A]" and "1 supervised bell output and
>>1 supervised auxiliary output" be attached to a wireless X10 door/window
>>sensor (ftp://ftp.x10.com/pub/manuals/ds10a-is.pdf), so that when the
>>alarm system goes off for any reason, an X10 signal is sent? Any advice
>>on this? Thanks.
>
>
> What make (mfg) alarm control panel do you have?  Many mfgs have X10
> modules that will send signals upon an alarm condition. But, simply,
> you can use the set of alarm relay contacts to activate a power flash
> module that will send an X10 signal. If you want to use the PGM
> outputs, you'll have to use them to power a relay whose contacts will
> activate a power flash module.
>
> One point of advice however. DO NOT use the X10 to provide any life or
> property safety detection or notification. It's not reliable nor
> dependable enough to be used for anything above turning on/off lights
> or something that isn't safety related.
>