Re: Garage Door Opener keypad recommendations

[Jim <alarminex@xxxxxxx>]

On Nov 20, 4:08=A0pm, tourman <robercampb...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > What's wrong with that is that a roller ball will fail and you don't
> > know it. The mag switch fails open.
>
> > I'd agree with you on the inherent problems if you're using standard
> > magnet recessed contacts. But now ..... with the newer Rare Earth
> > magnets, there's no problem at all with the issues you cited. You just
> > have to be careful the Rare Earth magnets don't pull the fillings out
> > of your teeth.
>
> RHC: Yeah, any roller ball contacts that failed were usually
> determined by a trouble call where the client opened the door and a
> motion triggered the alarm. Customers don't check their alarm systems
> whatsoever, and the don't notice things until they have an open zone
> or one that triggers an alarm.
>
> Rare earth magnets have definately improved things overall. Now you do
> have a bit more than just opening the door a crack before the zone
> opens. I still prefer the tolerance of a roller ball though, and as
> long as they remain as trouble free as I have found them to date, I'll
> likely stick with them when the frame of the door allows it. One minor
> side benefit - when a client changes only the door and not the frame,
> it's one less service call. Nor do they cause another problem I've
> seen with magnetic contacts where the magnet ends up falling out of
> the door on occasion.
>
> Bottom line, I stock all sorts, colours and lengths of either magnetic
> and roller ball. Sometimes you get out there, and you just don't know
> what you'll find....
>
> When I first started installing, I worked for a company here that has
> long since disappeared, and I have a bushel basket full of assorted
> contacts of all different types, colours and connecting ends that I
> can draw on when I find a weird situation that I have to deal with.-


Of course we can both cite different experiences. With regard to your
setting off the motion detector as the indication that the door switch
isn't opening, .... I've had instances where people stop hearing the
entry warning beep and think that the sounder has gone bad and simply
keep arming and disarming the system, not realizing that the door
switch is bad.

Magnet falling out of door?   I can only say that if an installer
doesn't silicone the switch and magnet in the door they deserve the
service call.

One question I have about the  use of roller ball
switches, ............ since their "play" seems to be a primary factor
in your use of them, why wouldn't  you use a push button on the jamb
side of the door that has a greater throw and would MUCH less succumb
to changes in the door-to-jamb gap? I'm guessing that a roller ball
switch has a throw of about 3/16 ths of an inch, whereas a pushbutton
switch would have at least a 5/16ths inch throw.

I very rarely use a roller ball switch for anything unless I have no
other choice because it has such a small throw tolerance as compared
to a pushbutton switch.

Both the push button and roller ball switches now contain micro
switches but in years past, in the land before micro switches, there
was only the Ademco 116 push button switch. There was only that choice
for door contacts if  you didn't use a serface mount switch. Although
after about 10 years or so in use, they could give you a real pain in
the ass, they had about a 1/2 throw on them and once installed hardly
ever needed an adjustment. I still have some jobs where they don't get
used much and are still in service after 30 or so years. And because
of the more powerfull spring, they hardly ever got hung up when used
on doors. During the years while the microswitch type pushbuttons were
being introduced I kept trying to get the manufacturers to lengthen
the throw on them and increase the spring pressure but they never did.
That's when I started using the recessed mags more and more.

On occasion I'll have to utilize what was already installed on a job
and when I do, if it's a hinge jamb switch, I'll use a pushbutton over
a roller ball just to gain the greater throw.