Installing a Texecom Premier Elite Flush Mount Keypad 

Bulglalaralalarm lol

good thing it wasn't a purple burglar alarm

Weirdly I'm one of the few Scottish people I know who can actually say "Purple Burglar Alarm" - but it took practice!

Yeah, generally I'd go wired, I went wireless here partially to test it out and to be able to install it quickly without damage although as far as wireless systems go, Texecom are really good. It's a 2 way system so it can monitor the health of all of the devices unlike some cheaper systems where if a single doesn't get through - nothing will happen. It'll also mesh if required so devices can bounce signals through eachother to extend the range (although in my system, the signal strength is good enough that everything talks directly to the panel) I installed this system after having an absolutely dreadful experience wit a cheap "DIY kit" from Honeywell where the external siren would often not receive signals and either not trigger, or get stuck on.

In theory would it be possible to simply jam 433Mhz and render a wireless alarm inoperable? I assume it uses 433Mhz LPD. @@camerongray1515

This is 868MHz but yes, in theory, you could use a jammer, although the system does have jamming detection functionality that should trigger an alarm in the event of someone trying to jam it. It's not something I've tested although equally I'm not expecting the average burglar to be using jamming equipment. I maybe wouldn't use a wireless alarm on a particularly high value target or somewhere that organised burglars may specifically target to order, but in my case it's protecting a relatively generic flat, surrounded by other identical flats with mine not really having anything particularly high value or desirable - if someone is spooked by the existence of an alarm, they'll go next door.

Video on that coming soon! 😉. Didn't use a SmartCom but instead used a TTL serial server device to allow me to connect directly to the com ports over the local network. It's essentially the same thing as a ComIP but costs a fraction of the price and allows me to access both COM ports at the same time - one for Wintex and one configured to use the Crestron protocol for home automation integration

Interesting, haven't see HKC in the UK, although Pyronix is super popular for their Enforcer wireless system since nowadays most alarm installs seem to consist of shoving an enforcer on the wall wired into the back of a nearby light switch. As for smart integration, Texecom are a really good option for that - the COM ports are just standard 5v TTL serial ports and when configured to use the "Crestron Protocol" you can easily read various status updates (zone triggered, system arm/disarm), send keypad key presses and read the keypad LCD display. I'll be releasing a video on this soon!

Also in Ireland... all the installers that I spoke to were pushing the HKC but the API is supposedly very closed and Assa Abloy aren't interested in opening it up. Ended up importing Texecom gear and doing a self-install after seeing one of Cameron's earlier videos, no regrets.

I think that's the power supply for the mag lock he has on the cupboard door (locks the door when the alarm is armed). As for drilling holes, if there's not a factory made one where you need it, then it's your only option.

Yeah, the power supply on the wall powers a mag lock that locks the door when the alarm is armed, one cable goes off to the lock itself, the other goes into the alarm panel where it connects to one of the panel's outputs to control the lock. As for drilling the hole - on a plastic panel such as mine, it has circular areas on the case that are specifically thinner than the rest which are designed to be drilled out for installing conduits - you may be able to make a couple of these out on the bottom of the panel. Sometimes on metal panels you'll have a "knockout" which is a hole with a metal plug welded in place that you can break out to open up a hole. You wouldn't usually use these on a plastic panel as they'd be very easy for someone to break out with their fingers leaving a hole in the panel.

@@camerongray1515 Oh I see, so I presume these areas are on both the bottom and top of the case, right? That makes sense, I guess they want to keep the holes closed from the factory for security reasons, to stop people poking things into the holes and potentially damaging components.

@@camerongray1515 Having an automatic lock on that cupboard door is a fantastic idea, I've heard stories of people having their security alarms compromised because intruders have gained access to the control panel and once they get the cover off, they can do wwhat they want to the system. At least in your case nobody can access it when the cupboard's locked.

I’m yet to hear anyone have bad reviews of the Texecom wireless systems and I’ve just got one myself, yet to install it. Texecom is a proper graded alarm system (if installed by a professional) but ring and other systems like it, are not. Texecom can be integrated into home assistant if required and from there possibilities are endless! Ring…. Last time I checked, isn’t fully compatible with home assistant (but maybe with other things). I would rather have a proper alarm system and integrate out into other things personally. With regards to battery life and not being responsive - what exactly was not responsive as you expected? PIR sensors will go into sleep mode for 3 mins after triggering to save battery when the system is not armed - contact sensors are always’ alive’ however. A wrongly configured polling model can quickly drain batteries - there’s a few different modes. And I’m not sure what other devices such as hive have to do with draining the batteries either - makes no sense at all.

I've never really tried the Ring alarm system, at the time that I installed this, most consumer DIY systems were dreadful although it looks like the ring system uses Z Wave which should be a lot better. That said, it's not really for me as I tend to avoid smart home systems that rely on cloud services or apps wherever possible. With my Texecom system I have been able to use its integrated COM ports to integrate it with my smart home system over the local network - although it's not necessarily a "plug and play" solution, it works really well - video on that coming very soon! Weird to hear about your battery life issues, I've only had to change the batteries in the sensors once so far, and that was after close to 4-5 years of use. The responsiveness is relatively normal with wireless systems - once they detect motion the sensor will sleep for a while before it'll detect again. There is also a setting for "pulse count" inside each PIR which defines how significant the motion needs to be before it triggers.

You definitely can connect a wired siren to an otherwise wireless system so that may be your best bet assuming you can run the cable, you'd need to replace the siren but you should be able to get a new internal module but keep the outer cover. Other than that, you can improve the battery life by disabling the "comfort LEDs" (the LEDs that blink periodically) using a jumper inside the siren.

@@camerongray1515 Thanks Cameron, Yes, I disabled the comfort LED's from day one, but even that didn't seem to help much with battery life. I'll see if I can find an internal module. The hard part might me finding out what model of Siren I atually got when I bought the system LOL!

@@camerongray1515 What do the comfort LEDs do? What's the purpose of them?

Comfort LEDs are just the LEDs that blink on the outside siren to make it look more "operational" - purely a visual deterrent.

@@camerongray1515 I've never seen a fixed security alarm with such a feature, I've only seen that kind of feature on car security/immobiliser systems and I've seen smoke detectors, that have a light which flashes every minute or so. So do the comfort lights just flash periodically? Do they flash regardless of whether the alarm is armed or not?

I'd still need a keypad to configure the system or to do things like part arms so not sure what sort of benefit fitting an iProx would give, the keypad supports proximity tags if I did want to use them. The system is actually network connected with a pretty interesting custom setup that integrates it with my home automation system. I plan on releasing a video on this soon (it's been in place for years but I've never got around to filming it) so I removed it temporarily while making this video so it wouldn't confuse people. You can see the (admittedly temporary) network cable that is normally connected to it dangling in front of the door throughout this video.

Sure I probably could have worded it more precisely, but while it doesn't increase the total number of zones that your panel is capable of, it will act as a zone expander to give you access to more zones since most (all?) Texecom Premier panels are capable of many more zones than there are terminals inside the panel.

MAP keypad zones to.....

Texecom have a good balance in this regard, the alarm system itself is a traditional, reliable "non-smart" alarm but you can add on their "SmartCom" module which connects to the panel and allows smart control in a replaceable, upgradable module. The SmartCom connects to regular TTL serial ports inside the panel, so instead of using that, I ended up building my own module to allow me to integrate the alarm with my self hosted smart home system (video on that coming soon)

Ring isnt forced subscription in fact a lot of these modern alarm systems you can self manage without subscription.