Make alarm louder?

cunnins4

Hi guys, i've an alarm on the garden shed (a couple of grand's worth of bikes down there so i wanna keep them safe) but it's not loud enough to be heard from inside the house. Mind you, it's still VERY loud and i'd say it'd deter any would be thief from sticking around to see if it actually can be heard from inside the house.

Anyways, i was wondering if i'd be able to make it louder? i've old stereo speakers up in the attic that i'm sure i could use instead of the speaker that came with it. would i need to stick something like a preamp onto it to boost the sound?

any help's appreciated!

Cheers,
Stephen

fishdog

What type of alarm system is it??

You could put a second SABB (bell box) on to it.


Many systems now have auxillary connections that can be used to switch other devices on, such as a "master blaster". This is the nearest thing to an air raid siren!!

Why do you want it louder?? It is more important that the alarm rings out for assistance. People tend to ignore alarms, even loud ones.

cunnins4

it's just a simple alarm with a contact on the door and a small control box inside the door where i turn a key to switch it on or off. I think i bought it in argos a few years ago. I want to make it louder so i can actually hear it in the house at night. If it goes off it's fairly deafening if you're inside the shed, but outside it's not that loud. I just spent €1200 on a new racing bike, plus my other one in there puts the total up to over €2k, so i don't want anyone stealing them.

I know people ignore alarms, that's why i want to be able to hear it from inside the house so that I can hear it and won't ignore it! The bike's already locked to the lawnmower in there with a hefty lock, but i reckon no would-be thief would stick around if the alarm went off and it was a bit louder than it is currently.

Saruman

Then how about, instead of making something to piss off the neighbours so that they can ignore it... you hook up the alarm IN your house so you can hear it. I see no reason for it to be located outside on a shed. Just run the wire back to your house and install it inside, maybe in the attic or in a storage room.
Or leave it where it is and come up with a way to run a second one back to your house.

cunnins4

I suppose that's an idea. I'm not too concerned about the neighbours though. they spend their time out revving up their suped up cars late at night, so if someone's trying to nick my bike, i'm not gonna worry too much if the alarm wakes them up every now and again. if anything, it'd be a good thing because if i don't hear it and they do, you can be fairly certain they'd ask to turn it off. Alarms are there to alert people to theft, so i'm don't really wanna localise the siren to just inside the house. What about when there's no one home to hear it?

I might try a second siren and see how that goes.

Saruman

Cant the neighbours currently hear the alarm? Is it that low?

cunnins4

I'd very much doubt it. It's audible from about 5 meters away, after that it sounds like a very distant siren, and if you're indoors, i doubt ANYONE can hear it! my house wouldn't be the most sound proof either, so it's not that. i might try re-positioning the siren so it points out of the shed and towards the house, see how that goes.

Saruman

You know what would make them a lot safer than an alarm? Fill in some concrete just outside the door of the shed and put in a Ram Bar. That will prevent anyone from even opening the door so short of taking off the door (and making a lot of noise) they will not get in.

By Ram bar i mean a big metal bar standing up, usually put in driveways to prevent the theft of a car.

Quick side note.. my Dad actually invented back in the 80's but was a terrible business man and could not keep up the royalty payments so other companies started making them then.