New HKC alarm - couple of questions

pH

Hopefully someone here can help ... just had a new HKC 1070 alarm + GSM sender installed in a country cottage used by a group of people and have a couple of issues with when texts are sent that the installer said he can't change.

1 - Normally it doesn't send "UNSET" texts - however if the alarm has been triggered it seems to send an unset txt to everyone - any idea if or how this can be turned off as it's expensive and unwanted?

2 - "Night Mode" texts - is there any way when setting the alarm (for instance night mode when the house is occupied) that the alarm knows not to send a text in this mode - the best the installer could offer was a 30 second delay between triggering the alarm and the text being sent - but this seems to be a global feature and would give an intruder 30 seconds to get to the panel even in the "unoccupied" setting.

Again the problems stem from the fact that a group of people all use the place and we all don't need a text @ 3 in the morning when the house is occupied and someone opened a window.

any ideas or thoughts?

altor

pH wrote: »

Hopefully someone here can help ... just had a new HKC 1070 alarm + GSM sender installed in a country cottage used by a group of people and have a couple of issues with when texts are sent that the installer said he can't change.

1 - Normally it doesn't send "UNSET" texts - however if the alarm has been triggered it seems to send an unset txt to everyone - any idea if or how this can be turned off as it's expensive and unwanted?

This is to let you know the system was unset by whichever user disarmed the system.
It is as you say, only happens after an alarm event.
To my knowledge it is set into alarm in what the system reports to a mobile.
I don't think there is a way but I will check it out for you.

pH wrote: »

2 - "Night Mode" texts - is there any way when setting the alarm (for instance night mode when the house is occupied) that the alarm knows not to send a text in this mode - the best the installer could offer was a 30 second delay between triggering the alarm and the text being sent - but this seems to be a global feature and would give an intruder 30 seconds to get to the panel even in the "unoccupied" setting.

Again the problems stem from the fact that a group of people all use the place and we all don't need a text @ 3 in the morning when the house is occupied and someone opened a window.

any ideas or thoughts?

It is a global setting, the system has no way of knowning if the property is occupied or not.

Best thing to do is either bypass the window when arming or have the window set up that it is off in partset.

pH

altor wrote: »

It is a global setting, the system has no way of knowning if the property is occupied or not.

Best thing to do is either bypass the window when arming or have the window set up that it is off in partset.

Sorry maybe I wasn't clear - I don't need the system to magically know if there's people in the house or not - I just need to be able to set the alarm (using a different user code) such that the windows/doors are all monitored - just if the alarm is triggered by any of them - the internal/external siren will activate and no texts will be sent. Is it possible?

KoolKid

There is an option in
System Options> P Guard Opts> PG Digi Alarm.
If this is disabled if prevents calls to a central station. I would have thought it works the same for self monitoring, perhaps Altor will clarify.

altor

pH wrote: »

Sorry maybe I wasn't clear - I don't need the system to magically know if there's people in the house or not - I just need to be able to set the alarm (using a different user code) such that the windows/doors are all monitored - just if the alarm is triggered by any of them - the internal/external siren will activate and no texts will be sent. Is it possible?

Yes, I knew what you meant.

The thing is you either have the text function enabled or you dont. You could set the dialer delay to longer so it wont dial out till a pre determined time has passed to give the user time to turn off the alarm system. Or another option are Keyfobs with a smaller delay to allow the user turn off the alarm from there room if that is where the activation comes from.

The only thing about making the time longer is an intruder would have this time too before the alarm sent a text to a users phone.

pH

Just wondering is this is normal - there must be 1000's of dialer type alarms in Ireland - do they all send texts or phone if the alarm is activated in night mode - ie set when the occupiers are in the house?

Another problem with my HKC - the installer put in combined shock/magnetic switch sensors - which work fine except on the front door when we leave our dogs in the hall. Is there any way when leaving the pets in the house I can just have the magnetic switch active (ie only alarm if the door is opened) and ignore the shocks on the door as the dogs have a tendency to jump up at the door.

The installers answer to this was to turn the sensitivity down very low - but as far as I can tell this affects all settings on the alarm (including house unoccupied) - and potentially every shock sensor in the house? could anyone confirm?

KoolKid

A contact only on the front door would be more common than a sensor anyway.
If its a solid door I would just take the sensor out of it.
On the dialler, I am surprised the part guard digi setting does not affect text alerts. Its a bit pointless (and embarrassing) to have your alarm texting everyone if your home.

pH

KoolKid wrote: »

A contact only on the front door would be more common than a sensor anyway.
If its a solid door I would just take the sensor out of it.

It's a PVC door with a fair bit of glass and a largish glass side panel - so the shock sensor makes sense? I take it there's no way to check what set of the sensor (shock or magnetic switch opened) and behave differently?

On the dialler, I am surprised the part guard digi setting does not affect text alerts. Its a bit pointless (and embarrassing) to have your alarm texting everyone if your home.

I'm in the process of looking for an alarm for my house in Dublin - we have a couple of good friends/relatives nearby who would be happy to check the house if a dialer texted or called them when we're away - however when we're in the house at night there's no way I'd want a false alarm annoying them by calling - are there any alarms on the market that have either a dialler or GSM that are flexible enough to allow you choose if you want notification depending on how you set the alarm. Also this applies to the external bell - I'd like the flexibility not to sound it depending on what mode the alarm was set in. We've a neighbor who doesn't seem to be able to get up in the morning without letting everyone in our cul de sac know he's up.

KoolKid

If your asking whether a sensor can be set at a different level for full and part set then no. You could however put the sensor and contact on 2 separate zones and leave the sensor off when the dog is in.

The Siemens SPC range has the flexibility you require for the other settings.
You can also decide by user phone number what alerts are sent.
You can even add calendars for each user.

pH

KoolKid wrote: »

If your asking whether a sensor can be set at a different level for full and part set then no. You could however put the sensor and contact on 2 separate zones and leave the sensor off when the dog is in.

That's exactly what I'm looking for, can it be done with these combined magnetic switch/shock sensors that I have or would I need to replace the single unit with 2 separate sensors? Does the HKC range have a separate sensors?

KoolKid

You would need to bring them back to sepererate zones.
You could do this with the one device as the sensor and contact are separate.