New Home Security System Wiring

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I purchased a home that was wired for security. Straight ahead from
the front entry is a wire coming through the drywall up in the corner.
It comes through just a few inches down from the ceiling.

In the same room but on the opposite wall is another wire. This one is
about a foot below the ceiling line and is on a flat expanse of wall
(not in the corner).

I want to buy whatever is supposed to be hooked up to the wires. I
will not actually hook up an alarm, I just want to cover up the ugly
wires.

What should I look for?

 

[Robert L Bass]

I purchased a home that was wired for security. Straight ahead from
the front entry is a wire coming through the drywall up in the corner.
It comes through just a few inches down from the ceiling.

In the same room but on the opposite wall is another wire. This one is
about a foot below the ceiling line and is on a flat expanse of wall
(not in the corner).

I want to buy whatever is supposed to be hooked up to the wires. I
will not actually hook up an alarm, I just want to cover up the ugly
wires.

What should I look for?

Spackle.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

Bass Burglar Alarms
The Online DIY Store
http://www.BassBurglarAlarms.com

 

[R.H.Campbell]

If you don't want the alarm, and just want to cover up the wires, push the
wires into the hole and staple the end of the wire just outside the hole (so
it's not lost inside the wall), then simply mount a white or beige plastic
electrical plate over the hole. You can buy them anywhere for a quarter or
so....

RHC

I purchased a home that was wired for security. Straight ahead from
the front entry is a wire coming through the drywall up in the corner.
It comes through just a few inches down from the ceiling.

In the same room but on the opposite wall is another wire. This one is
about a foot below the ceiling line and is on a flat expanse of wall
(not in the corner).

I want to buy whatever is supposed to be hooked up to the wires. I
will not actually hook up an alarm, I just want to cover up the ugly
wires.

What should I look for?

I choose Polesoft Lockspam to fight spam, and you?
http://www.polesoft.com/refer.html

 

[Allan Waghalter]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To us, a few wires dangling is like
fine art. Turns us on.
The wire in the corner is most likely for a motion and the one on the flat
wall could be a glass break detector.

I purchased a home that was wired for security. Straight ahead from
the front entry is a wire coming through the drywall up in the corner.
It comes through just a few inches down from the ceiling.

In the same room but on the opposite wall is another wire. This one is
about a foot below the ceiling line and is on a flat expanse of wall
(not in the corner).

I want to buy whatever is supposed to be hooked up to the wires. I
will not actually hook up an alarm, I just want to cover up the ugly
wires.

What should I look for?

I choose Polesoft Lockspam to fight spam, and you?
http://www.polesoft.com/refer.html

 

[Frank Olson]

I purchased a home that was wired for security. Straight ahead from
the front entry is a wire coming through the drywall up in the corner.
It comes through just a few inches down from the ceiling.

In the same room but on the opposite wall is another wire. This one is
about a foot below the ceiling line and is on a flat expanse of wall
(not in the corner).

I want to buy whatever is supposed to be hooked up to the wires. I
will not actually hook up an alarm, I just want to cover up the ugly
wires.

What should I look for?

I agree with Alan's post. Find a local dealer willing to sell you a
motion sensor (may as well go with a pet-proof one like the Paradox
DG-75 and a glass break detector (one of the Intellisense "FG" series
would do nicely. They're easy to install. Use red and black for your
positive and negative power and the yellow and green for the normally
closed switch contacts. If you can't find what you're lookin' for
locally (or you figure the prices are just too high), you can go online
and look for them. There are several online dealers listed here:

http://www.yoursecuritysource.com/buyingonline.htm

Also try:

http://www.norcoalarms.com
http:///www.wballen.com

Good luck!!

 

[Frank Olson]

Spackle.

A most helpful response, Robert... I take it Bahia isn't working out as
well as you expected...

 

[Bob La Londe]

A most helpful response, Robert... I take it Bahia isn't working out as
well as you expected...

I don't know about that. Had one guy we did a prewire for who just would
not be satisfied with anything. I visited him (unpaid) half a dozen times.
Gave him a free motion to cover a wire, and finally buried the wires in the
wall and spackled over them and repainted the area for him. Then he
complained to the general contractor and demanded his money back. What a
jackass. He also went aroudn the developement telling other clients to use
somebody else. I finally had to stop by and let him know that if he didn't
stop his slanderous behavior his next contact from me would be through my
attorney. He started to complain about his right to free speech, and I
informed him that one of the oldest comments about freedom is that, "My
right to swing my arm ends just short of where my fist contacts his nose."
I had a long chat afterwards with the supervisor in charge of his house and
the developer as well. It turns out he treated every single contractor who
worked on his house the same way.

Ultimately, I wopuld have been happier if I had just said one word to him
and hung up the first time he called. "Spackle."

Sorry, Frank, But RLB was right on the money that time.

 

[Frank Olson]

I don't know about that. Had one guy we did a prewire for who just would
not be satisfied with anything. I visited him (unpaid) half a dozen times.
Gave him a free motion to cover a wire, and finally buried the wires in the
wall and spackled over them and repainted the area for him. Then he
complained to the general contractor and demanded his money back. What a
jackass. He also went aroudn the developement telling other clients to use
somebody else. I finally had to stop by and let him know that if he didn't
stop his slanderous behavior his next contact from me would be through my
attorney. He started to complain about his right to free speech, and I
informed him that one of the oldest comments about freedom is that, "My
right to swing my arm ends just short of where my fist contacts his nose."
I had a long chat afterwards with the supervisor in charge of his house and
the developer as well. It turns out he treated every single contractor who
worked on his house the same way.

Ultimately, I wopuld have been happier if I had just said one word to him
and hung up the first time he called. "Spackle."

Sorry, Frank, But RLB was right on the money that time.

Really?? It seems to me the OP was pretty clear about what he wanted.
He may have reasons for not wanting the whole system, but to make it
look like he has one... You have heard about "budgeting", haven't you??


You can build a system one of two ways. Plonk down a whack of dough and
get it done in one shot, or do it "piece-meal". The latter method may
not involve going into debt or having to mortgage the wife and kids.
Either way, I figure in about a six months he have a complete system up
and running (which beats having no system at all and "smooth walls").

 

[JoeRaisin]

I would expect that the cable in the corner is for a motion sensor

I would have thought that the second cable would have been for a
speaker/sounder

funny no mention of cable for keypad !!!!!!!

Not necessarily... We often lace our keypad wires and don't want them
stubbed out because we like to make sure our keypads are centered above
the light switches.

Same with low temp sensors, glass breaks and thermostat modules...

 

[Robert L Bass]

Sorry, Frank, But RLB was right on the money that time.

The gentleman wanted to cover the wires. He said he doesn't want
an alarm. Spackle fulfills his requirements and requires no
further technical support. Best of all (from his point of view),
spackle does not come with a 3-year, renewable contract. :^)

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

Bass Burglar Alarms
The Online DIY Store
http://www.BassBurglarAlarms.com

 

[Frank Olson]

The gentleman wanted to cover the wires. He said he doesn't want
an alarm. Spackle fulfills his requirements and requires no
further technical support. Best of all (from his point of view),
spackle does not come with a 3-year, renewable contract. :^)

What part of "I want to buy whatever is supposed to be hooked up to the
wires. I will not actually hook up an alarm, I just want to cover up
the ugly wires" didn't you understand??

 

[Crash Gordon]

You don't have to keep them 9 feet away from ac lines. We put them above
light switches all the time...of course we always drill our own holes and
route wires at least a foot from the ac...that seems to be enough.


|
| | >
| >
| > BIG NIGE wrote:
| > > I would expect that the cable in the corner is for a motion sensor
| > >
| > > I would have thought that the second cable would have been for a
| > > speaker/sounder
| > >
| > > funny no mention of cable for keypad !!!!!!!
| >
| > Not necessarily... We often lace our keypad wires and don't want them
| > stubbed out because we like to make sure our keypads are centered above
| > the light switches.
| >
| We tend to keep our alarm cables away from mains cables (as the cables to
| our switches normally run vertically up from the switch) that is the last
| place we would expect to find an alarm cable over here.
|
|
|

 

[Crash Gordon]

Find a company willing to put switches on the windows and motion on the
corner wire and glassbreak on the flatwall wire. You may find a company
willing to put in an alarm in stages...I've done this for folks on tight
budgets. Might be just as cheap to actually install an alarm.


|I purchased a home that was wired for security. Straight ahead from
| the front entry is a wire coming through the drywall up in the corner.
| It comes through just a few inches down from the ceiling.
|
| In the same room but on the opposite wall is another wire. This one is
| about a foot below the ceiling line and is on a flat expanse of wall
| (not in the corner).
|
| I want to buy whatever is supposed to be hooked up to the wires. I
| will not actually hook up an alarm, I just want to cover up the ugly
| wires.
|
| What should I look for?
|

 

[Robert L Bass]

I always kept my alarm wiring at least one foot away from
parallel 110 VAC cables and 2 feet away from 220 VAC. That
worked for me. The strength of the electromagnetic field around
an AC cable is directly proportional to the voltage on the cable
but inversely proportional to the distance from the cable so
1.4142136' from 220 VAC would be the same as 1 foot from 110 VAC
but who's measuring? :^)

It's fairly common practice to install the keypad a little way
above the light switch. Doing so even with the low voltage cable
running in the same stud bay as the 110 VAC for that little
distance won't cause problems. If you want to be extra careful,
run the cables along the nest stud and drill through behind the
keypad.

Crash rightly mentions drilling your own holes. Never run low
voltage cables through the same holes with the house electrical
cables. I've ripped out and rewired a few jobs where some idiot
pretending to be an installer pulled speaker cables through the
electrician's cable holes. The guy may have been using one of
those levitating ladders and... umm, never mind. :^)

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

Bass Burglar Alarms
The Online DIY Store
http://www.BassBurglarAlarms.com

 

[JoeRaisin]

We tend to keep our alarm cables away from mains cables (as the cables to
our switches normally run vertically up from the switch) that is the last
place we would expect to find an alarm cable over here.

Alarm wires are run separated from 110V wires. But when a Keypad is
lined up over the light switch it tends to blend in much better and is
more pleasing to the eye.

Sort of an issue with the guys I work with. We try not to do ugly work...

Glass breaks can be lined up vertically or horizontally with door/window
frames.

Smokes in line with ceiling lights or centered between doors or some such.

First thing I was taught (after how everything works and is affected by
its environment) is that when folks pay 5 - 10 million dollars building
a home (for 2 weeks in the summer) they don't want things thrown up any
which old way... They tend to view everything as a decoration.

If I can find a location that is both functional and aesthetically
pleasing that's the spot.

Of course I use the same reasoning in a 50,000 dollar home as well. Way
I figure it, if someone is paying money for me to put something in his
house - I'm not gonna do it in a way that would piss me off if it was
done to my home.

That said... a keypad stuck out on a wall all by its lonesome would be
an eyesore and piss me off. (I know, sometimes ya gotta... but those
occasions are rare.)