I signed a three year agreement with brinks the salesperson told me when the three year Contract are up I'd own the system. When the time expired I called and canceled the service Brinks said they wanted to come to remove the alarm.. I went nuts and repeated what the salesperson told me. it didn't matter
One thing, I made a mistake by not reading the fine print. Although the salesperson lied there was nothing I could do.I told them they wern't taking the alarm i paid for. And they were never getting into my home..
Its been three years an they haven't come for it yet...

Now to my problem, Somehow Brinks deactivated the system through the phone line. My question is, is there any way to reactivate / fix this? I know I can put a new panel, siren and key pads in, I'd like to save the cost if possible.. So is there any way to salvage this system?

Thanks for your time
FPKJr

 

There's not really an easy way to do it - the Brinks systems require a handheld programmer to do any installer programming. So, with the equipment you have available, you can't do anything to the system.

So, the other option is to hire someone that does have the programmer to come in and fix the system for you - now you're talking service calls and programming fees.

The best option is to get something like the GE Concord Express 80-518 kit and just replace the system. The 80-518 kit comes with everything you need to replace the system and the keypad for about $150.

I guarantee that will be your best option. Then, you can take your frustration out on the old panel too

Let us know if we can help.

 

Thanks for your quick response. That means replacing panel, 3 keypads, siren. Everything else can stay, glassbreak, entry contacts etc...

 

Just had another thought. Is there any way to swap out the panel and use the existing equipment?

 

Absolutely - you just need to replace the panel, the keypad and the siren (which is not really a siren, it's a speaker and won't work with a system that doesn't have a built-in driver.)

Good luck!

 

BRINKS is the worst piece of garbage liers I have ever seen... I hope they go out of business or somebody sues the hell out of them... I am going to take SafeWatch's advice, and when I get my new Concord Ultra from him, I am going to take the sledghammer to the brinks box and keypad, literally, then call them to return it to them.... haha

btw, I was in the same position as you 2 days ago, and I just ended up getting a new panel and keypad from SafeWatch... I highly recommend you do the same..

 

Its unfortunate they treat people that way. However, On the brighter side, they snaked all the wires, gave me three years of service, and I get to use the switches they installed. I learned a valuable lesson, read the fine print!! Being in my middle 40's, you'd think I'd have more sense than that.. You learn from your mistakes right? And if this thread keeps one person from signing up with brinks, I feel that much better. Karma!!

Thanks to safewatch and squale for your info and help. SW, I'll be in touch.

 

just concerning the systems, if you can afford it, check out the Concord Ultra with all the built in features, plus you don't have to swap out your speaker if you go with the Ultra because the Ultra has a built in driver just like your current Brinks system does...

I am really excited for the two way voice status checkups, paging features, and x10 support, can't wait!

 

SW, If I wanted to go with the Concord Ultra I would need to replace all the switches, glass breaks, etc? I don't mind spending the money I just want to utilize some of there equipment if possible... I like the idea of X10 compatibility. Anything else come to mind using the equipment brinks installed?

 

no you can keep all the existing sensors from Brinks, I already verified this with SafeWatch because I don't want to replace my sensors, chances are if Brinks installed it, everything is hardwired, the Ultra has 8 hardwired zones so you should be good as long as you don't have more hardwired zones than that, and if you do then they make add on cards...

but I for instance have 2 door sensors and 2 motion sensors from Brinks all hardwired. I will hook them up to the Ultra, then when I want to expand with more sensors in the future, I will buy some wireless Crystal sensors and put them around the house..

if you don't have a phone line, check out alarm.com, they have a cool wireless solution if yhou are within their range

 

Yep, exactly - general rule of thumb, all hardwire products (other than keypads and "proprietary" type equipment) is cross-compatible with any hardwire system. There are some limitations, but not in your case. As long as there is no data transfer (like keypads, wireless receivers, etc.) and you're just dealing with an open/close scenario, you're fine.

I like the Ultra system myself too - the only reason I didnt' suggest it is simply because of price. You're looking at more than twice the price for the Ultra system - but, IMO, it's worth every penny

Let us know what you think.

 

SafeWatch, some things I am trying to find or did find out about the Ultra system...

1.) Do they make Crystal Carbon Monoxide alarms.. I know they have Smoke, not sure on Carbon though..

2.) I DID find out that there is a 250 event history buffer in the Ultra system. So I'm assuming from the keypad you can go back in history to see what alarms were tripped, when, etc..

3.) It says it can call 3 monitoring station numbers and 5 pager numbers,,, well how is this possible with only 1 phone line? who takes precendence over the over numbers to be called? and if you do use monitoring, can it call BOTH the monitoring station AND the pager number?

4.) what does LATCHKEY numeric paging mean? and what does optional keychain touchpad activation mean?

5.) What is keyswitch arming?

6.) It says 2 partitions, what are partitions for?

Thanks

 

1) No, but you can use the Quik Bridge Receiver and the wireless CO detector to connect to a hardwire zone. The QB Rec is only about $20 anyway.

2) I would think so, but I haven't played with that feature yet, so I'm not sure about that. I would check the User Manual to see - http://manuals.safewatchservice.com

3) You program the numbers how you want them to be called - Phone 1, Phone 2, Phone 3, etc. Phone 1 is called first (of course, you would want this to be your monitoring company), then you would call pagers, etc. next.

4) Latchkey is a feature for Latchkey kids - so you will know when (or if) the system was disarmed. You can enable this via the keychain (you don't have to do it from the keypad every time you leave.)

5) Keyswitches are the old way to arm/disarm a system. It used to be there was no "keypad" installed on a system, just a key switch (literally a key that you turned on/off to arm/disarm.) You can still do this using a "keyswitch sensor". Some installations require a keyswitch to be installed (UL commercial installations, for instance), so that the authorities can arm/disarm the system without any codes. Basically you just program a zone for keyswitch arming - when it's open, the system is disarmed, closed the system is armed (or vice versa.)

6) Partitions are literally separate security systems. Let's say you have an office with a warehouse - when your warehouse guys come in, you don't want them to have access to the office area, so they have their own codes. But, their codes only disarm the warehouse partition, not the office. So, it's literally like having 2 systems in one - each with it's own keypad, etc. I've also had residential customers who had a basement apartment or in-law suite that they wanted to arm/disarm separately.

Hope that helps.

 

yes that helps alot, just still confused though on Latchkey kids... what are they? and what is this feature exactly do for you? I know understand you can arm or disarm this feature from the keychain clicker if you buy one, I just don't know what the hell the feature does, lol