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Watched a commercial building job change my mind on wireless panels
I used to be a hardliner for hardwired alarm systems. Thought wireless was just for lazy installers who didn't want to crawl through attics. But last Tuesday I visited a friend's job at a 3-story office building downtown where they were retrofitting 40 zones into an old historic structure. No drop ceiling, no accessible crawl space, and the walls were all thick plaster and lathe. He showed me how he mounted a Qolsys IQ Panel 4 in the lobby and ran PowerG sensors to every door and window in under 6 hours. No fishing wires, no patching walls, no headache. I watched him program the whole thing from his phone while we drank coffee. That building would have taken me three full days to wire up traditionally. I'm not fully converted yet but I get it now. Anyone else come around on wireless after seeing it in the right situation?
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wesley_grant3326d agoMost Upvoted
Ngl that PowerG thing has blown my mind every time I see it in action. Six hours for 40 zones in a historic building with plaster walls? That's insane. I've spent two hours just trying to fish one wire through lath and plaster before giving up and patching the hole. Tbh I'd be curious how the signal holds up with all that thick material in between, but if it worked that fast, I guess they figured it out.
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patricia90526d ago
Yeah "thick material in between" is exactly what gets me too. I helped a friend with this old church conversion a few years back, plaster walls that were like 2 inches of solid rock and horsehair. We tried running a regular wireless system first and it was basically useless past like 30 feet. But that PowerG stuff, I dunno how they do it but it punched right through. I think it uses some kind of mesh relay or something, not sure. @wesley_grant33 you ever see those old buildings where they used metal lath? That stuff is a nightmare for any signal, it's basically a Faraday cage. I'm just impressed they managed 40 zones in a day, I'd still be on zone 3 with a headache.
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