Author: Gerard Honey
ISBN No: 0-7506-8167-5
Review date: 12/06/2026
No of pages: 0
Publisher: Newnes
Year of publication: 11/09/2012
Brief:
As a sign of how time flies, take this new edition of Intruder Alarms.
It’s a guide to the specification, systems design, integration, installation and maintenance of intruder alarm systems. When my copy came, I thought it was in error – hadn’t the updated edition come out recently? In fact I was thinking of the second edition, out in 2003. The third edition includes new material on systems integration, digital systems, wireless and remote signalling technologies, and electrical safety. As Honey says early on: “Changes in technology will lead to changes in the knowledge that is required by the installer, and it is important to predict the route that security installations will take …” He sees more verification of alarms and integration with CCTV and access control; increased demand for perimeter intruder detection, ‘which offer an earlier warning of potential crime than purely internal detection’. Expect more use by installers of PCs: “Indeed, as more computer-based systems come on line the days of traditional programming are now numbered, and software development will be achieved remotely by central offices using modems for uploading and downloading programs.” Also, intruder alarms will become a part of building management systems, in other words ‘intelligent buildings’: “The security installer must ensure that he or she fits into this scheme [that is, with imput from architects], or face losing the market to electricians and builders.”
This edition is in line with the new European standards (EN50131 / BS EN 50131-1). Implications of the standards are summed up in a new appendix. Honey as in previous editions takes the reader through the laws, British Standards and ACPO alarm response policy; the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act, he notes, lets a council designate an ‘alarm notification area’ where occupiers of premises have to notify the council of keyholder details. Then if the intruder alarm goes off, the council can tell the keyholder to silence it. The bulk of the book takes you through the circuitry, detection devices, power supplies, control equipment, wiring, and so on – the ABC of alarms. Not forgetting commissioning and fault location; and inspection and testing of the mains supply (think Part P of building regulations – ‘because of the greater integration of intruder alarm systems with other building services and safety and security networks, the intruder alarm engineer hs become increasingly involved with mains supply voltages and additional power supplies and mains driven components’). In layout, a pleasingly busy style without ever feeling overpowering.
