Ron Stultz Home Page  Ron Stultz Published Book Section Ron Stultz Unpublished Writings Section  Ron Stultz Doodles Section  Ron Stultz YouTube Channel Section  Ron Stultz Shared Grateful Dead Music Sets

Ron Stultz

Ron Stultz Shared Knowledge Section  Providess links to other AT&T Security pages

AT&T Home Security System Model 8000 Level-4

AT&T Home Security System Model 8000 Level-4 - "Importance of Central Controller Location"

AT&T Security System - Model 8720 Central Controller

 

Basic: universal transmitters, wireless keypads, smoke detectors and glass break detectors all radio transmit every 8 or 9 hours to the Central Controller (CC) as a form of system status check. The CC radio transmits nothing. If the system is armed and a magnetic motion detector switch detects movement, the attached universal transmitter signals the CC of a home intrusion and the CC sounds its loud alarm. If your CC is not centrally located in the highest point in your home and you get NO CHECK-IN alerts in less than 1 year of universal transmitter or smoke detector battery life, you might want to consider moving the CC. If you think moving the unit is beyond your capabilities, extending the CC's power cord/antenna might help.

Installation of the Centreql controller is usually done by the security system installer but does listen to the wishes of the home owner and that might over ride the best location.

The best location is always in the middle of the house and as high up as possible.

The "antenna" is actually the power supply cable between the system power adapter and terminals on the CC circuit board. The length of this 2 wire cable can be very short for a couple of feet, depending on the CC location and closest electrical outlet for the CC power adapter.

In many cases, the cable from the power adapter to the CC is minimum, proceeding a very weak signal to the CC's receiver and thus is worth of a length consideration.  In some sense, the longer the power adapter to the CC power cable is the better but remember this cable is going to not onlypick up the signal from all system devices at "check-in" but also random electrical noise from devices and even lightening stricks in the area. So there is some trade off in CC power adapter to CC antenna length.