ELK and old Sentrol glass breaks

[sda]

The previous alarm system (whatever it was) used these Sentrol glass break sensors.
They are mounted right at the window.
 
Can they be used with the ELK?
 

 

[gatchel]

Did you see any model number information on it?
How many conductors are at the unit?

 

[sda]

Did you see any model number information on it?
How many conductors are at the unit?

Yeah ... gathering a little more info would be in order.
I thought somebody might recognize it.
Will check next time I'm back at the house.

 

[sda]

Anyway .. after I figured out how to pry it open.
 
Its a Sentrol 5728T,  "MFG 9649" (I'm guessing that means it was made in late 1996).
Combination acosutic glass break and magnetic contact switch.
There were 4 wires, 2 for the glass break and 2 for the contact.
 
Can't find a lot of info on it, but considering its actual age and that its 20 year old tech ... it goes into the trash.

 

[newalarm]

What is the life expectancy of glass breaks?

 

[gatchel]

What is the life expectancy of glass breaks?

When they stop working you have to throw them away. I don't think there is a finite life for them other than they are electronic, and they are relatively inexpensive so replacing them every 10 or 20 years isn't too bad.

 

[gatchel]

Anyway .. after I figured out how to pry it open.
 
Its a Sentrol 5728T,  "MFG 9649" (I'm guessing that means it was made in late 1996).
Combination acosutic glass break and magnetic contact switch.
There were 4 wires, 2 for the glass break and 2 for the contact.
 
Can't find a lot of info on it, but considering its actual age and that its 20 year old tech ... it goes into the trash.

I agree. Using the old wires for a contact switch and installing a modern Glassbreak like a FG-730 or equivalent would be a better option. You'd have to pull a new wire for the GB detector.

 

[jpmargis]

Hoping to clarify . . . The "new wire for the GB" just needs to be pulled from the contact location to the GB location.  Four wires are sufficient for an FG-730 and window contacts on the same zone.

 

[gatchel]

Well...I wasn't thinking that way but I guess it could be done. I was thinking more along the lines of using the window wire to connect to the window contacts and pulling a new wire to the GB at it's new location.

Newer GB's typically have a range of 30' and don't have to be mounted right at the window. The best location would be a location that you can get wire to, that is within the range limits of the device, and would be equidistant to all windows in the protected area, on a ceiling or adjacent wall, perhaps.

 

[Del91574]

Those are old Sentrol Shatterboxes. I'm not a fan, they'd hardly work back when they were new. They're able to be salvaged, but their performance was always suspect in my experience.
 
FG 730's are old and obsolete  I don't think they're even made still. They do make ones like a FG 1608 or even the Vipers that have integral contacts and the glassbreak circuit.
 
I can't remember this specific unit, but some Sentrol units were panel powered and others were battery powered. I don't recall that many having 2 loops on them, with the contact and GBD separate.
 
If installing new units, no new cabling would need to be pulled if the existing is a home run, you would simply wire the unit as a 3 wire unit and use the other conductor for the contact and run a common negative.

 

[gatchel]

If installing new units, no new cabling would need to be pulled if the existing is a home run, you would simply wire the unit as a 3 wire unit and use the other conductor for the contact and run a common negative.

Very true.
The only reason I mentioned about pulling a wire was to have one GB per room rather than per window. As usual there are several way to accomplish the end result.