Saturday, June 28, 2014

Fires and Explosions in Western Pa. no wonder there are so many when you see the amount of Ignorant stupid individuals I come across daily

Yes Western Pa. is very unique when it comes to statistics about fires explosions and accidents and the frequency of there occurrence.
But spend a day with me and you will understand why.
When you see total lack of common sense when people do things.
Take the picture below a butler county property owner out burning trash on a windy day. He thinks its OK and he could care less the embers from this fire land some where and cause a brush fire . In butler County there have been several major business structure loses plus homes  and vehicles being caught on fire  because of ignorant stupid individuals burning the  trash too close to  a building and on a windy day.
 Then take the picture directly across from this individual burning trash on a windy day
here you see 2 white 100 pound  Propane Cylinders  being left in the open and unsecured on a construction site
This is a major Fire code and OSHA violation to do this all cylinder empty or full must be secured from falling over something you see all the time and when I looked in hall way of this building under construction 12 smaller cylinders where sitting unsecured as well in this church under construction.Plus churches are some of the most dangerous places you can take your family as they notoriously are not properly maintained and are full of code violations in Pa.
yes it is no wonder the accidents that occur How many times I have seen people working with metal ladders too close to power lines or digging in the ground with out calling one call location service.
or blocking emergency exits etc. Yes it happens other places but with no where near as many incidents.
Driving in Western Pa.is also one of the most dangerous activity s you can do also with record numbers of drunk drivers and drivers who just do not care in a 45 minute ride from my home to I-79 on a daily basis you can expect to encounter 2-5 serious  incidents where you have to step on brakes or steer to avoid getting hit .All because people choose to not follow driving regulations in that same 4 minutes over 35 vehicle code violations could be written up as well. for speeding, driving too slow, failure to yield, failure to use turn signals. etc.
When Insurance Underwriters in this part of state consider writing policy's no wonder so many do not want to or charge much higher premiums.
But this is the way it has always been . stupid ignorant individuals who want the red bricker easy do nothing jobs and have no responsibility for any thing.
But that's what the mill jobs encouraged as many mill and manufacturing jobs where boring and took just this type of individual to fill them stand there and push this button never ask a question never think for your self .
Now these same company's trying to fill high tech jobs and can not find applicants wonder why. It's inbreed into the culture here to be lazy and ignorant.after decades of manufacturing and its a hard cycle to break.


Friday, June 20, 2014

Another Corporate Promise broken as Honeywell brings an end to the FBI Burglar Alarm Brand

F.B.I. Fire Burglary Instruments  was a small company which started in Haupage NY. and the first panel of theirs which I worked on in 70's  was the FBI 650 a combo Burglary and Fire Panel designed for a residence it was first designed to have a dry cell battery for back up and subsequently was converted to allow Jell Cell lead acid battery's to be used for back up. Similar in design and features to Ademco's 330  the FBI 650 panel was ahead of its time when it come to design .
It had a built in assembly which took an electron tube you purchased separately  to allow for Direct Connect
also known as leased line or polarity reversal connection .
This is back in the days before Digital Communicators  where you leased from the phone company a set of phone wires from your home or business to the local police station or some times to a telephone answering service which then called police for you like today's modern central stations.

The problem with the 650 panel like so many panels back then was it was during this time when alarm systems started going from Mechanical relays to a mix of relays and Solid State Electronics.
Which often resulted in false Alarms . Unfortunately this was a common problems with too many alarm systems and components as they where just not properly built to prevent false alarms and there was a very big learning curve to be overcome, In the 70's and 80's there was just a lot of junk on the market period.
But FBI stuck it out and got thru issues as did other manufacturers and when it come out with its very stable
XL series of panels in late 80's they where an instant hit.
Then when the computer wave of the 90's hit and up/downloading allowed remote programming and event  logging of panels came along these where great panels to install .
One panel in particular I liked to install was the XL-4 a 128 zone panel which was very stable and had many features but lacked one crucial feature a built in or addable wireless  receiver. Which lead to its ultimate demise.
One of the great features of the XL series panels was there simplicity of operation .
push 4 digit code turn it on push the 4 digit code again turn system off . Very nice system for seniors  which no one makes today they all require extra keys you must hit to arm and disarm. F.B.I.came out with all kind of neat modules too like  the talking siren module which warned  intruders they had activated an alarm system and to leave police had been called.
But then in the mid 90's Ademco's parent company Pittway Corporation
bought out the FBI brand and many of us where angry but Pittway stayed true to letter it sent to every dealer and kept the line going and actually improved it and brought out a panel the OMNI which had a built in wireless receiver.  That was till around 2000 when Pittway was wholly acquired by Honeywell Corporation who made no improvements and just allowed the panel line to die out which it has now allowed to happen as the last FBI panel made by Honeywell the XL2T  was discontinued this month.
Had Honeywell put a wireless receiver in the panel it probably would still be a best seller.
Yes there where only a hand full of dealers like me with senior customers who put a couple of these panels in for there simplicity for seniors to operate but it was not enough to sustain the line .
How ever some of the good features that FBI panels had in them have been incorporated into Honeywell's line of panels so the FBI panels will live on just not as we know them.

As far as alarm systems for seniors they have been screwed again seems no one wants to sell to the senior market other than to sell them medic alert system. Instead of home alarms which help them feel secure and prevent false alarm activation's.  What a dam shame. Of course this is not the first line of panels Pittway and Honeywell have bought up and Killed it also includes .
C&K Systems and Apex controls
 and many other corporations like GE also helped kill many good product lines as well. But tha'ts just the way corporations behave they put out what they think the consumer wants and needs and never talks to them to find out what they really want.