Home Security systems. Any suggestions?

[Pennyrick]

This has been an interesting thread to review.

We live inside the city limits but on a very lightly travelled street that ends up being an unpaved county road by the time it gets a couple of miles past our house. We live on a few wooded acres with the house being about 450 feet from the road.

Three year's ago one of my neighbors came home to find a pick up in his driveway with two folks loading it up from the garage out of his house. They had broken in through the garage door and were about loaded up when he arrived. He blocked them in with his truck and chased them with his Glock in hand, finally trapping them at the bottom of a creek that runs through my property.

It took about thirty minutes for the local police to arrive although they claim their response time is less than fifteen minutes.

He then installed a very expensive monitoring system and a month or so later my neighbor on the other side did the same. For about a year we had about two false alarms per month as they either neglected to turn some switch on or off or because of wind or storm problems. Finally the police stopped coming in response to the alarms sayng they would only respond if the owners themselves called them. Now they trip one of their alarms about every other month.

Instead of an alarm, I increased the height of the chain link fence surrounding the property and gave our dogs (a great dane and an aussie) the run of the acreage behind the house with a large doggie door allowing them access to the house. In the front I added an electric solar powered gate at the bridge going over the creek that requires a signal from the house or one of our cars to open and close. The creek bed is deep enough that a normal four wheel drive vehicle can not cross it when the gate is closed. My belief is that crooks are too lazy to cart stolen stuff back and forth from the house to the road.

I just can't see the value of an alarm (loud or silent) alerting some third party who then has to alert a law enforcement agency with such lousy response times. Nor do I want to spend money on cameras to take pictures of bad folks stealing my stuff.

Both of our dogs have keen enough hearing to tell us if anyone is at our gate or within 100 yards or so of the acreage bordering our property in the rear.

We also have an assortment of things to act as a deterrent if things do get to close range.

 

[Brettssunshine]

Personally, I don't want the alarm system on my home to alert the alarm company to alert the police.....I have it so that I will know if someone comes in my home while I'm there. If I'm not there and they take stuff....that stuff can be replaced. We have three stories to our house and there are doors to all three levels. I want to know when someone brakes in a door or window in my home. That knowledge gives me the edge to grab a gun, where ever I happen to be in the house and position myself in a spot to defend myself. I hope that I never have to do that....but I want the upper hand. ray:

 

[JimVonBaden]

I've heard about the Simply Safe System on the radio. But since my cell service sucks here, I wouldn't have the option of it calling the fire or police departments via cellphone.
The system looks reasonably priced.

I have SimplySafe, and have for years. It works great. My local police are very responsive, and the loud alarms will scare most away. Very easy to install, and very reasonably priced.I like that it is $15 a month, and you can start and stop it at will.

Camera systems are great at letting you know you got robbed, but do nothing to stop a thief.

 

[JimVonBaden]

I've heard about the Simply Safe System on the radio. But since my cell service sucks here, I wouldn't have the option of it calling the fire or police departments via cellphone.
The system looks reasonably priced.

You can have it also back up to a wired phone connection.

 

[2dogs]

Seriously, Drew is spot on. Lights and cameras and so on do not necessarily prevent thefts. They only confirm a theft took place. Crime, burglaries and thefts are akin to free flowing water. They seek the course of least resistance, both physical and psychological. What I think you are looking for is prevention. Forming barriers both physical and psychological will do more to prevent crime from happening than anything else. Security on doors and windows to prevent entry is your first step. Psychological barriers, possibly better than physical barriers, is your second step to preventing thefts. Simply by making it time consuming and a greater likelihood that the crook will be seen and caught is your best deterrent to crime.

 

[Bob Denman]

 

[2dogs]

You got it Bob, whatever works. The 3/8" chain locked to the front porch piller and the recording of big dog barking instead of a normal doorbell sound works too. :cheers:

 

[SPECTACUALR SPIDERMAN]

i have a camera going into my garage in a week or so with alarm & also an intercom since it is a detached
garage so my wife can nag me without being near me.

 

[Bob Denman]

 

[MEP]

I've got an Arlo (Netgear) system, both wired and wireless cameras, and a Ring video doorbell. It's a good, reliable system that works for me. The batteries in the outdoor wireless cameras last me about 3-4 months, but that will vary and depend on much recording they are configured to do. Once dialed in, the Ring video doorbell is great. Sometimes, scouts will try to see if anyone answers the door before deciding whether or not to break in. With the Ring video doorbell and app you can answer the door from anyplace, and you've got video to boot. It will also record motion that it senses within its configured range and zones.

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

I was talking with a local guy who does all sorts of electronic system installs. He commented that most security systems, particularly wired ones, use proprietary cables and connectors. I wouldn't be surprised if wireless ones use proprietary communication protocols. If you have a problem and need replacement parts get ready to pay dearly. There's probably not much that you can do to avoid getting stung, but at least be aware that problems later with any security system may hurt your wallet.

 

[Bob Denman]

I prefer to handle security concerns in my own, FUN way! :thumbup:

 

[Rogue Hawk]

 

[Tazzel]

I've got an Arlo (Netgear) system, both wired and wireless cameras, and a Ring video doorbell. It's a good, reliable system that works for me. The batteries in the outdoor wireless cameras last me about 3-4 months, but that will vary and depend on much recording they are configured to do. Once dialed in, the Ring video doorbell is great. Sometimes, scouts will try to see if anyone answers the door before deciding whether or not to break in. With the Ring video doorbell and app you can answer the door from anyplace, and you've got video to boot. It will also record motion that it senses within its configured range and zones.

I have Arlo as well. I have 4 cameras total, 3 outside, 1 inside. The cameras are waterproof and I have had them outside in -11 degrees with no issues. They are wireless but you do have to have a wireless connection and the cameras must be able to communicate to your modem. The batteries are not that expensive a box of 12 will cost you about 15.00 on Amazon with free shipping and last 4 to 6 months. You don't pay for any services if you have 5 or less cameras and the video is stored in the cloud so you never run out of room. The video can be downloaded to save if it catches something interesting. Arlo will save your video for up to 1 month. The 1st of the month it will clear all your video and start new the first of each month. It will notify you immediately by email if it detects something. So since I carry my cell phone I get the emails within seconds and can view the video clip to see what is going on, its usually the mailman. The video is not bad and it does have night vision. For the money I think its pretty good.

 

[DJFaninTN]

I was talking with a local guy who does all sorts of electronic system installs. He commented that most security systems, particularly wired ones, use proprietary cables and connectors. I wouldn't be surprised if wireless ones use proprietary communication protocols. If you have a problem and need replacement parts get ready to pay dearly. There's probably not much that you can do to avoid getting stung, but at least be aware that problems later with any security system may hurt your wallet.

Being in this industry for the past ten years I would disagree with your friends information. I think he is talking about actual burglary systems. Each company has lock out codes on their panels. This is to keep unauthorized people from making changes on your system. If you switch alarm companies they may or may not be able to use your current control panel and keypad. Those are not normally that much as far as cost. Maybe $150 or so. If you are using a cell communicator they most likely will have to change that as well.

There were some older systems years ago that used small microphones to listen in and see if there was someone in the building. That is very old technology and isn't used that much any longer.

On the video most cameras use either siamese cable or cat 5E or sometimes cat 6. Those can be easily found at most part stores and hardware stores or on line. The software used is most likely proprietary. The connector ends are not proprietary. There are more limitations on some of the cheaper software.

Here is a very important thing to remember on wireless camera systems. If you lose your internet connection or your power goes out. You most likely are not going to have video unless your camera has an SD card slot and it has an SD card inside of it. No power or no internet connection means no video being recorded. You'd be surprised how much your internet goes down and then comes back up. At least with a hardwired system as long as you have power, your video is going to a DVR or NVR. You can review it later should an event occur.

Most states require that video has a time/date stamp watermark on the RECORDED image. Just because you see it on the live video does not mean it is automatically on the RECORDED video. The reason the time/date stamp watermark is important is the court wants to make sure that crime committed actually happened when it was reported and not days before or after.

 

[Mr. Pickels]

Ditto...

Being in this industry for the past ten years I would disagree with your friends information. I think he is talking about actual burglary systems. Each company has lock out codes on their panels. This is to keep unauthorized people from making changes on your system. If you switch alarm companies they may or may not be able to use your current control panel and keypad. Those are not normally that much as far as cost. Maybe $150 or so. If you are using a cell communicator they most likely will have to change that as well.

There were some older systems years ago that used small microphones to listen in and see if there was someone in the building. That is very old technology and isn't used that much any longer.

On the video most cameras use either siamese cable or cat 5E or sometimes cat 6. Those can be easily found at most part stores and hardware stores or on line. The software used is most likely proprietary. The connector ends are not proprietary. There are more limitations on some of the cheaper software.

Here is a very important thing to remember on wireless camera systems. If you lose your internet connection or your power goes out. You most likely are not going to have video unless your camera has an SD card slot and it has an SD card inside of it. No power or no internet connection means no video being recorded. You'd be surprised how much your internet goes down and then comes back up. At least with a hardwired system as long as you have power, your video is going to a DVR or NVR. You can review it later should an event occur.

Most states require that video has a time/date stamp watermark on the RECORDED image. Just because you see it on the live video does not mean it is automatically on the RECORDED video. The reason the time/date stamp watermark is important is the court wants to make sure that crime committed actually happened when it was reported and not days before or after.

:agree: