Home alarm system

[DTroup]

We recently went with a "Protect America" wireless system. Really cheap start up that covers our entire home. Ours is based on telephone comms but I wish we went with the wireless comm option. Never the less, it works well. Lots of options available as well. We're moving in a month or so and the system is easy to break down and go with us.

[SDM44]

I'll add this with my experience with ADT, as I just had it installed earlier this year.

Quick side story.... lived in my home for 4+ years, good & quiet neighborhood, neighbors are retired and at home all day, I have a secure courtyard. Exactly 4 days after getting my ADT alarmed installed, my house got broken into and my alarm was off when I came home. They just happen to come through the only window that didn't have a sensor on it, since it was in a back patio room with double-doors blocking access to the main living area (which had a door contact sensor on it, along with a motion detector facing that area). Needless to say, it was defeated and the police, ADT, and attorneys have been dealing with this for awhile now.



Back on the subject, here's a few things to consider with an alarm system....


- Some cities require a permit to have a monitoring system in place. My city doesn't, but other places in LA do.

- Pretty much all ADT alarms have the siren built into the panel, so it's loud but only inside your house. If your windows are closed and your home is insulated well from outside noise, nobody will hear your alarm going off from the outside, not even your neighbors. We added a loud external sired to the outside of our house, so if our alarm is triggered (which some serious effort would be required to do so on my property), then everyone in the neighborhood will know.

- In most cities, if an external siren goes off then you could be fined for a noise pollution violation. For me, I'd rather alert everyone that somebody is in my house and deal with the citation afterwards.

- Use the signs and stickers they give you. I didn't at first because I didn't want to make my house look like a billboard to advertise the alarm. Now, I do have it so if somebody wants to get into our yard, or drive past the front of the house, they'll see the signs.

- The ADT motion sensors we have, along with 4 other friends who all have different ADT systems & panels, there's a 6 second delay from the time the motion sensor picks up motion and until the siren goes off.

- If you can't afford real cameras, or don't have the means of running all of the power & video lines to each camera, you can go wireless or at least give the presence of a monitoring system taking place. Something is better than nothing, and using real cameras with guts removed (sell for around $20) and tucking the wires away, it helps act a deterrence if somebody wants to break in and they see them. However, I personally would invest in some real cameras inside or your main living areas.

[bubbapug1]

I'll add this with my experience with ADT, as I just had it installed earlier this year.

Quick side story.... lived in my home for 4+ years, good & quiet neighborhood, neighbors are retired and at home all day, I have a secure courtyard. Exactly 4 days after getting my ADT alarmed installed, my house got broken into and my alarm was off when I came home. They just happen to come through the only window that didn't have a sensor on it, since it was in a back patio room with double-doors blocking access to the main living area (which had a door contact sensor on it, along with a motion detector facing that area). Needless to say, it was defeated and the police, ADT, and attorneys have been dealing with this for awhile now.

I had the same thing happen to an employee of mine. Of the twenty windows in the house the only one not wired was opened...seems a bit suspicious.

[HkUSP45]

About ADT and other alarm system supplied by third parties(agents). Be careful dealing with them. I've had ADT alarm set up for my automotive business in 2004. Couple of time i've accidently trip the alarm. The siren went off. Normally you would get a call from ADT dispatch. But no calls from them or the PD. I've tripped the alarm couple of more times by accident at different times. No calls or check up. I ended up canceling the service and called ADT main office and schedule a certified/authorzed seller.

[drdarrin@sbcglobal.net]

Want a do it yourself solution? Try this one.
I've got a web cam that is in the same room as my safe. When I'm gone for a period of time, the computer is left on and the web cam is pointed at the door. The software for the cam has a motion detection feature. When someone walks into the room, their picture gets taken and it is immediately emailed to my yahoo account.

One time, just to test it out, I gave a trusted neighbor a key while I was out and asked him to check on the place for me. I got some really nice shots of him coming into and leaving the room.

[SDM44]

Couple of time i've accidently trip the alarm. The siren went off. Normally you would get a call from ADT dispatch. But no calls from them or the PD.

What I've been told is that if you trip the alarm, but deactivate it with a correctly entered code within seconds of the alarm, they won't call the police because they'll assume you tripped it by accident and then turned it off by entering in your code.

Happened to my wife when I was out of town, but when I called they still saw the alarm triggered on their end and told me exactly at what time (to verify it, so I knew they weren't making it up). But they also told me they didn't call the police out since it was deactivated right away (within 15 seconds in this case) with a correct code.


On a side note, and this will relate to your city so check with it, if the cops are called out to our house on a false alarm then we get a warning. But if they're called out again to another false alarm in the same month, then there's an $80 fine. Also, if the cops are called out to your house but you 'stop them' by calling ADT and confirming everything, and they call off the police before they show up, then it's not considered a false alarm against you. It's only a false alarm against you if the police actually show up.... this per ADT's terms.

[kaligaran]

If you go with ADT, go with ADT not another authorized agent. In TN I got screwed by one.

I'm sure it was an isolated incident but I felt like the people installing mine weren't well screened for their job. They seemed to have high turnover too.
I went with ADT directly in FL and was MUCH happier with the whole process.

They have ADT pulse now which if you want it, you can arm/disarm through your smartphone, turn it on and off, even view the cameras if you have them installed. If you go all out you can even wire it up for AC/heat control and light control.